Swissport and Lufthansa win top prize at Cargo IQ Q-Rally

Dec 04, 2024

Swissport and Lufthansa teamed up for the Cargo iQ Q-rally and won the event with their Implementation of Freight into warehouse (FIW) at all Swissport and Lufthansa stations.

The goal was to level up the accuracy of Service Level Agreement (SLA) measurements, between the aircraft and drop off and the Warehouse processes.

Swissport’s Priscilla Marques, Manager Global Operations Cargo, applied continuous improvement throughout the whole project. Swissport initially began the implementation of FIW by manually logging the movements of shipments.

(left to right): Franziska Merz, Head of Operational Excellence, Lufthansa Cargo; Megha Palkar, Manager Member Operations, Cargo iQ; Priscila Marques, Manager Global Operations Cargo, Swissport; Jussi Lemola, Vice President Global Operations Cargo, Swissport.

They then analysed their findings, improved the system requirements, measured again, and went back to fix the remaining discoveries.

At the Q-rally the team presented and shared their learnings. They presented different business scenarios through so called Ramp delivery profiles and observed higher workflow efficiency through their system upgrade, which also lead to greater accountability from all parties.

Jussi Lemola, Vice-President Global Operations, shared that a station-by-station approach is required to do this right, and that the newly implemented milestone helps detecting bottlenecks.

Swissport used preexisting resources to implement FIW and provide input to the Cargo iQ Membership to further develop the initiative.

“The Q rally is designed to push continuous improvement and encourage Cargo iQ stakeholders to challenge each other and work together, share learnings, and make their efforts and results visible. Swissport and Lufthansa showcased it wonderfully. ” said Marie Seco-Köppen, Executive Director, Cargo iQ.

“Obviously Swissport and Lufthansa’s win goes beyond the Q-rally. The implementation of FIW being a key example of how value is created among partners.

“It also reflects, how milestone implementations have a ripple effect on the airport processes as a whole.”

Cargo iQ’s Q-rally is a bi-annual event that brings together various Cargo iQ stakeholders to present projects that focus on continuously improving the air cargo industry.