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White Paper

The Facility of the Future

The Cargo Facility of the Future

World traffic is forecast to increase dynamically, Air cargo will continue to evolve, with the annual growth rate over 4% in the next 20 years. In that, air freight is projected to grow at a rate of 4.3% per cargo facilities must keep pace annum while airmail will grow at an average rate of 2%. Economic outlook, increasing customer expectations and changing regulations are redefining the handling, storage Air cargo market is and will be and of transported by air which significantly stimulated by the boom consequentially impacts cargo facilities. Changes are 20% of e-, with its market therefore needed in business models, architectural and e-commerce size forecast to increase 20% per process , deployed and workforce annual growth annum during the next five years, to skillsets. about $5 trillion in 2021. Fully automated high-rack More special , less letters, more parcels, Many facility , automated and green more periods of high demand… illustrates a shift in the operations will navigating autonomously type and volume of goods handled through cargo facilities. become through the facility, employees Transportation of letters decreased from 340 to 328 automated by equipped with tools, including billion globally, whereas the number of postal parcels Artificial Intelligence (AI) and grew from 6.7 to 7.4 billion. Augmented Reality (AR), 2030 empowering them to be more Shippers, freight forwarders and providers efficient – the next generation of increasingly demand or expect excellence, simplicity, -enhanced cargo facilities will boost traceability, transparency and speed. productivity, operational efficiencies and increase responsiveness to customers. Regulations impacting air cargo will continue to increase, though ideally, they will be smart, balanced and data The cargo facility of the future will be safe and secure, driven. green, automated, connected and smart. This will ensure the cargo facility of the future is fit for purpose in size, location and for the people who use it

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Six technology trends revolutionizing air cargo facilities

AUGMENTED REALITY AND DRONES AND AUTONOMOUS WEARABLES VEHICLES

BIG DATA / PREDICTIVE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / DEEP SYSTEMS LEARNING

IOT, CONNECTED CARGO AND GREEN, SUSTAINABLE, NET ZERO DEVICES

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The Cargo Facility of the Future will be…

Safe and Secure including rain water from roofs and tarmac, treated waste water and recycled cooling water. The cargo will be secured upstream with a combination of technology and data used to confirm status Green facilities will protect their owners from traditional throughout the process up to and within the facility. When energy price increases and carbon emission necessary, extra controls will be flagged and planned taxes/penalties, resulting in overall cost reductions. accordingly. Single-use plastics, such as shrink wraps, protective Screening equipment onsite will be designed specifically covers will be replaced with suitable alternatives whose for air cargo and integrated into the process, so that no total impact assessment lowers the footprint while additional steps or touch points are required. maintaining efficiency.

Information gained from Automated screening will be used to automatically validate Automation will be taken to available booking data and new heights with scanned shipment autonomous vehicles, documentation to ensure robotic systems and drones, conformity of the cargo. allowing operations to accomplish more each day. Molecular screening will be Productivity, precision and capable of processing all quality will be enhanced, commodities including batteries, live animals and process waste removed, pharmaceuticals and will perform multiple actions such as and speed increased. security screening, specific identification, safety checks in a fast and lean process. This will allow for Autonomous material handling equipment will weigh, dim, the identification of drug integrity, potency as well as take acceptance photos and automatically move the cargo identific ation of live animal species but also the detection to the next location. Drones will manage automated sorting of prohibited materials such as illegal ivory artifacts at and . Automated build-up and interfacing points in the supply chain. break-down of cargo will be performed by robotic systems. Green Robots will also eliminate human tasks that are dangerous, Environmental stewardship repetitive or tedious, such as dealing with toxic spillage, will be as important as handling over-sized or extremely fragile cargo. safety and security. With the appropriate policies, Replacing the storage rack strategies and shared best function (i.e. a buffer) with practices, cargo automated lift devices, or facilities will contribute to automated storage and aviation’s overall retrieval (AS/RS) devices environmental impact allows for the racks to be reduction targets, such as closer together, as well as carbon neutral growth by 2020 and halving net emissions frees up time for personnel by 2050 based on 2005 levels. to continue the tasks still being performed by humans. Emissions will be reduced via progressive fleet modernization, use of zero or low emission alternatives Robots then alongside the human, not just to help the such as electric vehicles and solar panels, and operational robots learn the tasks, but also to supplement where the efficiencies. Water and land use will be optimized, waste robot is less efficient and vice-versa. The added benefit is will be efficiently managed through the “reduce, reuse, the ability to reduce the horizontal footprint thorough recycle” waste hierarchy. Where possible, potable water these efficiency gains. Augmented Reality will reduce use will be replaced with water from other sources errors, improve processing times, improve user/ worker

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satisfaction and reduce training and ongoing competency AI analysis results will then assessment burdens. be fed back to management systems, voice-controlled assistants Connected or smart glasses in order to Identifying, tracking, optimize the facility monitoring, interacting with operations and asset everything, everyone and utilization overall for human everywhere in the comfort and energy warehouse will be made efficiency. possible by the use of mobile and connected “ of Cargo” in the facility will contribute to internal devices, sensors and data process optimization, better predictability of loggers combined with the needs for the handling equipment and improvement of Internet of Things. employees’ health and safety; overall resulting in cost reductions. Sensors will capture and display and handling information as well as required electronic documentation. With connected and smart facilities, customers will be The status of assets, commodities, parcels, environmental more engaged, receive greater transparency on the conditions, locations and people will be monitored services offered, benefit from complete traceability and throughout the journey and made available in real-time to will interact in real-time when necessary. This will ultimately all required systems and handling staff via AR devices. help increase their overall satisfaction. Cargo will be interactive! Deep learning could also be used to train a combined AI and AR system to recognize more complex scenarios or Smart operations. A view of special loads to be shipped, for example, could suggest a securing approach to staff, with Data collected from sensors, electronic documents, instructions, tests, and approved tolerances immediately screening methods or captured from oral discussions pinpointed on the image. within the facility will be processed and consumed by AI- based systems, providing tools to empower human workers to be more efficient.

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IATA’s role to drive in operational efficiency

IATA is the trade association representing approximately tomorrow with a framework to foster longer-term 275 commercial worldwide, accounting for more innovation for the benefit of the IATA member airlines and than 83% of total air traffic. IATA’s mission is to represent, the air cargo through: lead and serve the industry. • White papers to inform readers concisely about a Air cargo represents more than 35% of global trade by complex issue and present IATA's positions and value. When it comes to combined and cargo recommendations on the matter. airlines, the cargo business generates 9% of airline • The IATA Air Cargo Innovation Awards organized revenues on average, representing more than double the every two years to support innovative ideas. revenues from the first-class segment. • Innovation groups and events with air cargo decision makers, investors, customers to shape To support this critical business, IATA is committed to the industry’s future. deliver enhanced value for the industry by driving a safe, secure, profitable and sustainable air cargo supply chain. Like many other industries, aviation tends to focus on IATA develops global standards and tools, offers financial addressing immediate challenges, as opposed to engaging services and industry solutions, drives transformation in deep reflection as to what the future holds and how it projects, creates and runs campaigns, might affect the industry or particular airlines. advocacy and outreach activities. While the future is unpredictable, there are steps we can IATA is driving change in the air cargo industry by take to be better prepared for what it may bring. With its simplifying the business and helping make air cargo easier, framework to drive innovation, IATA wants to equip its faster and smarter. Our objective is to strengthen today member airlines and the air cargo industry with insights with a portfolio of transformational projects and build and tools each individual commercial player can add to their strategic thinking to gain a competitive edge.

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IATA’s pipeline of initiatives supporting innovation in cargo operations

EXPLORATORY WORK

FACE Vision 2030 Automated vehicles at airports

A white paper produced by the future air cargo leaders, the A paper exploring the FACE , to make their voice heard on their long- transformative potential term vision for the industry. of the use of automated vehicles at airports. Air Cargo and e-Commerce Enabling Global Trade

A white paper on how the air cargo industry is addressing e-commerce, and IATA’s role driving these initiatives. Augmented Reality in Air Cargo Proof of Concept

A proof of concept trial Innovative screening technologies to show that Encouraging the development of new cost-efficient augmented reality can equipment and methodologies to automatically screen all work to reduce errors, types and all sizes of improve processing goods, including time and improve dangerous goods, worker satisfaction. which are simple to build into operation Smart ULD and complying with regulatory Encouraging development certification. of next-generation, smart, connected ULDs to serve the air transport industry. Drones for tomorrow’s air cargo Developing the relevant standards, PROJECTS guidelines, and partnerships for the Smart Facility safe integration of this new branch of civil Creating transparency in cargo handling services and their aviation into the quality, as well as enhancing handling capabilities to a commercial air space consistently high standard across the industry. to open new opportunities for the Interactive Cargo air cargo industry. Developing the relevant standards and guidelines (piece level tracking, real-time notification, and use of connected NEXTT devices) to enable cargo to talk! New Experience Travel Technologies (NEXTT) is a joint IATA and ACI initiative to develop a common vision to Cargo & IT systems mapping enhance the on-ground transport experience, guide industry investments and help governments improve the Bringing together the two different systems to comply with regulatory framework. regulatory and operational requirements in an efficient and automated way without disrupting the flow of goods.

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PRODUCTS & SERVICES

DG AutoCheck IATA Cargo Handling Manual (ICHM)

IATA’s new dangerous goods acceptance check validation Describing industry best-practices, aligned to the Industry tool that takes all the regulations, rules, best practices and Master Operating Plan and international regulations and guidance contained in the IATA Dangerous Goods standards, ICHM is the first complete set of standards Regulations (DGR) and converts them into an automated covering the operational activities of all stakeholders in the compliance solution. supply chain.

RampVR

The aviation industry’s first virtual training platform for ground operations, RampVR allows participants to experience a variety of scenarios in different operating conditions, using high-spec virtual reality technology.

www.iata.org/cargo-facility

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