The activity of Cassioli Airport Division highlights the use potentialities of “automatic material handling” systems in other sectors, besides the household appliance industry, like in the case of airport infrastructures.
Marika Comotti
Not only “big white goods”: some of the “automatic material handling” systems developed for the household appliance sector can be successfully applied also to ambits like the handling in airports, granting high performances. As witnessed by the experience of Cassioli Airport Division. The company belongs to Cassioli Group, at Torrita di Siena (Si), which has always been the reference partner for several important multinationals interested in improving the efficiency of their production and distribution systems. For over 40 years Cassioli has been operating in the household appliance industry and it applies the most suitable systems for contingent situations in process departments, implementing complete assembly or automation lines for manual or automatic workstations. Over the years, referring exclusively to the household appliance industry, Cassioli has installed worldwide hundreds of automated production lines for refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, dishwashers, ovens, hobs, dryers, conditioners, wall-type and standing boilers. The offered service includes the layout design, the process simulation, the plant installation and the personnel training. The “automatic material handling” solutions by Cassioli find then application also in other industrial sectors whenever it is requested an automatic system for the material handling, the stocking of raw materials/semi-finished and finished products, the handling in productive processes, the fulfilment of orders and shipment. In its five factories the Group produces automated warehouses, assembly lines, testing systems, robotic stations and, through Cassioli Airport Division, a complete range of products and systems intended for the baggage management in airports.
Logistics for baggage
The Group internationalization is the fruit of a process already started in the Eighties, sprung from the idea of creating a reality able to offer wide-ranging consulting, services and solutions in the field of industrial and airport logistics. Today Cassioli Airport Division, thanks to the solidity of the Group to which it belongs, can deliver its plants for the baggage handling and the related after sale service worldwide. The effective management of the baggage transfer and screening represents one of the priorities for all airports. The baggage must be moved, handled and checked with accuracy, rapidity and safety. Cassioli Airport Division is the answer to this challenge. The complete range of BHS (Baggage Handling System) products and the bent for innovation, quality and the improvement of productive processes allow the Siena Company’s solutions to satisfy the requirements of modern airports. The new division can design, simulate, develop, commission and provide for the maintenance of systems for the baggage sorting and check. Each solution springs from the joining of two specific competences. On one hand it was possible to exploit the decade-long experience and the technological know how developed by Cassioli in the sector of the handling for the industrial transport: modern systems for the physical handling of materials, PC and PLC software for the flow control and identification systems with RFID technology for the utmost safety in terms of tracking.
The other fundamental component is the acquisition of the competences gained in over 15 years in airport logistics like, for instance, the “Friction Drive” propulsion, the adoption of extruded aluminium profiles and the use of high strength materials (with high fire resistance and with low smoke propagation). All equipment is designed with the aim of reaching the best ratio among costs, efficiency and reliability. Check-in desks, flat or inclined carousels for the baggage delivery belt conveyors, integration of stations for the x-ray and explosive control, diverting systems, continuous or “point to point” sorters”: Cassioli Airport Division can offer all the necessary elements for the high speed automatic sorting systems, including the necessary “intelligence” for the device management, with apposite automation software able to monitor all the activities. Weighing belts equipping the check-in stations constitute the first element upstream the baggage sorting system. The scrupulous choice of materials and the accurate production of the single parts determine a high quality level of the weighing and transport station. The modern design of the structure provides for a wide use of stainless steel that, together with the silent operation of the device, makes the station very suitable for the most updated and technological airport halls.
Efficiency and aesthetics
Other products implemented by Cassioli Airport Division are the carousels intended for the baggage redelivery. The carousels with inclined plates can be used both in the areas intended for the baggage claim by passengers and in the operational zones reserved to airport operators. The system is constituted by a rigid closed loop structure, by some powered modules and by an inclined plate track on which the baggage is deposited. The configuration with inclined plan grants better visibility to the passengers waiting for their baggage, better ergonomics both in the loading and unloading phase of the carousel and a better alignment to the side closest to the operator (for the minimal effort in the baggage collection). The carousel with inclined plates takes up an area comparable to traditional flat carousels’ but with much higher loading capacity. The track of the carousel is driven by a central operating chain and it is supported by an automatic friction system called “Friction Drive” able to grant a high safety level. The use of accurate coatings and the very silent operation of the system make the carousel suitable for modern airport environments calling for excellent efficiency coupled with pleasant design. The plates are made of fireproof PVC, are resistant to abrasion, to atmospheric agents and to ageing, they are superimposed along the whole carousel circuit and they are arranged in such a way as to rotate in curved sectors without creating cracks or bumps that might damage the baggage and create a danger for operators. Cassioli Airport Division produces also the belt conveyors that constitute the base element of whatever baggage transport system. Conveyors must be perfectly integrated with all other handling or control equipment, with the aim of reaching the best efficiency of the airport system. Thanks to the competence and the know how gained in so many years in the industrial handling sector, Cassioli can offer also in the airport ambit conveyor belts with excellent performances in terms of reliability, silent operation, aesthetic value, safety level and easy maintenance interventions. The characteristics of the baggage flow and the typology of the transported article influence the functional performances demanded in terms of speed, acceleration, loading capacity, mono and bi- -directional operation, possibility of intermediate accumulations and possibility of operational station bypass.
