FKI Logistex®, a global baggage handling solutions provider, announces the award of contracts from Flagship Construction, Inc. for the second and third phases of the 100% HBS, RFID baggage tracking, baggage sortation, and inline explosives detection system at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport. The two contracts, valued at an estimated $38 million USD, follow the FKI Logistex contract win for the first phase of the project.
FKI Logistex will supply engineering, mechanical hardware, software, installation, training, and testing for all three phases of the project. With all contracts and related change orders totaling approximately $50 million USD, the McCarran project represents a significant investment in inline security screening.
McCarran’s investment in the new system will afford its passengers the advantages of the latest baggage screening equipment combined with the accuracy and efficiency of RFID baggage sortation. The commissioning of the McCarran project makes it one of the first airports in the world to use UHF RFID-embedded baggage tags for 100% of the auto-ID and tracking of all outbound baggage in the sortation and explosives detection process.
Phase two of the project, which involves the airport’s international terminal 2, is in the engineering submittal phase. Installation is scheduled to start later this summer with live operations to begin this winter. Terminal 2 will be modified during phase two, creating additional space required to house 274 new conveyor drives and seven new eXaminer 3DX® 6000 EDS machines from L-3 Communications. Phase two also features more than 3,200ft of conveyor and three FKI Logistex Maxiclaim II® sloped-plate make-up units.
The project’s third and final phase, covering the rest of the airport’s domestic operations in Terminal 1, is scheduled to be commissioned in late summer 2005. With nearly 1,200 conveyor drives and more than 12,500ft of conveyor, phase three represents the largest phase, and includes expansions to the existing terminal structure to house the two new security screening matrices and sortation areas.
Phase three adds 21 eXaminer 3DX® 6000 EDS units to the project for a total of 42 machines that will be installed for all project phases. As baggage size tolerances have become more critical in the post-9/11 environment, the third phase’s inline security system will feature sophisticated dimensioning devices that calculate 3D geometries of all the baggage before entering the security screening process.
Phase three also includes 49 RFID scanner arrays for baggage identification which, in tandem with FKI Logistex’ track-and-trace technology, will pass identification information through the system to the security screening matrices. This information will then be processed in the EDS system to continue the identification of the luggage and its security status. After passing through the EDS machines, the FKI track-and-trace technology sorts the baggage to one of 27 sort locations which include ten Maxiclaim II® slope plate make-up units.
The entire system, comprised of all three phases, will be controlled by FKI Logistex’ state-of-the-art supervisory control system. Featuring a web-based graphical user interface, the FKI Logistex Sort Allocation Computer (SAC) system allows authorized airport supervisory personnel to view and control operations that are spread out across vast areas of the airport’s property.
By awarding FKI Logistex all phases of the inline baggage-screening project, McCarran ensures a seamless operational structure for its baggage screening, tracking, and sortation systems.
“FKI Logistex has made a commitment over the last few years to be the leader in RFID systems integration in the airport environment,” said Stephen Ackerman, president of FKI Logistex North America. “Our recent successes in baggage handling systems and our recognized engineering expertise attracted airport management at McCarran International, one of the highest profile airports in the world.”