Baggage Handling Root Cause Analysis?
An article in the Daily Express described the trouble at Heathrow as a “Baggage Meltdown.”
The results of thousands of “lost” bags are called a “Luggage Mountain.”
They have had to fly jumbo jets loaded with just bags across the ocean to try to unite travelers with their luggage.
And news outlets say the problem could get WORSE!
The cost of this “incident” is more than just the immediate costs to the airlines and travelers. Some say it has caused damage to the whole British reputation.
What is the “cause?” Everyone has an opinion. Most are looking for someone to blame.
But instead of looking for someone to blame, they should try advanced root cause analysis.
TapRooT® has been applied by many major airlines. Alaska Airlines even used it to analyze delayed flights and improve on-time departure statistics.
Perhaps British Air should try TapRooT® to stop the baggage meltdown and improve customer service?
And next time they should use root cause analysis as a PROACTIVE tool to improve performance BEFORE they open a new terminal and thus avoid a major quality of service incident.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:43 pm
I was wondering when you were going to pick up on this one. I wrote about it at http://thinkingproblemmanagement.blogspot.com/2008/03/titsup-new-heathrow-terminal-five.html
The article written in CIO magazine on 9 Jan is really good reading seen in the context of what happened later.
April 1st, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Often I hear of problems but don’t have time to write about them. In this case the magnitude and press coverage is so great that I couldn’t help myself.
Do you have a link to the Jan 9 article in CIO?
April 1st, 2008 at 10:36 pm
This was also hit on the a six sigma site blaming the six sigma team for failure to produce a contingency plan for this type of failure. The blog turned into a blame game instead of identifying that the process was not understood and who had the accountable role for communicating issues.
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:17 pm
The link to the Jan 9 article in CIO mag is http://www.cio.co.uk/concern/change/news/index.cfm?articleid=2487&pn=1
Chris, what is the link to the six sigma site discussing this failure?
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:24 am
The site is www.isixsigma.com. The blog title is another six sigma failure. The “supposed tie” is a lean project with the IT process and the mass training and lead of six sigma experts.