Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Evaluation - Mobile Inspection Table (MIT) System
Photos: Transportation Security Administration (TSA) & Daifuku Airport America Corporation
In most airports in the US, bags that do not clear screening
are sent to the checked baggage resolution area (CBRA) that requires manual
lifting of 35-to-40-pound heavy bags. Daifuku Airport America Corporation
developed a system known as Mobile Inspection Tables (MIT) to move bags to the
inspection tables where the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff
perform the screening. TSA requested TransSolutions to perform a simulation study
to ensure that the system functions as described by Daifuku Airport America
Corporation.
TransSolutions developed a 3D dynamic simulation model of the
MIT system under the Professional Engineering and Logistics Support Services
(PELSS) program. The simulation model helped TSA to evaluate system performance
by varying the number of MIT vehicles, vehicle routing rules, bag arrival rate
to the CBRA and TSA screening times.
The performance measures included time
bags spent in the CBRA, utilization of the TSA staff, minimum number of MIT
vehicles required and their utilization.