Dr William J Hill
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Professional Overview
Papers, Articles & Presentations
| Airport Baggage Handling and Screening Consultant Dr WJ HillProfessional OverviewDesign, Construction and Operations SpecialistA professional profile and a few examples of work undertaken
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FieldsExperienceExtensive international experience in consultancy for, and management of projects up to €160m (US$ 200m), from system design right through to construction and operation. These include such diverse fields as analysis for global objectives, specification, engineering, software development, operation, tender (bid) evaluation, tendering and sales. W. Hill has been an employee of British, German, Japanese and Malaysian firms and has worked and lived in several countries for airport operating companies, airport developers and airport consulting companies. Knowledge and skillsUK Chartered Engineer with consolidated and extensive experience in airport automation, industrial automation, computer integrated manufacturing, large control systems – including a 1200 MW nuclear power plant – and various process control systems using SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition), PLCs (programmable logic controllers) and IT (information technology). Extensive hands-on operational experience in airport baggage handling and procedures. ResponsibilitiesRecent work has covered design, construction management, financial control, administration and management of operations for international airports up to 65 million annual passenger capacity. W. Hill has been responsible for automated systems for baggage handling, hold baggage screening (HBS), check-in processing (CUTE), boarding management and passenger-baggage reconciliation.
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Functional testing
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Operational research
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Automated sorting
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Standard operating procedures
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Operational concept
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Control rooms and control facilities
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Signage
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Hold baggage screening 1
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Hold baggage screening 2
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Computer simulation
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Performance analysis
At Athens International Airport, in order to improve the performance of airlines, handling agents and Airport Company, he also introduced and supervised studies by operations staff.
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Statistics
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During construction of the new Athens International Airport (capacity 16 million passengers per year), W. Hill proposed and set standards for the contractor’s functional testing programme for the baggage handling system, and monitored the programme. He and 25 of his staff witnessed over 150 tests, and produced over 800 detailed comments for the contractor’s action.
Because of questions raised prior to opening by IATA and the Airline Operators Committee about the dimensions of the check-in conveyors being installed at the new Athens International Airport and the quantity of oversize baggage, W. Hill devised and managed a survey of baggage at Hellinikon Airport. Over 3000 bags on 18 international flights were individually sized at check-in by his staff, and the report submitted to IATA was able to prove that the new airport’s facilities would be adequate.
Before the new Athens International Airport opened, it was demonstrated that the number of laser scanners for reading bar-coded bag tags should be increased, and the contractor was advised to install additional units. W. Hill also informed airlines and handling agents of the need for electronic Baggage Source Messages and bar-coded bag tags, so as to use the automated baggage handling system. He monitored messages during trials and after opening, advising airlines of the required corrections to the messages, bag tag format and stock.
The absolute need for standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the new Athens International Airport was highlighted. W. Hill specified and supervised the writing of over sixty detailed SOPs for hold baggage handling and screening. Nine hundred pages of procedures were produced, which standardised and speeded up training of operating staff and other organisations.
W. Hill devised the operating concept for baggage services, the baggage handling system and hold baggage screening at the new Athens International Airport. He defined the roles for the Airport Company and specified staff numbers, as well as selecting, hiring and training the staff operating the baggage handling system. He also devised trunk radio talk groups for the operation of the baggage handling system and hold baggage screening machines.
W. Hill designed the layout of the baggage handling system control rooms at the new Athens International Airport. This photograph and the one above show his operations staff monitoring and controlling the system and manual staff, by using wall mimic panels, computers, CCTV and trunk radio. The CCTV system for monitoring baggage handling was introduced by W. Hill.
W. Hill has considerable experience in static and dynamic signs and markings relating to baggage handling and reclaim, including Baggage Information Display Systems (BIDS) and signs at make-up positions. At the new Athens International Airport he introduced dynamic signs, strategically placed to inform handlers at flight make-up chutes and at other key positions around and outside the baggage halls. He also introduced all the static signs and road markings throughout the baggage handling system, baggage halls and immediately outside.
Again, W. Hill has extensive experience in the design and implementation of in-line 100% HBS (hold baggage screening) and was responsible for the unique integration of the check-in system, in-line screening system and baggage reconciliation system at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (capacity 25 million passengers per year), making a recommendation to IATA on an electronic message protocol as a result. He has also cooperated with the Test Director of the US Transportation Security Administration’s Technical Centre.
W. Hill’s experience includes procurement and operation of HBS equipment. He worked on the tender (bid) specification for CT (computed tomography) screening machines at the new Athens International Airport, elaborated the tender evaluation procedure and chaired the evaluation committee. He changed the originally proposed layout of the CT machines from stand-alone to in-line, and also ensured that the facilities provided protection for the equipment.
W. Hill specified the requirements and outputs of a sophisticated simulation model of the baggage handling system at Athens International Airport and supervised the production of the model. This model is flight schedule driven and is an operational and planning tool as well as a means of checking the capacity of the baggage handling system and assessing the hourly load on the system and screening equipment. W. Hill successfully used the model to obtain Board approval for the installation prior to airport opening of further system capacity for transfer baggage and manual coding. In 2004 he was asked to audit the airport’s preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games and used the model to predict the peak daily quantity of baggage and to identify bottlenecks during the peak day. 
Performance of the baggage handling system and operations at the new Kuala Lumpur International Airport were studied by W. Hill after the airport opened, and he was able to recommend several improvements.
W. Hill created the position of BHS Analyst at Athens International Airport, and designed a comprehensive set of statistics reports on hold baggage handling and screening. These are invaluable for operations, maintenance and overall management. Certain reports include performance of handling agents, which improved the level of service.