L.E.X by LX

L.E.X by LX

The problem your project solves, including which One Record challenges are addressed.

Special cargo such as ‘Temperature controlled’ shipments and E-commerce shipments which are regularly transported by Swiss World Cargo needs specialist processes to be successfully handled and transported.

Although we all aspire to be perfect and take pride in our quality, things can go wrong in operations.

Temperature controlled shipments can have temperature deviations beyond their threshold limits causing them to expire and go bad.

E-commerce shipments need to be tracked in real time in order to avoid them going missing or being left behind somewhere during transportation.

IOT devices attached to shipment pieces allow temperature and location data to be captured and transmitted.

However, this IOT data at a piece level needs to be compared to the shipment SLA to identify deviations and to raise an Alert.

If this alert can be interpreted and communicated to all involved stakeholders, Service recovery can be automated and be made Pro-active instead of it being reactive as it usually is today.

Automated service recovery not only makes operations more efficient, but it also provides good customer service and helps avoid claims.

Data linked to deviations / Alerts can be analysed using AI to predict future disruptions and make an Airline and handler better equipped to handle them when they arise.

With our development we aim to address the following One Record challenges.

eCommerce Challenge: Develop a solution to e-commerce & air cargo, for example in the domain of customs & border, detecting undeclared dangerous goods, Customer Experience, Package Tracking, screening etc.
Open Challenge: Use your creativity and surprise the judges with something awesome.

Your solution and what it does.

Our Swiss World Cargo solution connects with IoT devices attached to shipment pieces over an API to import temperature and location data.

Every shipment / shipment piece is booked in our reservation system. A business rules management system in the background allows an SLA to be defined and assigned to each booked shipment / piece.

For example, a SHC can define a temperature range for a shipment piece and business rules can define the threshold temperatures for the shipment piece. Or for a shipment piece that needs location tracking the business rules can define the time (In relation to ETA / ETD) by when the piece should be recorded by a reader at a location.

If the IoT device records a temperature which is beyond the thresholds defined or if there is no IoT received for a location at the time defined in the business rules, the system identifies a deviation and raises an Alert.

The Alert in turn automatically sends a communication message to all concerned stakeholders to initiate Service Recovery actions to mitigate the deviations and return the shipment to normal.

The stake holders that can potentially be alerted are.

1) Service recovery department of the carrier.

2) The operations teams at the handling partner

3) The customer

4) The airline Track and trace.

The deviations and Alerts are visualized in the solution in a dashboard and allows for easy intervention and processing by the monitoring teams.

Piece data recorded by the IOT device is shared with the handler and customer over One Record and specific Service recovery actions / requests are sent to the handling teams over e-mail.

As data recorded by the IOT device is in One record standard it is also possible to share it with other stakeholders down stream in One record standard and can be digitally consumed.

The solution not only helps an airline with service recovery, but also helps the handling agent be proactive in mitigating potential issues while being transparent in providing an actual status to the customer.

How did you built it

Introduction: The described solution is a comprehensive system designed to receive, store, synchronize, and analyze IoT data from Smart Labels. It utilizes .NET 8, Entity Framework, and MSSQL Server for back end operations and Angular for front end visualization through a dashboard. The data model adheres to the IATA One Record standard. Additionally, custom rules are applied to the data for alert generation, enhancing monitoring capabilities.

Components:

Smart Label Integration:

o The solution integrates with smart labels to receive IoT data such as temperature and location. Data is fetched from the smart labels via a third-party API.

Data Storage:

o Received IoT data is stored in a database. The database implements the IATA One Record data model, ensuring compatibility and standardization. Microsoft SQL Server is utilized for efficient data storage and management.

Back end Implementation:

o The back end is developed using .NET 8, providing a robust and scalable environment. Entity Framework is utilized for seamless data access and manipulation, simplifying database interactions and reducing development effort.

Data Synchronization:

o A background service is employed to synchronize data stored in the database with the NeOne server. This ensures data consistency and enables seamless integration with external systems.

Alert Generation:

o Another background service polls the third-party API at regular intervals to fetch new data. Custom rules are applied to the retrieved data to detect anomalies or conditions warranting attention. Alerts are generated based on these rules, providing real-time notifications for actionable insights.

Front end Dashboard:

o An Angular-based dashboard is implemented to visualize and display the generated alerts. The dashboard provides a user-friendly interface for monitoring IoT data and managing alerts. Angular's flexibility and responsiveness enable dynamic data presentation and interaction.

Key Features:

• Compatibility with IATA One Record data model ensures interoperability and standardization. Utilization of .NET 8 and Entity Framework enhances backend performance and development efficiency. MSSQL Server provides reliable and efficient data storage. Background services facilitate automated data synchronization and alert generation. Angular dashboard offers intuitive visualization and management of IoT data and alerts.

What are you proud of

We lack specialist programmer resources at Swiss World Cargo. Our hackathon team is made of volunteer IT programmers from other business units at Swiss International airlines.

We are very proud of the incredible energy and motivation of our team and how we developed our capabilities and knowledge in a relatively very short time to enable us to participate in IATA 1R hackathon challenges.

Last but not the least, we are also very proud of the fact that we managed to develop our solution and submit our development within the stipulated time.

What are the next steps for your solution and how will you take that step.

Like any prototype solution, the next step for us would be to demonstrate the development to our business and commercial colleagues at Swiss World Cargo.

By demonstrating the development to business, we hope to excite them and convince them of its usefulness in day to day operations and get a ‘Buy In’ from them.

This will enable us to present a business case to our Management to secure a project / funding to implement a refined version of the solution in Production.