ground support equipment

Aircraft ground handling equipment’s main function is to support the aircraft in achieving its mission or purpose. Depending on the equipment, GSE performs different functions, including:

• Aircraft handling and movement
• Passenger and cargo handling
• Maintenance and servicing
• Ground power and air conditioning
• Communication and navigation support

We supply ground support equipment that can assist with these processes, such as: Truck Docks, Dolly Docks, Scissor Lifts, Slave Pallets, Pallet Movers, and Barriers and Walkway Platforms.

Safety of upmost important consideration at airports, and reliable ground support equipment enables airports to meet these high standards on the ground. Correct ground support equipment maintenance helps to prevent accidents on the tarmac. It protects the people working on the ground and ensures planes are serviced and in the best conditions to fly.

Good ground service equipment contributes to cost savings. Carriers can lower their operational costs by spending less time on the ground if they can count on the ground support equipment not to let them down. Efficient fuel management enables them to reduce their fuel costs, and effective air cargo and baggage handling allows them to transfer luggage or cargo on time.

To improve operational efficiency, ground service equipment operators must measure labour costs, productivity, parts costs and more. Cloud-based ground service management systems have changed how airports are managing their ground service equipment activities.

The systems provide real-time data and predictive analysis to track geos, performance and use of ground support equipment assets from a central location. They can then comply better with airport authority rules and regulations, manage asset lifecycles, reduce workplace accidents and make ground service equipment service operations and management safer.

Autonomous GSE

Autonomous vehicles are nothing new in logistics and, albeit in small quantities, they have reached airport ground services. These units, fitted with sensors and airport GSE systems, can move and operate without human intervention. The software-driven ground support equipment incorporates machine learning, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms, and will prove a major innovation in making operations with ground service equipment safer.

Of course, acquiring the right ground service equipment requires careful consideration. When choosing, you need to bear in mind the aspects below:

Specialisation

What kind of aircraft are you supporting, and what kind of conditions will you be operating in? Don’t repurpose equipment. If it’s not designed for loading and unloading heavy air cargo, for instance, don’t use it for that.

Instead, use dedicated solutions like ours, which are designed especially for working with bulky and heavy air cargo and freight. Repurposing air cargo equipment can damage both the equipment and load, and is extremely dangerous, not to mention inefficient.

When looking for ground support equipment, go to proven ground support equipment suppliers. Experienced and well-established ground handling equipment suppliers or ground handling equipment manufacturers are a sign of quality and reliability. You can count on the equipment to be compliant with safety standards.

Warranty

Good ground safety equipment will come with a warranty. The longer it is, the better, but the length of this guarantee will depend upon the type of equipment.

A preventive maintenance schedule should consist of daily checks, weekly ones and monthly ones of ground support equipment.

The daily ones should include things such as looking for any apparent damage and testing that controls and lights are operating correctly. Weekly ones will consist of checking fluid levels and revising hydraulic systems, whereas monthly ones will be more extensive and should include any oil changes necessary and the lubrication of any moving components.

It's also important to conduct seasonal maintenance. This should include preparing equipment for colder climates and ensuring that cooling systems are working in hot areas.

Give ground staff teams gloves, high-visibility vests, safety glasses and other protective equipment they need to perform their duties. Remember to check the PPE is in good condition.

Train Staff

To maintain equipment correctly, people should be properly qualified and trained. Make sure they’re trained in how to operate the equipment correctly to reduce wear and tear. Set out proper procedures for servicing and inspections. Highlight all the safety protocols staff should adhere to when conducting maintenance.

Stay in Touch With Manufacturers and Vendors

Manufacturers and vendors can offer support with maintenance of ground support equipment. Manufacturers, for instance, provide technical support and have resources you can use to diagnose problems and request technical aid. You may also want to consider a service agreement for regular maintenance and repairs. To minimise downtime, create and maintain an inventory of parts you replace regularly so you can order spares and have them ready to install when you need them.

A maintenance schedule will save your team time and reduce unscheduled maintenance. If you implement predictive ground support equipment maintenance, you can place orders, conduct routine maintenance and update your maintenance schedule in time specially set aside for maintenance. This keeps the operator productive, saves money on overtime compensation and any priority shipping costs as it affects every piece of equipment.

Check the Data

Production tracking systems show you every instance of delay and downtime. To avoid reoccurrence, you need to figure out what caused the disruption, predict when it might happen next, record the cost and set up a preventive maintenance plan from there.

To achieve this, you need data and should have a central hub that records different aspects relating to the downtime. This includes underperforming assets, servicing a machine part and ordering spare parts.

Ground handling companies and aviation ground support companies face several different challenges. Below are some of the main ones:

Costs

Ground handling services must cope with the major cost of acquiring ground service equipment and maintaining it. Customers’ needs mean they must buy significant amounts of aviation ground service equipment to meet them. This coupled with the costs of maintaining and servicing equipment regularly makes costs a major challenge.

Like many other operators in the aviation industry, ground handling services are under the pressure to comply with environmental regulations. ground service equipment aviation can exert a significant on the environment because a lot of companies are still working with old equipment. Airports are introducing strict regulations for cut CO₂ emissions. If they don’t comply with them, they could face a fine.

Advances in Technology

The aviation industry, including airport Ground Support Equipment companies, are improving technology constantly to boost GSE safety and efficiency. Ground handling service operators must balance the expensive costs of the technology and implementing them with the need to remain competitive. Implementing new technology also carries with it the need to retrain staff and, in some cases, to reorganise processes to accommodate and use the new technologies.

Truck Dock Systems are advanced cargo handling solutions that streamline the transfer of goods between trucks, warehouses and vehicles. These systems optimise workflows by reducing manual handling, ensuring precise alignment and improving efficiency in high-demand logistics and air cargo environments.

Scissor Lifts are versatile, highly functional cargo handling systems designed to lift, align and transfer heavy loads with ease. These systems combine hydraulic scissor lift mechanisms with mobile functionality, making them ideal for operations requiring flexibility and precision.

The Pallet Mover is an efficient, robust solution for smoothly transferring and moving heavy pallets, unit load devices (ULDs), and other large cargo items around a warehouse. This equipment is engineered for precision and durability, and is a versatile, reliable way to handle and manoeuvre cargo across various environments, from warehouses to logistics hubs.

We help businesses lighten loads and are highly regarded as the world's leading loading and unloading solutions provider in the logistics industry. Over the last 60 years, we've helped thousands of businesses streamline their logistics operations to be more cost-efficient, more sustainable, and more health and safety-conscious. Learn more About Us, here.

As experts in all kinds of unloading and unloading solutions, we can help innovate, automate and streamline your end-of-production line problems, wherever you are.

Get in touch with our experts today to learn how we can provide a safe working environment, call our friendly team on +44 (0) 151 427 8954, on our Let's Chat page, via email on sales@joloda.com or on LinkedIn...