Providing Christchurch International Airport with Co-botic cleaning technology

The Customer: Christchurch International Airport

Christchurch International Airport Ltd (CIAL) is New Zealand’s second largest airport, with 12 partner airlines coming from 25 destinations. As the international gateway for Christchurch and the South Island, they see millions of people travel in and out of Christchurch Airport each year.

The airport’s mission focuses on three areas:

• Enhancing people’s lives
• Fuelling the economic prosperity of the South Island and Aotearoa New Zealand, and
• Being a great guardian of our planet.

Sustainability and innovation sit at the forefront of this thinking and are the core drivers of its growth, performance, and value.

Since 2002, OCS has been working alongside CIAL, forming a relationship built on trust, confidence, and a willingness to try something new.

With a relationship that is far more than just transactional, OCS and CIAL continue to uncover innovative solutions that are making a difference, keeping CIAL ahead of the game.

The Need

With humanoid robots and autonomous shuttles already turning heads at the airport, CIAL was on the lookout to further utilise digital technology to support its sustainable outcomes in water, waste, chemicals, and human productivity.

With OCS holding similar business objectives, talk of investing in co-botics was put on the table following initial conversations with members of OCS’ Advisory Group, a dedicated group bringing a fresh perspective to OCS and its customers.

Both businesses agreed that people had to be at the centre of their decision to use technology to achieve their joint objectives.

“Often the immediate response to robots is the displacement of people and jobs,” says CIAL Chief Executive, Malcolm Johns.

“But this isn’t the case with co-botics. These machines are designed to take on repetitive tasks so people can move on to managing more meaningful work and higher-value responsibilities.”

The OCS Solution

Co-botic cleaning technology, like autonomous cleaning robotic floor scrubbers and autonomous vacuuming robots, have been extensively trialled in the United Kingdom.

“At first it was the environmental benefits of the robotic cleaning technology that attracted us to the technology,” says OCS Australia & New Zealand Managing Director, Gareth Marriott.

“The robotic floor scrubber reduces water consumption by up to 70 per cent and cuts down power usage by using new generation lithium-ion batteries.

“This technology alone would help CIAL improve efficiency and decrease its environmental footprint.”

The trials also showed a seamless integration with the cleaning workforce, allowing the removal of repetitive tasks and the addition of services such as touch point and detailed cleaning, which has surged since the COVID pandemic infiltrated the globe.

“The robotic floor scrubber improves the productivity of our team by autonomously scrubbing up to 3000sqm per hour,” says Gareth.

“This is the equivalent of cleaning more than seven basketball courts in 60 minutes, giving us the ability to deploy our human resources to work on higher-value and more meaningful tasks.”

Washroom monitors using IoT motion sensors were the third form of technology implemented by the team.

Gareth says besides the hygienic benefits of implementing smart washroom solutions, the customer experience is also lifted.

“The technology improves facility management, helping us effectively manage our time and human resources.”

The sensors send and store their data to a central cloud database, where managers and cleaning staff have real-time access.

“The data tells us how many people have entered the restroom, and then using historical data, we’re able to discover trends and predict where our people need to be before they’re needed,” says Gareth.

The team’s investment in innovative technologies has created a smarter infrastructure that is now delivering valuable data back to OCS, creating a step change in the way the team approaches cleaning from a human resource, sustainability, and commercial perspective.

People First

Both businesses knew that the change had to come from a grassroots level, otherwise they wouldn’t get the cultural change they needed.

Mike Snow was one of the airport’s trolley collectors but has now earnt the job title of robotic administrator after he put his hand up to learn something new.

With a passion to have a career in technology, the introduction of the robotic floor scrubber was Mike’s ‘in’ to a new career.

“Giving someone a platform to transform themselves is one of the most powerful outcomes that has come from introducing co-botics to our team,” says Gareth.

“The technology has empowered Mike and other members of our team to step up and innovate their approach to cleaning with the support of robotics, now working in partnership with each other.”

CIAL Chief Aeronautical and Commercial Officer, Justin Watson, says robotics is a promising growth area and something they believe should work alongside our service teams, not replace them.

“We believe in providing our workforce with the best tools and processes so that we create more value for our customers in terms of quality and efficiency.

“For robots to be accepted on a wider scale, they need to be aesthetically pleasing and more importantly, they must convince us that they’re safe to have around.

“We work only with the best in class and are happy to find these qualities in the eco bot.”

Gareth says the airport continues trialling various initiatives to see what works for our people and the airports business objectives.

“We’ve recently implemented ultra-lightweight cordless backpack vacuum cleaners, enabling our people to manoeuvre more freely and limit aches and strains.

“Every little change helps, and we’ll continue to work with our partners and experts in the field to try new things.”

OCS Advisory Group

The OCS Advisory Group was established to bring a fresh perspective to OCS and its customers.

The panel’s members have been selected for their expertise, extensive experience, and specific skill sets. They bring a wealth of local and international knowledge to the panel, which ultimately helps to keep OCS accountable, challenge new thinking, and keep us ahead of the game.

With expertise in health and safety, sustainability, commerce, strategic advisory, government relations, leadership and consultancy, the panel is a dynamic group that meets four times a year to ensure clear objectives are set and met for the business and its customers.