Denver International Airport Automated Baggage Handling System Failure

The Denver International Airport baggage handling system proves to be an excellent illustration of the need of appropriate decision making in management of a project. The failure of Denver international Airport Baggage Handling system was a main result of dysfunctional decision making. The ineffective decisions making and project management issues that lead to the failure of the project will be discussed in this presentation.

Denver International Airport
Automated Baggage Handling
System Failure

Introduction
 The Denver International Airport baggage handling system proves to be
an excellent illustration of the need of appropriate decision making in
management of a project.
 The failure of Denver international Airport Baggage Handling system
was a main result of dysfunctional decision making.
 The ineffective decisions making and project management issues that
lead to the failure of the project will be discussed in this presentation.

Project Background
 The project of Denver Airport Baggage system was supposed to be the
largest of the time. Unfortunately this project proved to be one of the
greatest examples of how a technology can go wrong ,mainly because
of ineffective decision making and improper project management.
 The Denver International Airport wanted to increase the airport
capacity and thus planned to construct a transportation hub.
 The complexity of the project resulted in increase of problems. The
problems was mainly with the baggage system which delayed the
opening by 16 months.

Why Project failed?
 The project was originally billed to be
the advanced and modern systems
across the globe.
 It was suppose to automate the
baggage handling throughout the
airport.
 One of the major reasons behind the
failure of the system was that the
project did not have a feasible plan.
The project plan was too complex that
added to the failure of the project

Cont..
 The timeline of the project was short
compared to the complexity of the
project and therefore the project was
bound to fail and ended in a
spectacular failure.
 The bids that were submitted on the
new luggage project system never
mentioned that the project will be
completed on time.

Cont..
 A four years timeline was proposed
by the senior manager on basis of
the complexity of the project instead
of a 2 year timeline
 The goals of the project was needed
to be scaled back based on the
complexity which was not done.
 Furthermore, the key stakeholders
were not a part of decision making
thus giving rise to the condition of
improper project management.

Cont..
 The project on its implementation
stage has underwent a number of
major changes that delayed the
project and wasted a considerable
amount of time and money. The
scope creep can therefore be
considered as a major project
management issue with the project
 There was errors in the testing in the
new automated system that added
to the failure of the project.

The Timeline
 The Construction work of the Airport had started in November 1989.
 In February 1993 the target opening date of the project shifted from 31
October 1993 to 19 December 1993.
 However, the project could not be completed even in the year 1994.
 The system testing took a considerably larger time that expected and
therefore the actual opening date of the airport was shifted to 1995
 However, in August 2005, the project is scrapped.

The basic Mode of failure
 Denver International project failed mainly because the key decisions
that were taken underestimated the complexity involved in the project.
 Failure of recognizing the complexity and the different risks associated
with the project resulted in the late project opening. Improper project
management was one of the key issues
 The improper estimation of project complexity resulted in the improper
estimation of the efforts involved in the project. The project plan was
improper which was one of the significant project management issues.
The baggage system was considered to be the critical path which was
nearly impossible to complete within the scheduled time.

Decisions that lead to the failure
 To understand the root cause of the failure, the key decisions that added to
the failure of the project is needed to be identified.
 Decision 1: Change in strategy
The change is the strategy of the project added to the failure of the project. The
strategic decisions associated with the project sets the direction of the
project
It was assumed that he individual airlines will be making their own baggage
handling system
However, later in 1991, the team of project management the project strategy
and decided to developan integrated system which was a wrong decision
taken by the project management team.

Cont..
 The integrated system was required and therefore the change in the
strategy was needed.
 However, the timing of the project decision making was wrong. The
correct strategy was needed to be set at the outset.
 The change in the strategy of the project called for the increase in
project schedule by 2 more years, which was not permitted
 The team of project management failed to see the required shift in the
technology due to the change in the project strategy. This is one
significant project management issue with the project

The decision to proceed- Improper
Project management decision
 Decision 2: Deciding to proceed
Although the change in the strategy was required, it was a bad decision on
a project management perspective to continue with a full scale project
irrespective of the fact that the time remaining for project completion
was insufficient.
The reports provided a clear indication that the complexity was too high to
build a system
The decisions were taken on basis of the communications between the
senior management team and the chief engineer and did not involved
the stakeholders that resulted in chaos.

Schedule, scope and Budget related
commitments- Project management
Failure
 Decision 3: Schedule, scope and Budget related commitments- the main
characteristics of project management
One of the critical decisions of the project management team is associated with
the schedule, budget and scope of the project, which shows lack of project
management skills and improper management of project undertaken.
Initially the project was decided to be delivered under a fixed scope and
schedule which was not followed.
Mistake in the decision making was seen in the negation phase as well that
added to the failure of the project

Acceptance of all the change
requests
 Decision 4: Accepting the change requests- a significant project
management issue
While the project was in its implementation stage, the airlines asked for certain
significant changes in the project which should not have been permitted in
terms of project management.
The major changes that were asked for includes addition of maintenance track
along with the addition of ski equipment racks.
The changes requested needed redesigning of the certain portions of the
project that were already completed. This proves of the significant examples
of improper project management.

Design of a physical building
structure
 Decision 5: Design of a physical building structure
Another wrong decision that added to the failure of the project is
association of the baggage system and physical building system as an
integrated system.
The physical space and services needed to work as a single integrated
team thus increasing the complexity of the project, which the project
management team could not foresee.
The new design indicated that the system would need to include sharp
turns thus increasing the physical load of the system .

Cont..
 The increase in the physical loads that were placed in the system added
to the reliability problems of the system as those stresses were found to
be the key contributor of the reliability problem. Improper project
monitoring failed to detect these problems thus adding to the failure of
the project.
 The problem of ejection of the bags from the carts were mainly because
of the sharp turns.
 This proves to be an inefficient planning (which is one of the key phases
of project management) leading to the failure of the system.

The decision of taking a different
path while project is in execution
phase
 Decision 6: Seek a different path
With the initial failures of the system , it was found that the project was in
a deep trouble,
The demonstration of press in 1994 proved to be a disaster.
As a result of this, the entire situation was reviewed yet the project
management team could not take appropriate decision regarding the
project.
The change in the course of the project implementation added to the
failure of the project as it was too late to change the track of the
project.

Risk Management Failures
 Apart from a series of wrong decisions that were taken, the project
encountered certain technical problems as well
 This is mainly because of improper risk management. Risk
management is an important stage of project management.
 It was found that the electrical systems suffered a problem of power
fluctuations which was the main reason of system crash
 The delivery and installation of filters in the system took months

Cont..
 These problems were faced throughout the implementation phase of
the project
 These problems were faced mainly because there were no appropriate
risk management.
 These issues were likely to be predicted by risk management team
which was absent in this project
 The schedule pressure did not allow to undergo appropriate risk
management strategy.

Change in Leadership and issue with
architectural design
 There were certain leadership issues associated with the project.
 The replacement of the leadership lacked in depth engineering
knowledge.
 Apart from leadership issues, there was a problem with the
architectural design.
 The system failed to detect jams which was one significant problem
with the system.

Conclusion
 There were a number of reason behind the failure of Denver
International Airport Automated Baggage Handling System. Improper
decision making was one of the significant reasons behind the failure of
the system apart from the project management issues., The
underestimation of the complexity and lack of structural planning was
one of the significant project management issues. Furthermore, the
project was tried to be implemented in an unrealistic schedule and
there was lack of due diligence. Ineffective communication and poor
stakeholder management added to the failure of the project. Failure to
perform an appropriate risk management was one of the significant
reasons behind the failure of the project. The presentation highlighted
these critical project management issues of the project.

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