Folded blankets, cutlery packs & the logistics of airlines

[albatross710]

On a recent trip as I ripped open the plastic packaging of the nicely folded Qantas blanket, my mind turned to the logistics of moving all of those blankets around the world.

Questions like : who does fold and seal all of those blankets? is this aircraft carrying all of the blankets for this outbound flight, plus the return sectors? do airlines seek out the lowest cost blanket folding provider? are they folded at each station, in the same way meals are prepared at many ports.

Then I started to think about all of those branded serviettes, branded cutlery, etc etc. For instance London can recycle all of the F&J cutlery that arrives on inbound flights and use it to load the returning flights. What about all of those plastic sets? All produced in a single process and shipped in the aircraft holds around the globe? So the plastic spoon that we stir our coffee as we leave LHR bound for DXB & SYD may have already flown SYD-DXB-LHR a few days earlier.
I'm kind of assuming there are containers on each aircraft by each carrier shipping future catering supplies and restocking supplies.

I'm also assuming there are really smart people whom work out how to do it.

Anyone have any idea how all of that is brought together?

Alby

 

[teamhamsandwich]

Your brain thinks too much.

 

[get me outta here]

Are they called logisticians with very complicated spread sheets?

Your brain thinks too much.

 

[DElliott]

Interesting thought - wonder if anyone can help out ?

 

[albatross710]

Your brain thinks too much.

I didn't even start to calculate the fuel costs of moving all of the stuff around the globe by air....unless of course they pre-ship it by sea like they are returning that 747 engine from JNH.

Like how much do those inflight magazines cost to fly around all year? Or the cost of flying all the duty free airline sales stock which is carried on every flight and maybe not sold.

I recall Mr Joyce is a mathematician by trade, so I guess this kind of stuff is important to airlines.

I'm scaring myself now.

Alby

 

[teaHSRn]

Not sure how they do the blankets.

But this documentary does cover the food part, and from memory has a section on cutlery. Quite interesting if your in to this type of thing.

How Do They Do It? Airline food service - Mega Food HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCkfIWONdqY

 

[awkwardpaws]

im going to say these things are thought about very meticulously.

i recall reading an article about an LCC cutting inflight magazines since the total weight for all pax on all its planes is (understandably) not insignificant.

keen to hear the smart people respond to OP's question though!

 

[Mattg]

This might be a good question for the "ask the flight attendant" thread: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tions/now-boarding-chicken-or-beef-31399.html

 

[alex_au]

I use to work in the packaging sector, and looked after a number of large FMCG customers who had outlets in a number of different countries. As manufacturing in Australia is not what it use to be, 99% of packaging comes out of Indonesia, Malaysia and China. We use to container direct from the factory to the relevant country without going via Australia. This saved time and money. It may be different though for reusable items such as headphones, blankets, table cloths etc which are probably laundered/repacked in the arriving country and used on return flights days later.

 

[albatross710]

This might be a good question for the "ask the flight attendant" thread: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tions/now-boarding-chicken-or-beef-31399.html

I haven't checked that thread before...I will peruse.

im going to say these things are thought about very meticulously.

i recall reading an article about an LCC cutting inflight magazines since the total weight for all pax on all its planes is (understandably) not insignificant.

keen to hear the smart people respond to OP's question though!

Thanks for the link. Watched it, which was good, then I started and enjoyed linking through to A380 wheel fire testing.

I use to work in the packaging sector, and looked after a number of large FMCG customers who had outlets in a number of different countries. As manufacturing in Australia is not what it use to be, 99% of packaging comes out of Indonesia, Malaysia and China. We use to container direct from the factory to the relevant country without going via Australia. This saved time and money. It may be different though for reusable items such as headphones, blankets, table cloths etc which are probably laundered/repacked in the arriving country and used on return flights days later.

Thanks for this. I can see that it makes sense.

 

[Foreigner]

Qantas like other major airlines and large businesses will have dedicated procurement department which will do costings and work out logistics.

I do wonder if the cost of napkins can reduce by avoiding printing.

 

[eric2011]

I do wonder if the cost of napkins can reduce by avoiding printing.

I would think that in the overall scheme of things they could potentially be ordering hundreds of thousands of packets of napkins. I can't imagine the printing cost to add much per packet

 

[alex_au]

Foreigner, a previous customer of mine use to purchase 5 x 40ft containers of quilted dinner napkins per month. Origin was KL, each container held approx 1485 cartons of napkins (unit of measure was 1000 napkins/carton ), a landed price into the oz warehouse was approx AUD $18.25 er carton. If the napkin was printed the price would rise to approx AUD $19.82 per carton for a 1 position / 1 colour print. So a saving of $2331.45 per container, for this particular customer that saves about $11,657 per month or $139,897.00 per year.

This obviously just gives you an insight to the price difference of printed to unprinted. The price will also vary depending on print coverage, amount of different colours, quality of product, ply, along with printing on outer carton even contributes to the over price. A number of companies are now turning to embossing which does offer long term savings, however there is normally initial significant tooling costs associated with embossing.

Sorry for the long winded answer!

 

[Foreigner]

Foreigner, a previous customer of mine use to purchase 5 x 40ft containers of quilted dinner napkins per month. Origin was KL, each container held approx 1485 cartons of napkins (unit of measure was 1000 napkins/carton ), a landed price into the oz warehouse was approx AUD $18.25 er carton. If the napkin was printed the price would rise to approx AUD $19.82 per carton for a 1 position / 1 colour print. So a saving of $2331.45 per container, for this particular customer that saves about $11,657 per month or $139,897.00 per year.

This obviously just gives you an insight to the price difference of printed to unprinted. The price will also vary depending on print coverage, amount of different colours, quality of product, ply, along with printing on outer carton even contributes to the over price. A number of companies are now turning to embossing which does offer long term savings, however there is normally initial significant tooling costs associated with embossing.

Sorry for the long winded answer!

Pennies make pounds...i bet the savings translate to significant sums when you consider volumes. (Btw, I dealt with manufacturer of paper products in Melaka)

 

[milehighclub]

Absolutely nothing gets sent by cargo! That is precious space, and anything that needs to be somewhere will be sent via ship.

Some flights have supplies double loaded, so take a Dallas flight for example, the headsets are loaded for both sectors, with the used ones placed in big plastic bags and placed in the overhead lockers at the rear of the aircraft. They also double load first class amenities.

For the most part incoming stock (blankets, pillow cases, linen, crockery) is cleaned and sent back on a returning flight once it is ready.

Every flight is also provided with a full set of catering items (crockery, glasses, cutlery) regardless of the passenger load. So even there was only one booked passenger in First to DFW, there is still enough plates and cups as if it was full, because a future flight ex DFW will need those supplies. Having said that, if a return flight also only had one passenger, a full set is still loaded to prevent stockpiling of items overseas.

Some flights have full bar exchanges overseas, some have a partial. For example a flight to HKG is fully loaded ex Australia, but business class order on a form, that is handed to catering as soon as the door is open, how much is required to restock the bar to supply the next flight. So if the flight back is half full, the crew may not need to order very much. This is called an ABO - Aircraft Bar Order. In economy on the A380 for example, the crew restock the forward galley economy bars which are not replaced, with stock from the aft bars which are replaced in HKG.

In some ports we also have an ASO - Aircraft Stores Order. This is to order things like napkins, coffee, tea, kid packs, pens and so on. Again crew order taking into account the remaining supplies and the load of the return flight, which is always sent via ACARS to the aircraft so crew know what to order. Some ports have begun an automatic uplift of most items, so crew no longer have to complete an ASO.

Once an aircraft returns to Australia the aircraft is completely stripped. Every single cart, container, stowage is removed from the aircraft. It is then loaded again with a full stock ready for the next journey away.

 

[lanaroberts99]

Alas, link no longer works: This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated. Sorry about that.

 

[katiebell]

Qantas like other major airlines and large businesses will have dedicated procurement department which will do costings and work out logistics.

I do wonder if the cost of napkins can reduce by avoiding printing.

QF did stop printing in red and balck a years ago and now only have black printing: presumably a cost saving here

 

[Pushka]

A few years ago I saw people from Bedford Industries packing up the kits for an airline. Bedford Industries provides employment for the intellectually disabled.

 

[katiebell]

Pennies make pounds...i bet the savings translate to significant sums when you consider volumes. (Btw, I dealt with manufacturer of paper products in Melaka)

It only saves if it does not degrade the product at the point of customer interface: once the pax, especially J & F noctice the product is not as good as in the past there is a risk that they will look at other airlines offering a superior service.

The very old (?apocryphal) story of AA taking 1 olive out of each J salad and saving s few thousand $ will only work if the pax do not notice/do not care.

The downgrading of food, wines and amenity kits has affected my decisions re whom I fly with.

 

[Sanpan]

What a great thread. I have often wondered who makes up the amenity kits we get in Business and First.
I now know.

Thanks for starting this thread and for the answers provided.

I must admit with the price of the tickets, I expect good service and a quality product and sometimes do have to shop around to get it katiebell.