Logibag

Logibag SAS, the leading European luggage locker manufacturing and service business (a subsidiary of ByBox Holdings) has seen sales soar and business boom for railway stations, airports, hotels and postal companies, since it switched from locker manufacturing to become a fully-fledged multi-purpose locker management and service company.

The company continues to lead the electronic luggage locker market and has won a number of new orders with some of Europe’s leading railway operators (SNCF in France, SNCB in Belgium and ADIF in Spain) and airport operators (Schiphol in the Netherlands and the new terminals at Charleroi in Belgium and Barcelona in Spain), this last one for installation during 2009. All locker installations will be continuously monitored via the industry standard Luggage Manager system which checks the status of the remote locker networks.

Logibag puts some of this success down to its new flexibility, as it now offers a wide range of financing models from rental or leasing to fully-outsourced management and even risk-sharing concession operations. In a concession model Logibag manufactures, installs and maintains locker locations in return for a share of the revenue stream from customers. This leaves them free to concentrate on their core business and to minimize their investment without losing a valuable source of revenue.

Logibag offers a wide range of services such as remote locker management, server hosting, maintenance services, software development and activity reporting (locker capacity, revenues and usage statistics). Logibag’s mission is to make left luggage operations more secure, productive and easier to manage. Read More…

With new contracts on the horizon, Logibag is introducing value-added functionality to its service and product portfolio making left luggage lockers more accessible, user-friendly and safer for travellers.

With market-driven R&D, customer demand for secure, unattended technology is strong, which guarantees a steady revenue stream for those terminals who choose to make left-luggage work for them.

At Terminal Passenger Expo 2009, Logibag is presenting its new L200 luggage locker system, featuring a redesigned central console and new software applications. The L200 generation lockers run an embedded Linux operating system installed on PC-based hardware to enable the easy connection of peripherals.

These developments allow the introduction of innovations such as:

• Touch screen technology (several sizes available) to improve the consumer experience, including a large 15’’ screen which can also be used to transmit marketing messages.
• The facility to utilise EMV credit card services for customers to pay using new chip and PIN cards. This may replace or complement the traditional payment systems of coins or notes and decrease human operating costs.
• Vein biometric recognition to increase security. Which provides secure, personalised access to the lockers for instances where the identification of the individual user is of paramount importance. An image of the vein is captured when the consumer registers. The image is then analysed, saved and stored in either the technical module, a central server or on a user’s local memory device such as a phone or memory card. This technology is the most reliable form of identification resistant to external factors such as humidity, dust and temperature.
• Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC technology is used by the largest phone manufacturers in their handsets to provide secure communication between the phone handset and other devices such as the locker console. The NFC phone or device can be used to deposit, pay for and collect the items, with the NFC-enabled locker ensuring the correct door remains locked until the correct NFC handset is recognised. The NFC transaction can be used as a flexible payment system to clear e-money transactions as new electronic payment systems are introduced. The application of NFC removes also the need for a printed ticket which in turn minimises the locker’s impact on the environment and reduces maintenance costs.

With box banks at the centre of the revolutionary ByBox distribution service, Logibag has been working hard to ensure they are as easy, flexible and convenient to use as possible.

Logibag has recently introduced a number of innovations that have helped ByBox create a new generation of ‘intelligent’ boxes, giving customers an enhanced level of service and an insight into the future of goods delivery using the most advanced technology to date.

The new generation of electronic box banks feature a host of innovations to make them user friendly and secure. Suitable for external and internal use, each box bank’s configuration can now be quickly adapted to meet changing demands, with individual boxes available in a variety of different door sizes that increase their capability to handle goods of all types.

The box banks incorporate a number of security features to protect goods, and each box bank is fitted with a central console and in some cases a touch screen that customers use to retrieve and deposit goods.

Adding to these basic functions, Logibag has now developed a number of new features that take the electronic dropbox networks to the next level. Including a 100% solar powered box bank, using biometric hand vein technology to increase access security, and the added option of a fitted weighing machine for people wishing to ship parcels to another box bank.

The new box bank design which incorporates a weighing machine, that instantly calculates the dimensions and weight of the parcel so as to ensure accurate costing as well as allowing customers greater visibility and control over the cost of the goods they want to send through the system.

The weighing machine dropbox is easy to use and once the registered user has been identified they simply insert their credit card and enters the relevant data via the touch screen. The parcel is then placed on the integral weighing machine, fee calculated and paid for, following which a self adhesive label is printed with the address details and barcode. The user then scans it and the locker door opens automatically. Once the door is closed a receipt is produced and the parcel is routed to its destination.

Commenting on the new innovations introduced to make the box bank delivery system better suited to consumer needs, ByBox CTO Dan Turner said “Our aim is to provide a business model that can be quickly adapted to meet every new challenge and continuous innovation is a vital part of this process. “We are working hard to identify the new requirements and investing heavily in R&D to find solutions. I think these examples of our innovation and ability to think outside the box demonstrate out commitment to providing consumers with everything they want and perhaps a few things they have not thought of yet. “It’s why we have been successful to date and why we will continue to surprise the industry in the future,” he adds. . Read More…