Leifur Eiriksson Air Terminal addresses supply chain challenges with Microsoft Dynamics and LS Retail
Leifur Eiriksson Air Terminal (LEAT) operates the passenger terminal at Keflavík International Airport. It is a main gateway for visitors to Iceland and a hub for transatlantic traffic. Today, the business operations of LEAT involve the operation, maintenance and development of the Air Terminal. In the year 2005 a subsidiary was founded to manage Fríhöfnin ehf. (Duty Free Store Ltd), which took over the retail operations. The Business Management System used throughout the operation is an information and distribution solution from LS Retail, based on Microsoft Dynamics.
LEAT expands rapidly
At first, the scale of the business at Keflavík Airport was very small, but it has expanded hand in hand with the huge increase in the number of visitors and the boom in traveling among Icelanders. LEAT is a modern service center for passengers on international flights; arrivals and departures. The Duty Free Store operates four stores, one in the main departure area, one for arrival passengers, and two in the south building to improve service to transfer passengers and for last minute shopping. Transit passengers can now leave the aircraft and enter the stores promptly. The main focus in the new stores is on alcohol, tobacco, sweets, and cosmetics. The terminal also caters to the needs of sun-thirsty Icelanders who tend to shop a lot on their travels. During peak hours, the stress level in the stores can get quite high so the company has had to place high demands on the speed and accuracy of the system. “We place high importance on the information system in our operations. We use the LS Retail software solution in all our business units. This means that purchasing, customs, warehousing, store and POS, as well as the back office and financial system are all contained in one integrated solution. The reliability and information flow is therefore optimal, as we can extract data, such as sales data, from the system in a very easy way. The business has grown very rapidly and today we have 100 employees and need to add some 50 more for the summer season. It’s been very important to us that the information system has been able to grow smoothly along with the growth of the business,” says Elín Arnadóttir, Director of Finance at LEAT.
Speed, reliability, and data access
The shops and services provide the income basis of the Air Terminal, but the company also tries to guarantee that the special atmosphere of the airport is reflected by offering diverse opportunities for all to enjoy. LEAT manages warehouse operations with handheld devices. Fríhöfnin ehf. (Duty Free Store Ltd) built and opened a new warehouse in 2005. The company evaluated warehouse systems on the market and eventually selected LS Retail software for the management of stock and warehouse. LS Retail was involved in the project from the beginning by providing consultancy, implementation and service concerning the warehouse, all the way from the organization of the warehouse to the setup of processes and handheld computers in the operation. The LS Retail Warehouse solution is designed to meet modern demands in logistics and inventory control. Precise workflow in the warehouse inevitably improves the quality of data contained in the system. The solution also includes the manager dashboard, which in one window displays all the most important control features of warehouse processes. This window shows the inventory status in all the main areas of the warehouse that are connected to key processes. LS Retail has designed processes for handheld computers. The solution for the handheld computers includes standard processes that deal with daily tasks performed by the warehouse employee, such as item lookup, receiving, put-away, picking, transfers, delivery, shrinkage, and inventory. The purpose of the solution is to simplify the general workflow and increase the safety of data in the information system. LEAT implemented all the standard procedures of the solution for use in the warehouse. “Work-processes have become much more efficient and the reliability of the system has greatly increased since we started using the warehouse system and the handheld solutions. The stock situation used to be quite different before. The scale of the stock was much smaller, the warehouse was not divided into areas and handheld computers were not used at all. It is invaluable to have an integrated information system that guarantees a smooth procedure from order, through receiving, delivery to stores all the way to the sale. This ensures that the quality and speed of service is optimal at all times and stock levels are kept low, which should be the key to maximum return,” says Elín Arnadóttir.
