Manchester Airport have completed a simultaneous engineering design study with MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd and, following successful trials involving the Security Department at Manchester Airport, MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd have been awarded a contract to  install 30 Outbound Security Inspection ‘Smart Lanes' throughout all three Manchester Airport Terminals.

Manchester Airport aims to make the customer journey easy by providing clean, working, simple and safe facilities.

Following the security alerts in August 2006, Manchester Airport recognised that the restrictions on liquids could cause additional inconvenience and confusion amongst passengers.  This, coupled with a passenger trend away from landside shopping, drove Manchester Airport to rethink the design of its three terminals.

Manchester Airport has made a multi million pound investment in reshaping its terminals to extend and relocate all passenger security search areas next to check-in to ensure passengers were given the upmost time to successfully clear the security search area and be able to avail of World class departure lounge facilities once airside.

Manchester Airport was keen to achieve security search areas that not only provided more space but also gave passengers a more efficient and pleasant experience without compromising on security and safety.

Manchester Airport enlisted the assistance of MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd to design an automated scheme for the outbound security X-Ray lines that would accommodate the efficient processing of passengers through the security screening area.

The decision was made to undertake a simultaneous engineering exercise with the involvement of the Manchester Airport security department and other key Manchester Airport departments throughout the design process.

The key criteria put in place as part of the SE exercise included the following elements; Dft and Government security approval; Passenger Efficiency, Acceptance & Usability; Operator Simplicity; Operator Ergonomics; Robustness and Redundancy; Maintainability and Cost effectiveness.

Following a number of preliminary designs a final prototype was presented to the Manchester Airport security operators to prove the system and input the user and operator perspective to the design.

Upon completion of the offsite trials, testing, evaluation and the adoption of continuous improvement principles, a final optimum design was established.

This final design was then soak tested in a live environment at Manchester Airport.

The successful completion of these trials has resulted in the order being placed with MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd for thirty of the new ‘Smart lane’ Outbound Security Lanes which will be installed within all three of the Manchester Airport Terminals.