In the duration of this project for the Virtual Reality
course at the University of Twente, a concept
is designed for KLM Catering Services (KCS) and
focuses on improving the loading of catering
trolleys by KCS employees.

In the current situation, employees manually
pick trays and place them at the right spot in the
trolley. Employees receive a Production Order Card,
that displays the contents for a trolley and their
placement. However, to get all the information, employees have to walk up to a computer and check the complete order in the ERP system. Moreover, there is a steep learning curve for employees to get to know all the codes and items that can be on a tray. 

The current way of providing information to
trolley loading employees is quite complicated
due to the many different information sources.

LevelLED Up! simplifies the information for
KCS trolley loading employees with several
components. At the end of the conveyor belt, the
trays coming in are scanned by the use of fiducial
markers. A screen next to the conveyor belt
shows the intended contents on a tray. This way
an employee can check if a tray is filled correctly.
The orientation of trays can be indicated here
as well. A temporary LED strip is added to the
trolleys, so lights can indicate the level where a
tray should be placed. Normally an employee
would see just the tray contents as a picture, but
especially for people still in training, it is possible
to click on the screen and get more detailed
information on the specific items.
In this report, the concept is explained in further
detail. An analysis is done to get a better idea of
the problem and the requirements for a solution.
After defining the vision for this project, and the
goal for the solution, different ideas are explored
in an ideation phase. The report explains the
rationale behind design decisions and sets out
the final concept including requirements for
each component. Lastly, advice is given for the
further development and implementation of this
solution at the KLM Catering Services factory.

For the full report, click here.