Special Report
Something old, something new
Despite a changing industry, MNH Sustainable Cabin Services manages to combine money saving with eco protection. Laura Gelder talks to managing director Matt Rance about sustainable business
What does MNH do? Really what we’re about is looking at some of the specialist supply chains in the airline industry – the ones that get products onboard the aircraft but also the channels that they come back through. We’re managing these supply chains and controlling their flow. A lot of the industry is geared up to getting product to the aircraft but there isn’t a great deal looking at the reverse logistics and that focus is something we bring into our specialist areas.
How did you come up with the concept and how have you developed it over the last 10 years of operation? Our first client was Virgin Atlantic, as originally some of us here at MNH worked for them. Looking at the waste coming off the aircraft was what really identified the opportunity for us. It then developed into being what can be salvaged (starting with pristine items), but moreover it’s taken a much more holistic view of whether the products should be loaded in the first place. Are we loading the correct amount? Are they being loaded in the correct container? And are the steps taken to get the products onboard as lean as possible? It’s looking at waste from every aspect: as lean logistics, as unnecessary use or literally as waste being thrown away. It could be financial waste (the reason we get introduced to an airline) but there is also environmental waste. By looking at the whole discipline around these areas, and most importantly tracking and controlling, we can start to understand where savings can be made.
With a number of airlines, following the waste
How do you identify wastage? We look at products which are being unnecessarily thrown away, like headphones or amenity kits. Quite often we can look at the whole supply chain and the touch points of those items to minimise losses. To audit we put in a supply chain specialist to look for inefficiencies and areas to improve. We also do a waste audit, looking at what goes in and what comes out and the touch points. Typically when we work with an airline the first thing we do is go through their bins!
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audit we work with weight reduction teams and onboard product teams to look at re-engineering products when they realise what proportion of waste these products account for. Our initial assessment takes six weeks and our average contract is three years.
Can you really make financial savings? There are huge financial savings available – obviously depending on the state of the supply chain that we inherit. But once we get it into a
strong position, it’s a question of maintaining that and cost avoidance.
Does your role vary depending on the client? Yes, it can vary from a consultancy role to physically doing the work required. We have offices in Gatwick, Heathrow and now Sydney Airport, where we’ve been for two years. This came about from a joint working party with Qantas. Now we work in partnership with their inflight service team. We do what the client wants and that varies
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