Denver Airport Baggage System Case Study

Denver International

88 airport gates in 3 concourses

17 miles of track and 5 miles of conveyor belts

3,100 standard carts + 450 oversized carts

14 million feet of wiring

Network of more than 100 PC’s to control flow of carts

5,000 electric motors

2,700 photo cells, 400 radio receivers and 59 laser arrays

1993

1995

August 2005

Key Decisions that Led to Disaster

A change in strategy

The decision to proceed

Schedule, scope and budget

commitments

Acceptance of change

requests

Design of the physical building

structure

The decision to seek a different

path

What Project Managers Can Learn From The Titanic

Failure To Learn From Prior Mistakes Blinded By Science

Absence Of Sufficient Life Rafts

Thank You