ATLANTA, GA—Few environments are more hostile to a kiosk than an airport. Rammed by baggage carts, side-swiped by luggage, kicked by children and doused with coffee, airport kiosks come into contact, in one way or another, with hundreds of hurried passengers every day. Despite this, they must offer a stylish appearance and keep looking new years down the road. Sound like a tough design-build challenge? It gets even tougher when a new generation kiosk must be manufactured at one-tenth the cost of the kiosk it’s replacing.

Such was the case with Delta’s self-standing e-ticket kiosk. Faced with the task, Creative Kiosk of Norcross, Ga., turned to membrane pressing of 3D components with rigid thermofoil, replacing the conventional sheet metal exoskeleton of traditional kiosks with an internal steel frame and yielding a combination of qualities not previously attainable.

“You would expect to see sheet metal on a kiosk enclosure in an airport environment because it is seemingly so durable,” explains Tom Zaken, director of national program development at Creative Kiosk, which designs and fabricates a variety of products for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, including the check-in kiosk enclosure. “Unfortunately, sheet metal has limitations in terms of flexibility and appearance." He cited sharp edges, the need for bare metal or a powdercoated finish, and the possibility of damage that is irreparable in the field.

“And while laminates—both high- and low-pressure—have more flexibility in terms of surface finish, they still produce seams and sharp edges, and their durability in an airport environment is questionable,” he adds. “I’ve seen too many chipped laminate edges while walking through airports.”

Zaken maintains that he has not seen the same kind of wear on components membrane pressed with Renolit film, a rigid thermofoil (RTF) by American Renolit. “Membrane-pressing also offers us increased design freedom because the film conforms to virtually any shape that can be routed into MDF board, including rounded corners, edge detail, deep recesses, and brand identification. It’s also seamless, easy to keep clean, and cost-effective,” he notes.

Successful Design Requires Thinking Outside the Box

In 1998, Delta introduced six self-service kiosks at Boston’s Logan International Airport. The kiosks, designed to allow Delta Shuttle passengers to save time while checking in for flights, were just the tip of a large, expensive campaign designed to purge inefficiencies from virtually every area of the air carrier’s operation. Hundreds of kiosks were to be deployed across America over the next several years.

The stainless steel enclosures were attractive but, at more than $10,000 each, too costly for a national rollout. Maintenance also proved expensive because damage to the enclosure required the entire kiosk to be removed for repair.

Zaken and his team worked closely with Delta to define precisely what qualities were required of the new kiosk. “Delta wanted a minimalist design that would be attractive, yet durable, highly affordable to manufacture and maintain, and consistent with the company’s color scheme of stainless steel, white and burlwood finishes,” he says. “It was clear that merely improving on existing kiosk designs would not yield the radical improvements required by Delta.“It required a complete rethink of kiosk design that capitalized on new methods available to shape and surface 3D components.”

Instead of relying on the enclosure for structural support, the team used an internal steel frame. For the exterior, they affixed 3D membrane-pressed panels clad in a rigid thermofoil (RTF) material from American Renolit Corp. that simulates stainless steel. A burl wood shelf on the front of the kiosk completes the overall look.

Click for panel-making details

“With this design, we can manufacture the kiosks at one-tenth the cost of the original design,” he says. “And while the stainless steel design looked like a metal box, the new design, which has rounded edges and a softer finish, is more appealing to the eye and hopefully more attractive to Delta customers.”

Design Pays Off

Overall cost was reduced in many ways. “Not only is the Renolit film more cost-effective than stainless steel, but membrane pressing also offers manufacturing advantages over sheet metal fabrication,” says Zaken. The process allows production of panels in short timeframes and short runs, which is typical of the kiosk market. Membrane pressing is also a relatively quick, semi-automated process with low tooling costs.

“The team at Delta also appreciated the standard parts replacement system that allows a single damaged panel to be quickly replaced onsite,” adds Zaken. But the system hasn’t been used. “Even though some of the kiosks have been in airports for nearly four years, Delta has yet to order any replacement parts,” he adds.

Today, more than 860 Delta kiosks are scattered throughout 81 U.S. cities, and Zaken speculates that approximately 400 have stand-alone enclosures. In 2003, more than 20 million customers chose Delta’s self-service kiosks to check in for their flights, almost tripling customer usage over 2002 (7.4 million check-ins) and eclipsing the 2001 usage rate (400,000 check-ins). Over 2 million customers a month use Delta’s kiosks to check in, check baggage, change flights, select seat assignment, and more, and that number is growing. Kiosk check-in is reportedly increasing 15 to 20 percent each month. Dozens of stand-alone IROP (Irregular Operation) kiosks handle changes required by checked-in passengers, with a second run of these enclosures planned in several months, says Zaken. Delta continues to roll out more kiosks and is expanding its self-service kiosk network to Continental and Northwest Codeshare customers.