Santa Claus' Crew Management

Ho ho ho, it’s Christmas time again and my most experienced reindeer Rudolph and I have got our hands full. So many children – and adults too, of course – are looking forward to the celebrations and a few days of peace and contemplation. But no Christmas would be complete without presents. After all, being Santa I know perfectly well that giving brings as much joy as receiving.

This means we have to make sure that every Christmas package reaches its destination at the right time. This year we are better organized than ever and can finally enjoy the run-up to Christmas a little more. That’s because we now have digital support from Lufthansa Systems with a software package that can help us to coordinate all of our reindeer. NetLine/Crew is the name of the solution in question.

We have entered every reindeer in the software by name together with other essential information such as the language each reindeer speaks, whether they deliver on a full-time or part-time basis, and so on. Of course, I have also planned our reindeer capacity for Christmas time accordingly.

Reindeer satisfaction and happiness is a must for Christmas

My reindeer can also express their own wishes – it is Christmas after all, ho ho ho! They can tell the system which routes they want to fly. Comet would like to fly from Skagen on the route via Tromso, with a small detour via Murmansk and on to Oulu, Turku and Helsinki, as that is where his family lives. Blitzen, on the other hand, will be setting off for Canada to finally visit his cousin again. Of course, I would like to fulfill all of my reindeer’s wishes wherever possible.

Rules and regulations also apply to Santa‘s sledge operation

The system takes their route requests and the destinations around the world where we need to deliver presents and works out a sophisticated plan. I also know that my reindeer need a break and a day off every now and again, and the system takes this into account too. It also knows which reindeer has the training required for each size of sleigh and when this training needs to be refreshed. The size of sleigh is important for knowing the number and size of presents to load. Dancer, for example, is an inexperienced reindeer who pulls a smaller sleigh. This also makes the route shorter.

Even if one of the reindeer twists their hoof on the journey – which, of course, I hope they don't – and has to take a break, there’s no need for me to break out in a cold sweat, as NetLine/Crew has a solution ready for this situation too. The system knows which reindeer are nearby to step in and complete the route.

So, as far as I’m concerned, bring on Christmas!