Why Geodis is pushing automated drones into warehouses

AUTHOR

Barry Hochfelder@barryhoch21

PUBLISHED

April 12, 2018

Dive Brief:

• A completely automated warehouse inventory solution, developed by French companies Geodis and Delta Drone, will be fully operational by the end of 2018 after a successful trial period, according to a Geodis press release.
• Industrialized production of the solution is under way.​ Drones will be able to capture inventory outside of normal working hours without disrupting operations or human intervention.
• Employees will no longer have to do the difficult, time-consuming and sometimes risky job of picking inventory, leading to safer and more reliable inventory management practices.

For example, Argon, a Paris-based supply chain consulting firm, says inventorying a warehouse with 2,500 references would require 100 people over two days. If only done once a year, that can result in as much as a 10% margin of error.

Two more Paris-based companies, global 3PL Geodis and drone manufacturer Delta Drone, think they have the answer. Following two years of development and extensive testing in real operating conditions, they have developed a completely automated warehouse inventory system using drones.

"The tests conducted during this initial development phase show that the solution enables inventory to be managed reliably with rates close to 100%," according to the press release.

Initially, the system will be used exclusively in Geodis’s warehouses, but once industrialized, it will likely be offered more widely and could revolutionize warehouse operations by accelerating processes and improving efficiency and safety.