In an interview with DC magazine, the CEO of PINC, Matt Yearling, explained what drones have to offer companies in terms of warehouse inventory management and how aerial robotics can eliminate expensive ambiguities in inventory tracking. Here is a summary of the key benefits of this innovative supply chain technology.

Drone Supply Chain Use: A New Innovation from PINC

When PINC began in 2004, our focus was on developing software for optimizing yard management. This software was designed to help companies identify, orchestrate, and locate inventory from its source to its destination and drive up product value.

After experiencing success with yard management systems for very congested trailer operations, our customers started asking for more. Next came finished vehicle tracking for the automotive industry, and more recently we have moved into the area of aerial robotics for warehouse inventory management.

The Benefits of Drones in the Warehouse

Drones, or essentially aerial robots, have an important role in tracking inventory in hard-to-reach areas. While they have great potential for use in remote locations like Africa, aerial robots are currently being used across the United States for warehouse inventory management—to reduce error and increase value for companies with a large amount of inventory.

Compared to other solutions, drones offer the highest return on investment (ROI) as they offer multiple services:

• Providing a visual picture of what is happening in the building
• Calculating the volume of aggregates
• Automating the optical recognition of companies’ existing barcodes, RFID, and number-and-text labels
• Creating real-time analytics and insights into your inventory and product movement and uploading it to the cloud

Automation of Warehouse Inventory Management for Improved Accuracy

When most companies are asked about the accuracy of their inventory, most will reply with a figure at around 99%. In actual fact, this accuracy is often much lower, with a figure as low as 78% once the products reach the store. By automating processes with a drone-tracked supply chain, the element of human error is taken away for a much higher rate of accuracy.

A Better Use of Human Resources

When we talk about the automation of repetitive jobs such as reading labels and checking inventory, we aren’t necessarily talking about replacing people with machines. While the aerial robots would take over the repetitive jobs of reading labels, employees would change their roles to those of drone pilots, camera observation personnel, and data analysts.

By reallocating the warehouse inventory management work in this way, not only are employees kept safer by staying on the ground, but they are also using their intelligence and creativity in a more meaningful way.

Discover What PINC Can Do for You

As the number-one provider of automated warehouse inventory management, PINC can develop drone supply chain solutions to optimize your company’s supply chain. Our software is scalable and can be integrated seamlessly with your existing Warehouse Management System (WMS) for minimal hassle.

Contact us today to get started.