Drones

Whether for an oddly shaped, oversized piece of industrial equipment or the roof of a large warehouse, logistics organizations usually utilize a human crew to measure asset dimensions and identify inconsistencies and points of damage. Often, these routine processes can take many hours, as mismeasuring or missing a fracture can lead to costly consequences. Additionally, these tasks sometimes involve safety risks as workers may need to climb heights and walk on an uneven surface to properly measure or inspect an asset.

Drones with cameras, light detection and ranging (LiDAR) capabilities, or other sensing technology have demonstrated the ability to accurately perform these tasks, saving workers’ time and exposure to risky environments. Dutch start-up Mainblades provides an inspection service for airplanes, using drones to identify paint quality, lightning damage, and other blemishes and discrepancies and creating inspection reports faster than the 2-3 aircraft engineers that would usually be required to perform the same task. Meanwhile, FairFleet utilizes drones to measure large assets and shipments in facility yards, with accuracy to within a few centimeters.

Logistics facilities from ports to warehouse yards often cover large areas, making it difficult for security personnel to assess on-site damage and detect perimeter intrusion. A subset of drone providers focuses on this use case to help logistics organizations maintain the security and integrity of their property.

Nightingale Security, for example, offers a drone security service with multiple autonomous functions. Scheduled patrols of facility areas at different altitudes with varying hover durations, and camera directions can be pre-programmed at suitable times and on different days. If human or vehicle intruders are detected in any of the areas, the drone sends alerts to security personnel for further analysis. Furthermore, if an alarm is triggered by, say, a warehouse perimeter breach, the system automatically dispatches a drone to the local area and begins a live-stream video. If an emergency such as a fire starts, security teams can manually take control of the drone to pilot and properly monitor events.

As different types of cameras, from night vision to thermal imaging and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled devices, are put to use in security drones, these can help the security personnel of logistics organizations cover more ground in less time. Using its own in-house solution in South America, DHL has succeeded in reducing the time needed for patrolling from several hours to a mere 20 minutes.

Currently, many logistics organizations rely on human personnel to check inventory in facilities, particularly shelves for pallets. As shipments enter, rotate, and leave the warehouse, workers have to assess and confirm stock counts and vacancy rates on shelves. While several technologies aim to automate this process, drones are seen as a viable solution for what can be an expensive and time-consuming activity.

Instead of having dozens of workers scanning codes and recording placements, drones can quickly perform the same tasks without needing large warehouse vehicles like aerial work platforms to examine the higher shelves. Whole fleets of drones can operate autonomously, with only one worker needed to manage and assess flagged circumstances. Furthermore, as completing an inventory no longer requires a large workforce, companies can check stock more frequently, increasing warehouse management system (WMS) accuracy and further optimizing facility operations.