In an effort to improve its warehouse inventory management, Maersk North America has deployed drones from Verity that can eliminate the need for staff to work at heights when scanning inventory.
The drones ‘navigate from pallet to pallet, collecting accurate inventory data in three dimensions by scanning barcodes at any height using onboard, high-resolution cameras’. They take photos of stock keeping units (SKUs) on pallets to identify inventory errors such as missing or misplaced pallets.
Data can be collected and then compared with existing data from a warehouse management system (WMS) to offer staff valuable insights.
Maersk claims that the Verity drones require only one day of training to operate. It also says that they can operate throughout the night and at weekends without the need for overhead lighting, returning to the battery charging pad when necessary.
Erez Agmoni, Senior Vice President of Innovation & Strategic Growth for Maersk North America, said: “As a supply chain integrator, we are constantly looking for new innovations and engineering solutions in our warehouse operations.
“We wanted to deploy a safer, more accurate, data-driven inventory solution that addressed our decarbonisation goals for customers and prevented our workforce from working at heights.
“Verity’s system has delivered data accuracy, safety, and speed which makes our warehouse management system stronger, faster, and more effective for customer decision-making.
“We view the Verity solution as an important differentiator to make our customers more competitive through higher quality, faster inventory data.”
