Soon, the labyrinthine aisles at Wal-Mart’s distribution centers – stocked high with canned beans, toys and many other products – could also have a low humming sound.
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At a demonstration Thursday at a dry goods distribution center here, a drone moved up and down an aisle packed almost to the ceiling with boxes, taking 30 images per second.
This was revealed by Walmart’s VP of Emerging Sciences Shekar Natarajan, who demonstrated the technology to reports from one of the company’s distribution centers. Keeping its operations lean and effective – in part by making sure that the right items get to the right stores – is even more important for Wal-Mart as shoppers restrain spending in an uncertain economic environment and online rivals lure away customers. A control tower will oversee the images on a screen and will send alerts when items are flagged so that workers can go back to the stacks to fix the issue.
In addition to testing drones, Wal-Mart on Thursday showed off one of six “automatic case label” machines that significantly trims the amount of time it takes to sort merchandise in the distribution center. While drones could “potentially” mean there would be less demand for human labor, Walmart “could” also just use them for new tasks in the warehouse – like repairing drones! The job also is risky for humans, requiring them to ride a lift several stories into the air to reach the top shelves. The company said drones may have other applications, perhaps even in its stores, but did not give details. The drone is fully automated, but was manually controlled during the demonstration as it flew up and down warehouse shelves, captured images and determined whether products were in the right place in the distribution center. But before that happens, drones may start working on inventory management inside Walmart’s warehouses, flying around and scanning items to see what is running low. The switch to drones could cut the time it takes to check the inventory throughout a facility that spans roughly 1.2 million square feet, or the equivalent of 26 football fields, from one month to one day. Walmart’s drones would be used to check warehouse inventories in the US.
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In October 2015, the world’s largest retailer applied to USA regulators for permission to test drones for home delivery, curbside pickup and checking warehouse inventories as it planned to use drones to fill and deliver online orders. The Federal Aviation Administration now bans commercial drone flights but has granted several thousand waivers.
