Walmart’s Use of Drones: It’s About the Inventory!

According to news reports Wal-Mart is claiming to be 6-9 months away from incorporating drones into its’ inventory management processes. A step which they believe will enable them to better compete with rivals.

Several large firms have been looking at drones for delivery of online orders. SHL, Amazon, and Wal-Mart have invested a tremendous amount of resources in drone technology and development. However, Wal-Mart clearly sees an alternative benefit to drones other than dropping a package on your doorstep.

Walmart’s Vice President of Last Mile and Emerging Sciences Shekar Natarajan demonstrated the use of drones to reporters in one of the company’s regional distribution centers. The drones captured 30 frames per second of products on aisles and alerted the “pilot” when products were becoming depleted or not properly stocked. “It’s really the technology that mounts on the drones that makes it very important,” Shekar Natarajan, Walmart’s vice president of logistics strategy, told reporters.

The notion of scanning large quantities of inventory quickly and reliably for analysis and control is a major application across other industries such as agriculture and mining.

In October 2015, Wal-Mart applied to U.S. regulators for permission to test drones . Reuters reported at that time, “In the FAA application, Wal-Mart said it wanted to test drones for taking stock of trailers and other items in the parking lot of a warehouse using electronic tagging and other methods. A Wal-Mart distribution center could have hundreds of trailers waiting in its yard, and a drone could potentially be used to quickly account for what each one is holding.”

Apparently, given the recent demo, Wal-Mart is just about there.

“We are still in early phases of testing and understanding how drones can be better used in different types of business functions,” Natarajan said.