When inventory systems break down, businesses break down. Effective planning becomes impossible. Customers’ needs are left unmet. Costs increase, often to the point of making a business unprofitable.
ZenaDrone is leveraging the latest technology to help businesses keep inventory systems up and running effectively and efficiently. Considering its name, you will not be surprised to learn that ZenaDrone develops drone technology. You may be surprised, however, by the many ways that drone technology can be used in inventory management systems.
“Inventory management was a complicated endeavor before the COVID-19 pandemic and has become even more complicated in its aftermath,” says Shaun Passley, Chairman and CEO of ZenaDrone. “Manufacturers face the challenge of managing thousands of products in their commercial warehouses and storage facilities. Systems that rely on manually counting suffer from gross inefficiencies. As the number of products grows, keeping them easily accessible becomes a monumental task. Without proper organization, locating items becomes tedious and time-consuming.”
The ZenaDrone 1000 is an intelligent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that incorporates machine learning software and artificial intelligence (AI). While it was created to revolutionize the farming sector, it has evolved into a multi-functional industrial smart drone.
“Drone technology provides endless practical uses to a wide range of industries,” explains Shaun. “When customized to meet a particular industry’s needs, commercial drones bring features and functionality that make them easy to understand, access, and operate. When it comes to inventory management, drones streamline inspection and monitoring, reduce workforce costs, and allow for increased efficiency through automation.”
Leveraging drones for inventory audits
Inventory audits are laborious tasks, but ones that nevertheless must be carried out regularly. Products and supplies on hand — which often can be spread across multiple facilities — must be counted, recorded, and compared to past records. Typically, these audits require dedicated manpower. Sometimes, they can require operational downtime. Increasing efficiencies in this area is an easy way for businesses to decrease costs and increase profits.
“Employing UAVs in the inventory process dramatically streamlines the process,” Shaun explains. “They can be equipped with technology that empowers them to scan barcodes, RFID tags, QR codes, and text labels.”
When inventory is well organized, the drone’s movements can be automated. The ZenaDrone 1000 can fly on a pre-scheduled, automatic flight plan. The pilot controller can create pre-determined flight routes using mobile software that can be activated and carried out as often as necessary.
In addition, drones can relieve employees of the danger in auditing inventory stored at greater heights. Lifts, ladders, and the safety concerns that come with them are taken out of the picture. Overall, using drones for inventory audits makes commercial warehouses safer and more efficient.
Leveraging drones for cycle counting
Cycle counting is an important process that allows businesses to keep business interruptions to a minimum, keep overhead costs low, better manage safety stock, and streamline company-wide inventory audits. Unfortunately, it can also be an expensive, erroneous, slow, dangerous, and labor-intensive process.
ZenaDrone’s technology modernizes the cycle counting process in a way that decreases costs and increases efficiency. The ZenaDrone 1000 enables an innovative approach to cycle counting that does not require interrupting the operation of the whole physical inventory.
Leveraging drones for stock finding
In a typical warehouse, all boxes look similar. Finding a specific item requires more than a glance. With the proper customization, drones become a tool for enhanced visual scanning and stock finding. The ZenaDrone 1000 uses software integration to search inventory by scanning barcodes and quickly identifying the location of any item.
The supply chain issues caused by the pandemic have put more pressure than ever on businesses that must still carefully manage their inventory. Keeping customers satisfied demands having a firm grasp of on-hand products and the demand for them. Tapping into the drone technology provided by ZenaDrone can give businesses an invaluable competitive edge in managing their inventories and supply chains.
