Walmart, the largest retailer in the country, is testing its own fleet of drones to handle product inventory. The company’s large distribution centers that supply thousands of stores nationwide will be buzzing with drones in the next six to nine months.
A demonstration on Thursday in Walmart’s dry goods distribution center showcased a drone flying down an aisle of densely packed boxes, buzzing past products and taking 30 photos every second. For Walmart, the drones could cover product cataloging in as little as a day, and this is something employees do in a month with archaic, hand-held devices. The drones would essentially mimic the movements of the employees but eliminate the need for hand-held scanners and forklifts that manually scan and reach products placed up high.
Walmart has been cleared for testing its fleet of package-tracking drones. The company asked the FAA for permission last year. Lorenzo Lopez, a spokesman for Walmart, stated that workers will still be deployed to handle the drones, but they could also be working other parts of the centers. The idea is that fewer workers would be needed to stock and report missing items.
Drones will be tested in the next six to nine months, so it’ll be a while before the final iteration takes flight. In addition to distribution center drones, Walmart also hinted at deploying drones in stores.
The focus is to continue offering customers lower prices while souping up Walmart’s online shopping to compete with online shopping behemoth, Amazon. Speaking of which, Amazon has yet to deploy its drone delivery service, so for now, it’s a game of drones to see which company’s take off first.
Source: New York Times
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