After Amazon and its robots, now it's Walmart's turn to invest in new technologies to improve operations at its Distribution Centers. In May, the retail giant announced that it is investing in drones to manage storage in its more than 150 distribution centers in the United States.
The announcement of the use of the new technology came along with a demonstration for a group of reporters at the distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas. In tests, a drone equipped with cameras flew through the aisles of Walmart's dry goods DC scanning stocked items at a speed of 30 images per second. Controlled by just one employee, the aircraft simulated the movements of a person using a forklift to inspect inventory.
The expectation of Walmart executives is that the drones catalog in one day what a group of employees would take a month to register. In addition to considerably speeding up storage management, the process also reduces the number of employees in the operation, which can free up staff for other tasks.
This isn't Walmart's only project involving drones. In November 2015, the company filed a request with the US Federal Aviation Agency to test the use of drones in home deliveries, along the lines of what Amazon has already been testing. Both projects are led by Walmart's Emerging Technologies and Sciences group, which is also looking at using virtual reality and artificial intelligence to improve the company's supply chain.
According to Walmart's plans, the drones should be "working" at the company's DCs within six to nine months. Each Walmart distribution center in the United States occupies an area of approximately 100 m2, equivalent to more than 11 soccer fields the size of Maracanã, and serves between 100 and 150 stores within a 250 km radius.
References:
<http://corporate.walmart.com/our-story/our-business>
<http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/2/11845366/walmart-drones-warehouse-robots-jobs>
<http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/26/reuters-reports-walmart-is-asking-faa-for-permission-to-fly-dron/>
Alexandre Lobo
https://ilos.com.brGraduated in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and in Social Communication from Faculdades Integradas Hélio Alonso (FACHA). Expertise in several projects with emphasis on market analysis for companies such as Unilever, Intertank, Invepar, Aqces, Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank.
