#1: Leveraging drones for warehouse inventory management
Drones are an increasingly hot topic in the air cargo community and at industry conferences as carriers move to acquire variations of the technology for aircraft safety checks and cargo delivery. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is also showing increasing support for unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operations.
dnata Dubai recently tested a new application of drone technology for inventory management in its facilities at Dubai World Central Airport (DWC). In the tests, remote-controlled drones were guided to fly up and scan the barcodes of cargo on shelves in dnata’s warehouses using a conventional barcode scanner attached to the drone. When a barcode is scanned, the data is uploaded into the company’s warehouse management system for processing.
Divisional senior vice president at dnata Dubai, Steve Allen, told Cargo Airport News that the working group is currently reviewing the outcomes of the project and will determine whether the project is worthwhile moving forward. In the long run, however, the company expects that drone technology will aid its operations as ground handlers will be able to efficiently check and manage inventory.