Third-party logistics service provider (3PL) Wagner Logistics is reaping the rewards of a more accurate inventory cycle counting solution, thanks to technology from warehouse automation company Gather AI. The Missouri-based 3PL is counting inventory faster, reducing errors, and improving employee safety with the tech provider’s drone-powered inventory monitoring system, which helps ease labor constraints so companies can make the most of the valuable workers they have on hand.
THE CHALLENGE
Wagner Logistics specializes in contract warehousing and transportation across 31 U.S. markets. Unable to find enough labor to support its Monroe, Louisiana, facility—the largest in the Wagner network, handling nearly 500,000 pallets per year—company leaders needed to find a way to better utilize existing staff. They wanted to free up workers, especially inventory control specialists, from repetitive inventory monitoring so they could focus on more value-added tasks and improve operations throughout the warehouse—a monumental undertaking, given the Northern Louisiana facility’s large inventory volume.
Wagner turned to Gather AI to implement a drone-powered inventory monitoring solution to help solve those challenges.
THE SOLUTION
Gather AI’s software allows drones to fly autonomously through warehouses, with no GPS or Wi-Fi, to photograph inventory stored in pallet locations. The AI (artificial intelligence) system then reads barcodes, text, and other information in the photographs and automatically compares it with what’s in the company’s warehouse management system (WMS). The warehouse manager can then view inventory data in real time from a web dashboard and easily identify and fix inventory exceptions, even creating a to-do list for their team, according to Gather AI.
The solution automates the laborious part of inventory monitoring, counts 15 times faster than manual methods, and requires no process or structural changes to a company’s warehouse operations. The system can be used in very narrow aisles and eliminates the need to use material handling equipment for cycle counting operations.
THE RESULTS
Prior to working with Gather AI, Wagner’s staff needed six to eight weeks to take a full inventory of the facility’s 45,000 rack locations. But once the drone-based system was put in place, workers were able to complete the task in half the time, with fewer people.
“We can only physically visit so many locations in a day, but with a drone, we’re able to check locations faster and get ahead,” Robin Romero, a Wagner industrial engineer, said in a statement describing the project. “So, if we accidentally misplace a pallet, we have a much higher chance of finding it before it ages out or we need it for a shipping order. The Gather AI solution really increased the speed of finding lost product and makes the warehouse not feel so big.”
That faster turnaround also adds up to greater accuracy: Wagner has been able to reduce inventory errors by 50% since implementing the drones, which represents roughly a million dollars’ worth of product, according to the two companies.
It’s also contributing to a better overall work environment. Wagner’s leaders say the solution has improved safety and mitigated risk because employees no longer need to go up on lifts multiple times a day.
On top of that, it has helped prevent future inventory monitoring and process issues.
“For example, if there’s an area of the warehouse that consistently sees cycle count errors, the team can assume there may be a network issue and look into it,” according to Gather AI.
