The Past of Supply Chain
The Transportation and Supply Chain Industry is a constantly changing and adapting environment. There are constant new additions to make things more efficient. Some of the things that come up often are Self-Operated Trucks and automated warehouse vehicles
People are constantly looking for ways to update the Supply Chain to make it more efficient. Which brings us to the topic of the article: Drones. Drones only became popular in the last decade, and only became affordable for everyone in the last 5-6 years. Before that, the tech seemed a little out of reach. But if you were to ask someone about GPS decades ago, they would’ve thought you were insane. At one point truckers would make a phone call on a land line or, get their destination on said phone or over fax, and use a map to make their way across the United States. Now, they can negotiate business sitting in their truck on either the phone or over email, punch in the address to their GPS, and use that to make it to their destination. Times are certainly changing. But as far as drones go, we’ve heard all kinds of uses and potential uses for these little pieces of technology.
How Drones are Used in Supply Chain Now
Drones are actually already used in the Supply Chain right now. The majority of the current uses include their camera to recognize things that we can’t see with our eyes, or their camera to more quickly locate something. These are most common in warehouses, ports, and freight yards. The camera recognizes QR codes that help identify containers and shipments in warehouses/freight yards, and this cuts down on the time that people spend searching for something they misplaced. Or companies use them to fly up beside a container ship and read QR codes on containers, helping with inventorying the ship. This is helpful because it keeps people from having to climb up and spend time in elevated services, something that is much safer.
The Future of Drones
There are many possibilities for ways we could implement drones into the future for Supply Chain. For example, Amazon has been talking for years about using drones to help complete the final stage of orders. They want to use them to deliver right to people’s doorstep. In fact, they are just now beginning to beta test these drone deliveries in Lockeford, California. They’re operating under a FAA air carrier certificate to work with authorities and see if the large-scale implementation of these drones is possible. If so, Amazon will likely want to widespread implement this system in places they have large distribution centers.
Larger drones, such as UAV, have the potential to replace airfreight in emergencies. Another major option for these larger drones is not only the identification of shipments and products, but the ability to pick and place them as well. This might not be possible with shipping containers, but large warehouses could use them to grab a product on a shopping list. It would maximize efficiency for large distributors, as drones could likely
Drones have enormous potential for simplifying parts of the Supply Chain. There are things they will never be able to help with, but the possibilities of their uses grow every day.
- AI Multiple. https://research.aimultiple.com/supply-chain-automation/
- Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/20/amazon-delivery-drones-california-cowboy-horses/
- American Journal of Transportation. https://ajot.com/news/the-future-of-drones-in-transportation-and-logistics