Drone-powered scanning for inferred case counting and location occupancy

Gather AI has added inferred case counting and location occupancy to its drone-powered inventory scanning product.

With the Gather AI solution, warehouses can scan up to 900 pallets per hour. Drones take pictures of each location. The AI analyzes the pictures, reading multiple barcodes and text and detecting empty locations.

The solution will show inferred case counts for full and partial pallets and location occupancy percentages on the customer web dashboard, reducing the time and labour of verifying case counts. It will also help warehouses find space to consolidate inventory, avoiding honeycombing. 

“Several customers require us to count cases as part of our cycle counting program,” says AJ Raaker, director Of warehouse development at Taylor Logistics Inc., a third-party logistics provider.

“Using Gather AI’s drone inventory monitoring and the inferred case count feature is 87 percent more efficient than having our team do physical cycle counting. The efficiency gain enables our team to prioritize revenue-generating direct labour activities.“

Using inferred case counting, warehouse operators can reduce the time spent on manual counts by 90 percent. Computer vision and AI compare information extracted from images to estimate the number of cases on a pallet with what’s stored in the warehouse management system (WMS).

Pallets with few cases are flagged so they can be replenished before items run out and shipments are missed. Warehouse operators can prioritize labour by having people count only the pallets that are off from what the WMS expects.

This location occupancy function lets warehouse operators know where to consolidate pallets, increase space utilization, and improve fixed expense efficiency. Computer vision and AI read images to measure the space available on a pallet. The solution will identify consolidation opportunities.