Mondi Deploys Autonomous Drones to Scan Inventory in Its Warehouses
Mondi is a global leader in packaging and paper, contributing to a better world by making innovative solutions that are sustainable by design. Its business runs the gamut from managing forests and producing pulp, paper, and films, to developing and manufacturing sustainable consumer and industrial packaging solutions using paper where possible and plastic when useful. With €8.9 billion in revenue in 2022, 22,000 employees and roughly 100 production sites, even small improvements can make a big impact.
How Can We Rethink the Inventory Process?
Always innovating, Mondi took a closer look at a process that no one complained too much about and worked fine for years – taking inventory at their warehouses. The process looked like this: It takes three workers coming in on the weekends, outside of normal operating hours, to inventory a warehouse. One worker drives a forklift manually lifting two workers in a secured metal cage up and down every aisle of the warehouse floor until they have manually scanned every pallet, box, crate and barrel. Wanting to reimagine the way this process was completed, Mondi partnered with Anyline to explore new potential solutions. Is there a way to improve efficiency? Safety? What if we could get a drone to do it??
These are the Drones You are Looking For
Before settling on drones, Mondi tested several technology options including handheld RFID and camera scanners, but they didn’t cut it. The company partnered with Anyline to leverage its mobile data capture technology within DJI Mini 3 Pro drones. A scanning drone is cool, but one that flies itself is even cooler, so they programmed the drone to be autonomous once it is queued at a fixed starting point. Now, a single drone operator with his or her feet squarely planted on the ground can start a drone with a single screen touch and it will autonomously scan all the inventory aisle-by-aisle in a warehouse during operating hours. The new modern process is safer for warehouse workers and the entire process now alleviates a mandatory after-hours full warehouse count all at once.
