This Omni Talk Retail Fast Five segment, sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, Quorso, and Veloq, explores Kroger’s use of autonomous drones inside sub freezing distribution centers.
Chris Walton and Jenn Hahn discuss how drone technology could transform warehouse inventory management and eliminate some of the most difficult cold chain tasks.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcripts
Speaker A:
And we are going back to Kroger, Chris.
Speaker A:
We're going back to Kroger because this time Kroger has deployed autonomous inventory drones from Corvus Robotics into its cold chain distribution operations, sending them into sub freezing freezer environments to conduct cycle counts that used to require humans to bundle up and walk the aisles.
Speaker A:
According to Supply Chain dive, the drones, aka Corvus 1 for cold chain is what they're calling them, autonomously scan pallet locations across freezer zones at temperatures as low as -20 degrees Fahrenheit, giving Kroger weekly inventory visibility across its facilities instead of relying on periodic full physical counts.
Speaker A:
The system operates without WI FI localization markers, lighting modifications, special barcodes, or a human operator, and does not require any infrastructure modifications to the existing warehouses, which I think matters.
Speaker A:
It runs on a robots as service model.
Speaker A:
So, Chris, I hear you've spent time in freezers back in your target days.
Speaker A:
What do you think of using drones to surveil cold chain inventory?
Speaker B:
Oh, geez.
Speaker B:
Yes, Jen, I definitely, I definitely have spent time in, in, in freezers and you know, I'm going to drop another acronym because of the Corvus.
Speaker B:
The cocc, I think, was the acronym you said.
Speaker B:
Yeah, so, but, but yes, I have been in freezers and I, you know, it's funny, as I was thinking about this headline, I used to always say that price changes was the worst job in retail.
Speaker B:
That's actually not true, Jen.
Speaker B:
I probably, I bet you know this too.
Speaker B:
The worst job is actually doing anything in the freezer because you can literally die if you get stuck in there too long.
Speaker B:
And there's usually a story every year, no joke about something that gets stuck in a freezer and dies at some retail operation in the United States.
Speaker B:
Kind of morbid, but, but kind of true.
Speaker B:
So there's nothing more worse than, and awful than having to go into a freezer and, and, and in.
Speaker B:
On top of that, there's going into the freezer quickly to get something and then there's having to be in the freezer to do inventory counting in a cold environment like this.
Speaker B:
So, so I think this is a smart application of drone technology.
Speaker B:
You don't have to worry about drones flying overhead of consumers.
Speaker B:
You can also get pretty good camera coverage as well relative to fixed position 6 systems.
Speaker B:
So it seems like a win win application to me to improve inventory accuracy and availability, which helps the consumer at the end of the day and it keeps your employees safe and out of the freezer, which I'm sure they are going to love.
Speaker B:
Jen, what do you think?
Speaker A:
Yes, Michigan in March.
Speaker A:
I'm ready for warm temperatures and staying out of the freezer myself.
Speaker A:
But no, I. I agree with you here.
Speaker A:
I don't see any issues with this.
Speaker A:
It's all upside down.
Speaker A:
From my experience and what I understand, I also remember being in the freezer to count inventory.
Speaker A:
And by the time you're at the back of the freezer, who knows if it's chicken wings or chicken legs.
Speaker A:
It's something like that.
Speaker A:
But let's get the heck out of here, right?
Speaker B:
Oh, yeah.
Speaker A:
Counting inventory in the freezer cannot be accurate.
Speaker A:
I've been there, done it.
Speaker A:
Takes a special kind of resilience.
Speaker A:
You know, even today when our clients are interviewing for warehouse or distribution leadership, they're still in that way.
Speaker A:
And maybe you remember this, Chris, from your days in ops.
Speaker A:
They still take candidates through a walk through the freezer just to see if they can hang.
Speaker A:
Right.
Speaker A:
Like, oh, and you'll spend some time in here.
Speaker A:
So it's sort of a part of the industry that I don't think anyone would hate to lose.
Speaker A:
And cutting out some of those extreme cold temperatures for employees and leaders is just going to increase, uh, the accuracy of their inventory as well as create some added perks for those.
Speaker A:
You know, that's not their favorite part of their day.
Speaker A:
It's not the favorite part of their job.
Speaker A:
So definitely no downsides here for me.
Speaker A:
I like this use.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
A hundred percent.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
A hundred percent.
Speaker B:
Yeah.
Speaker B:
I mean, anytime you have to give somebody a jacket to do their job, you know, it's kind of like, yeah, this.
Speaker B:
Probably not.
Speaker B:
Probably not.
Speaker B:
The best thing I want to be doing on a daily basis is going inside a freezer if it's going to require.
Speaker A:
Yeah, I remember it was like, hey, and you get this jacket.
