This Blog is included information to answer general questions regarding Drone technology used in the Logistics and supply chain Industry. Such as the benefits of drone Logistics, challenges, how to overcome challenges, and how drones are used for Logistics Industry activities. what items can be used for drone delivery, which companies doing experiments to use drone delivery and more details.
What is drone Logistics?
Drone Logistics technology is the latest delivery method which use in the transportation and logistics industry. Specialized drones can use for logistics activities. It’s called drone Logistics. In other words, we can say drones use for logistics.
- It is an unmanned method of transporting goods. The earliest drone technology found days drones were used for military activities. But the development of drone technology is used for Logistics activities in the healthcare sector and retail companies.
- For example, drones are used in the supply chain, as a last-mile delivery method, inventory monitoring, and warehouse monitoring. Drone Logistics is fast delivery while high accuracy level with a low shipping cost method.
- The drone is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle so no cost-related labor cost. It is suitable for urban areas which have more traffic congestion. And also it can be used for rural areas’ transpiration for avoiding delays in delivery. With the enhancement of e-commerce retailers and e-commerce traders move on to drone technological delivery systems.
- Here, will explain in more detail about Drone technology in the Logistics Industry. A Logistician or company owner of the retail e-commerce sector or any other people who are interested in drone logistics can get an idea of drone logistics.
Firstly. move on to explain the Positive impact of drones used in the Logistics Industry.
14 top Advantages of drones in Logistics
There are more benefits when using drone logistics for your business. They are,
- Reduce distribution cost
- Faster Delivery Time
- Ensure employee safety
- Positive impact on customer satisfaction
- positive impact on the bottom line of the company
- Efficiency increases in the supply chain. (activities like monitoring warehouses, container yards, monitoring for supply chain infrastructure, inspection of cycle counting during inventory level)
- Reduce requirements of employees and equipment for delivery
- Reduce the cost of shipping and operations by using drones in last-mile delivery
- The efficiency of delivery is high due to air transportation(Air distance is lower than traditional transportation system so cost relating transportation is low while faster than a traditional delivery method)
- Drones can access where places traditional transit cannot be reached easily. Like mountains, hills, jungles, etc.
- Drones no need to use transportation infrastructure so they can avoid traffic congestion and save time
- It does not require human intervention with the improvement of technology it can be controlled through an automated system
- Reducing carbon footprint it is a positive impact on the environment.
- There is the ability to work 24 hrs. within 365 days of drone delivery.
Now move to the negative side of drone Logistics. There are some disadvantages to drone logistics technology.
7 Disadvantages of drone logistics
- Highly affect by weather conditions
- Rules and regulations of the countries
- Security and privacy issues
- Handling Local deliveries only (due to rules and regulations of the countries)
- Able to deliver lightweight items only
- Delivery people lost their jobs
- The initial cost is high
4 Main industries mostly used drones in logistics
- Military sector
- Medical and healthcare sector
- Food delivery
- 3PL (3rd party logistics) companies
What items can be used for drone transportation?
- Medicines
- Foods
- Retail Items
- Parcels
- Blood
European countries use drone Logistics to deliver low-weight packages only. Such as Canada, the USA., etc.
What companies use drones to deliver?
- Amazon
- FlyTrex
- Manna Drone Delivery
- Zipline
- DHL Parcelcopter
- Alibaba Group
- FedEx
- Prime Time Air
- UPS Flight Forward
- DHL Parcelcopter
- Wing
- Matternet
- Zipline
- Flytrex
- Flirtey
- Wingcopt
- Drone Delivery Canada (DDC
- Alphabet
- Walmart
How do drones being used in the supply chain?
- Asset management-pallet scanning in distribution centers
- Faster deliveries between points of commercial activities Eg: Raw material transportation from the warehouse to the manufacturing area.
- Finished goods can transport to storage or customer or shipping place
- In the last-mile delivery process
- Inventory controlling the supply chain
- Warehouse efficiency enhancing
Nowadays largest supply chain networks use the advantage of drone technology for logistics for efficient service.
What are the 7 main challenges of drone logistics?
- Package damage during the delivery process
- Theft or Hack of the package
- Low Privacy level
- Higher Initial Cost for implementation
- Using Airspace for flying
- Government Rules and Regulations
- Weather condition
How to overcome challenges of the drone logistics?
- To minimize the theft of the packages, can be a scheduled delivery time when receivers in the location
- Safe delivery, Delivery location is allowed to only the place of the current GPS location of the home or office
- Use Smart Locker, when receiving a package from the recipient, Sender gives a special code for unlocking it.
- Regulations for airspace, give specific heights to fly drones, otherwise to avoid air traffic congestion and accidents
- Weather condition is highly affected by drone transport so need to use technology to handle all weather conditions like wind, snow, etc.
Is Drone logistics faster than other delivery methods?
Yes, Drone Logistics is faster than other transportation methods. Let’s explain why drone logistics is more speedy.
- Drones use airspace for delivery, so air space distance between two locations is lower than the traditional road, train, or marine transpiration.
- Drones do need normal infrastructure like roads, Drones can avoid traffic congestion easily. so no delays
- .Automated system used for drones, so drones work as scheduled before, and reliability is higher than traditional delivery method
What are the countries using drones for logistics activities in 2022?
here are some countries that use drones for their logistics activities.
| Country | Delivery items |
| China | Shipments and packages |
| Africa – Rwanda | Blood and vaccination items, medicines |
| Australia and Vanuatu | Food, personal, and home care items |
| Finland | Food, medicine, retail items |
| USA | Medicines, Food |
| Canada | Medicines, Food |
| Japan | Shipments and packages |
| Iceland | Food, medicine, retail items |
| Switzerland | Food, medicine, retail items |
SWOT Analysis For Drone Logistics
for further information regarding drone logistics. It is good for reading below SWOT analysis. It will definitely help you to get more ideas about drone logistics.
| Strengths | weakness |
| Low delivery cost Low maintenance cost Faster delivery The flexibility of access areas Contactless delivery Can be avoided traffic congestion Service responsiveness is high Easy to return shipments Flexible scheduling 24 hours and 365 days of delivery Unmanned Vehicle Safety of employees Environment-Friendly delivery method Minimize employee requirements and equipment | The investment cost is high Depending on weather condition Restrictions on the size and weight of the delivery packages Other restrictions for service providing Delivery people lost their jobs |
| Opportunities | Threats |
| Automated delivery system access where the places traditional transportation cannot be reached easily Delivery speed is higher than traditional delivery Most people move to online shopping e-commerce trading is developing day by day | Government rules and regulations regarding fly zone Security and privacy issues Theft or hacking of the package and drone Cyber attack |
Future of the one technology in the logistics and supply chain industry
Most of the largest supply chain network companies are doing research and development experiments regarding autonomous delivery technologies. Such as robotics and drones in logistics activities. Drone technology is used as a new trend in the logistics and supply chain industry due to cost reduction and higher efficiency of delivery.
Investment in research and development of drone technology in the logistics and supply chain industry proves the future enhancement of drone logistics technology. But the thing is improvement of the drone logistics technology can be used when giving approval to government rules and regulations and customers need to overcome barriers. Then drone logistics will be a future trend in the logistics and supply chain industry.
At present customer, the requirement is the speed of the delivery. A delivery company needs to satisfy customers while other requirements and speed delivery. There is a possibility to improve drone technology in Logistics and supply chain industry. The initial cost of the implementation of drone technology is a higher cost to the logistics company due to the capital requirement of the technology. After the implementation of drone technology, maintenance cost is lower than traditional transportation.
In my opinion drone technology is a more useful delivery method for the logistics industry. But there is a risk regarding the security of the country so you should obey the rules and regulations of the government. If positive changes in the rules and regulations drone logistics technology will be a great trend in the logistics and supply chain industry.
Drone technology is an automated system so it can speed up delivery by click. There is trouble to return goods in traditional transportation, but the return process is easy with the drone delivery process. In the future, last-mile delivery can be used drones for the delivery process.
Summary
As a result of drone technology improvement largest retail companies doing experiments regarding drone logistics. Drone delivery has started a new supply chain and logistics era. Faster delivery is a more important factor for customer satisfaction. And also most challenging part of the supply chain is the Last mile delivery.
For increasing customer satisfaction levels and overcoming the challenges of the last mile, most eCommerce traders move on to drone Logistics. But the thing is drone logistics depend on the rules and regulations of the country. So development and use of drones for logistical activities have to control by government rules. However, during the next 5 years, Logistics and supply chain Industry will definitely move on to drone technology.
FAQ
1. What is drone logistics?
Amazon drone Logistics, preparing for future
warehouse operations with drones
2. How can drones be used in logistics?
Drones use for Last mile delivery operation
As a cost-effective method due drones for last-mile delivery operations.When deliveries have to difficult areas to reach drones easily do last mile operations such as mountain areas or more congested areas.
Drones for warehouse management and operation
Warehouse inspection and Maintaining
Drones are specialized for multisensor payloads and high visualization. These days use drones for warehouse inspections for unreachable areas such as the top of the racks and under the bridges etc. stock counting and inventory management process. It is an easy and more accurate process than humans.
Security
Drones are created with surveillance technologies. It can identify threats immediately. So drones are used for security matters inspections.
Data collection
A drone can identify a wide area of logistics operations details. So drones can identify traffic congestion and they can do route optimization with the data collection also drones can identify weather conditions. It also helps to route optimization.
3. Why are drones important in logistics?
Fast delivery method-more faster method of delivery than normal transportation modes.Because drones can identify the optimum level of faster the route. A drone can avoid traffic congestion and it can reach with a minimum distance.
Cost-effective delivery- cost saving on transportation costs as well as labor costs due to unmanned vehicles.
Warehouse operation is also a main part of logistics. Drones can reach everywhere in the warehouse which man is unable to reach easily. Stock counting is also easy with drones. It helps to manage the inventory level at the time.
Drones can identify security issues easily. It also helps to better warehouse operations. And also drones have a facility for capturing data accurately. So it will reduce human errors such as stock counting etc.
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