ASICS finds misplaced stock nearly 60% faster using Corvus Robotics warehouse drones

ASICS says it now recovers misplaced products nearly 60% faster at its distribution centre in Byhalia, Mississippi, since it started flying autonomous inventory drones from Corvus Robotics there every night. The companies announced the results on Tuesday.

The drones cover the two storage areas with the most errors: the singles area, where returned and single pairs are kept, and the case reserve. Both used to be counted twice a year and are now counted monthly. ASICS has moved the roughly 200 hours of counting work saved each month to inventory research and resolving exceptions.

The drones make seven flights a night from about 7 p.m., in aisles less than six feet wide, and steer with onboard computer vision without extra equipment in the building. In one three-month period they found 26 misplaced cases with more than 200 pairs of shoes.

“If a unit went missing, we might not find it for six months,” ASICS America's senior director of distribution and transportation, Kyle Koestler, said.