Corvus autonomous drones manage inventory at GNC’s distribution centers, improving accuracy and reducing shrinkage. By automating daily cycle counts, the drones free up labor and equipment, enabling faster, more ecient order fulfillment.
grown accustomed to “white noise in the background” that the drones generate, Monk says. “It’s just part of our everyday life in the building,” he adds. Once a drone completes its ight and returns to the landing pad, it downloads the data and provides reporting, which an employee reviews and checks for any discrepancies. The drones have helped GNC in multiple ways. They’ve enabled the company to reduce its inventory control team from 20 to 13, allowing some individuals to shift roles that are more meaningful to them. Similarly, the drones can operate without requiring material handling equipment, freeing it for other uses. Errors and shrinkage have been signi cantly reduced, leading to improved stock reliability. Because the drones can provide real-time inventory data, they improve GNC’s ability to quickly locate misplaced inventory and reconcile discrepancies, which helps prevent disruptions to order ful llment operations. GNC is now able to fully inventory products at least 10 or 12 times a year, so it can identify any errors more quickly. “I like to say that bad news doesn’t get better with time,” Monk says. Generally, the earlier a problem is caught, the easier it is to x, and the more likely employees can take steps to keep it from happening again. n
“We get a beautiful AI model” of the warehouse, as well as the inventory, barcodes and labels, Wu says. For example, once a drone is trained, it knows that, based on the information from the warehouse management system, all sizes of blue T-shirts should be in Aisle 1, Bins A, B, C, and that the red T-shirts should be in Aisle 2, Bins A, B, C. The drones don’t see the individual shirts in the boxes, but they will capture the cases that contain them. The drones scan every pallet moving through the GNC distribution network to double check and verify inventory accuracy. Like GNC, most companies are up and running within several weeks, Wu says. THE DRONES IN OPERATION The drones can read either barcode or OCR labels, and they can mostly operate 24/7, Wu says. While each customer determines the ying schedule for its drones, Corvus suggests using them during slower or off hours for additional safety. In keeping with standard warehouse hygiene practices, it also helps to have aisles clear of obstacles, Wu says. The number of landing pads to drones needed depends on the facility’s size and layout, among other factors. At GNC, the drone starts its rst ight around 10 a.m., and then heads out again every couple of hours, ending at about 3:00 the next morning. Associates have
detailed images to the company’s records, checking that the two match. Before implementing the system, GNC provided Corvus with CAD drawings and layouts of its two distribution centers. The Corvus team also conducted a site survey to ensure the drones could travel through the different areas of the facilities. For example, one of GNC’s distribution centers contains multiple overhead conveyors. For the system to succeed, the drones need to be able to navigate below the conveyors. Corvus also tested the drones and landing pads—these charge the drones and facilitate the transfer of data from the drone to GNC’s information systems— to check whether any adjustments to the power or lighting were needed. They determined that GNC could have multiple landing pads along with one drone that would “leapfrog,” from pad to pad to cover the building. “Within weeks we were up and running,” Monk says. “A BEAUTIFUL AI MODEL” During most implementations, Corvus typically conducts test ights to gather data about the facility, including the layout, the inventory, and the format of the barcode labels. The drones automatically collect this data to train the AI model on that speci c customer and warehouse. The drone then updates its information every time it ies.
September 2025 • Inbound Logistics 87
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