Expensive and time-consuming inventories within warehouses and outside storage areas are being made easier by advances in drone technology.
One company, ProDroneWorx, is now offering a range of drone services including surveying, asset inspection, progress monitoring, thermal imaging and photography.
Managing director Ian Tansey said: “Our drone inventory management process has been designed to automate inventories with very little human intervention. As a result of our efficient workflow process, we can save our clients a lot of money while also producing the digital inventory data very quickly and in various formats that haven’t been available until now.”
ProDroneWorx recently helped Project 7 Construction geo-locate the company’s large inventory across two five-acre sites by using iPads or PCs, so that it could be collected quickly before being sent to alternative locations. Normally, staff would walk or drive around both sites to locate the materials.
ProDroneWorx helped Project 7 Construction geo-locate the company’s inventory across two five-acre sites
ProDroneWorx deployed drone technology plus specialised photogrammetry and GIS software.
Tansey said: “We discussed a range of services with the client and agreed that a high resolution orthomosaic, boundary measurements, and grid-based mapping and tagging of the inventory would be provided at both sites.
“To achieve a single high-resolution map of each site, we processed hundreds of individual images into a true to scale orthomosaic, giving Project 7 the ability to identify any piece of material in one viewing window.
“The scaled orthomosaic also meant that accurate relative measurements could be taken of the boundary or any material onsite. A high-resolution PDF with a grid and tagging system was created for each site, which allowed for the easy identification of material and more effective communication across the team.”
Project 7 said: “The use of drone technology and the digital information it produces has transformed our inventory management by saving us both time and money. What used to take weeks can now take just a few days while the digital information has benefited us enormously through better collaboration and communication.”
