Taylor Logistics is a full-service, third-party logistics (3PL) company that offers various services including warehousing, transportation, and more to help optimize supply chain management. Their team oversees customer inventory so that they can be ready to distribute those goods at any given point in time. They have six warehouses in the Midwest, and serve customers across industries, including food and beverage, retail, healthcare, cosmetics, pet food, renewable energy and automotive.  

Taylor prides itself on utilizing leading-edge technology. To keep up with the competition, the 3PLs seeks to offer their customers complete visibility and control, while reducing the time and resources dedicated to inventory cycle counting. In order to do so, they wanted to incorporate automation into their inventory monitoring protocol. They began this search for a specific solution at the ProMat conference in 2023.  

In the end, they chose to work with Pittsburgh-based Gather AI. The tech provider’s drone solution was already being deployed in warehouses across third-party logistics, retail distribution, manufacturing, food & beverage and air cargo, at companies including GEODIS, Langham Logistics, NFI Industries, Barrett Distribution, Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES), and more.  

“We considered the Gather AI solution for quite a while,” says Taylor president and COO Will Roberson. “We knew that AI and automation technology in some way, shape or form, would be the future. Taking care of our people and our customers’ inventory is the most important thing we do.”  

With the Gather AI solution, AI software enables drones to fly autonomously through warehouses with no GPS, Wi-Fi, or infrastructure changes needed, scanning 15 times faster than traditional means. The machine learning (ML) algorithm analyzes inventory pictures to identify barcodes, lot codes, text, expiration dates. It also counts boxes and estimates occupancy, gathering information that warehouse operators need in order to compare that information with what’s in the warehouse management system (WMS). 

This means employees no longer need to spend long, tedious hours doing manual inventory with forklifts, and there’s less likelihood of misplacing product, which can lead to over-ordering and delayed shipments, along with a host of other problems. The warehouse manager can view inventory data in real time from a web dashboard, and easily identify and fix inventory exceptions, even creating a to-do list for their teams. The drones do the work, and warehouse employees can spend their time on tasks that add more value.  

Originally, while evaluating solution providers, the Taylor team looked at one that would run at night. But they preferred having it run during the day with a warehouse employee able to monitor what was going on in real time, making any fixes needed. 

“Our freight is moving in and out pretty quickly. We try to follow the Toyota production method by stopping the line right then and there to fix it if there’s an issue,” says Taylor VP of warehousing, Grant Taylor. “I find this especially valuable from a cycle count perspective. With Gather AI, we saw we would be able to identify issues in real time, and have someone go address the discrepancy.” 

After reviewing the Gather AI installation and monthly fees, Taylor estimated the ROI was only eight months.  

Grant says, “At first, you're looking at the direct costs for the ROI (cycle counter costs, equipment costs, and more). But you also need to keep in mind the indirect benefits such as your picking speeds. If a pallet is misplaced, that translates to time spent looking for it, which is inefficient. We saw that Gather AI would be beneficial in increasing our picking speeds, and we would be able to reallocate some employees to do higher-level work. 

After Taylor implemented Gather AI’s solution in October 2023, they experienced notable results. 

Improved accuracy. Grant says “Our inventory accuracy has jumped. It was at around 97-98%, but now it's closer to 99%.” 

Saved time. The team uses the Gather AI inferred case count feature, and has seen an 87% reduction in time dedicated to fixing cycle count errors, gaining time to work on other projects. More specifically, Taylor saves six minutes on every order, and with around 20 orders per day that's 2 hours per day saved. The technology also allows the inventory team to zoom in on the photos the drone takes, so they dedicate less time to physically checking inventory exceptions. 

Saved labor. Taylor reduced the number of human cycle counters from three to one. That person operates the drone and views the results in the Gather AI dashboard. Taylor was also able to eliminate an expensive piece of material-handling equipment

Improved perception with customers. Grant also says incorporating Gather AI into their warehouses improved their perception with customers, who began to actively request the technology for their accounts. “They feel it's very beneficial and cool that we’re cycle counting their product more, and that it's more accurate than a human. If we have a customer coming on site, the first thing I say to my team is ‘make sure that drone is running,’ because the perception and security this gives our customers is extremely beneficial. Having this technology shows that we’re evolving and keeping up with technology, by working with vendors such as Gather AI, to have the best technology, and to keep up with the marketplace. That's huge for our success.”  

“Our customers feel great about the Gather AI solution, and we’re looking to expand it into other facilities,” says Taylor director of warehouse development, AJ Raaker.  

Resource links: www.gather.ai 

https://taylorlogistics.com/