A national food distributor with 80+ facilities partnered with Dane Technologies to address persistent challenges in warehouse inventory visibility and labor-intensive cycle counting. By piloting Dane AiR ™—an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) designed to deliver real-time inventory intelligence—they were able to uncover critical inefficiencies and pave the way for data-driven operational excellence.

Challenges

Despite having robust warehouse systems in place, the distributor faced common—but costly—issues:

• Difficulty locating “lost” pallets, often requiring hours of manual search time.
• Inventory discrepancies stemming from labeling errors or unscannable locations.
• Infrequent and labor-intensive cycle counting that lacked real-time responsiveness.
• Limited visibility into empty locations and double-assigned inventory, impacting space utilization and order accuracy.

These obstacles not only created inefficiencies but also affected inventory reliability and operational costs.

Solution

The national food distributor deployed Dane AiR™ in a pilot covering all three temperature zones; ambient, cooler and freezer. The AiR™ autonomously navigated warehouse aisles, scanning over 6,000 storage locations per hour and feeding data into a centralized dashboard for real-time validation, reporting, and actionable insights.

The system leveraged data from the warehouse management system (WMS), allowing teams to compare real-time data gathered by AiR™ against expected slot contents, detect anomalies, and visualize discrepancies through an intuitive UI with photo validation.

Key Results

Lost Inventory Recovery

During an initial scan, multiple missing pallets were identified and recovered within a single aisle. Real-time visibility has since enabled faster detection and recovery of misplaced inventory, significantly reducing shrink and write-offs.

Error Detection at Scale

The AiR ™ flagged instances where items were in locations different than what was listed in the WMS, uncovering data inaccuracies.

High Actionability

Discrepancies detected during the pilot were actionable, leading directly to WMS updates or pallet relocations. Additionally, integrated photos enabled instant validation, streamlining decision-making on the warehouse floor.

Operational Speed and Efficiency

The AiR scanned the entire ambient test zone—12 full aisles—in under 1.5 hours, with 95%+ of slots successfully read despite labeling inconsistencies. Discrepancy reports were available in under one hour, enabling real-time interventions.

Enhanced Cycle Count Productivity

The time spent on traditional manual cycle counts dropped drastically. Teams now rely on the AiR ™ to flag exceptions and direct high-impact, targeted cycle counts—accelerating count frequency and increasing accuracy.

Looking Ahead

Following the pilot’s success, the national food distributor is preparing to scale the AiR ™ solution across additional warehouses in their network. With real-time discrepancy detection, reduced inventory loss, and improved operational agility, Dane AiR™ is driving a new standard of excellence in warehouse visibility.

As a result, this leading national food distributor is positioned not only to streamline their internal operations but also to better serve their customers through more reliable, responsive supply chain execution.