Another AI Use Case Emerges
Even businesses that have been slow to adopt technology are finding AI can better manage inventories.
Good morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
This year’s commencement speeches are exposing AI as the new villain on campus.
Hannah Sandmeyer says Steward Market is the first marketplace for ethical exits.
Consumers are still spending, but there are some warning signs out there.
You can make more money owning your business than selling it.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Gene Marks says AI is helping businesses better manage their inventories: “Despite billions being spent on ERP systems and warehouse software, many businesses still manage inventory the same way they did decades ago: clipboards, spreadsheets, and manual counts. AI companies like Gather AI think that’s finally changing. Gather AI is one of those companies that’s involved in helping their customers better manage the inventories they store in their warehouses and production facilities. I’ve always known Gather AI as a drone company, but that’s not entirely true. The company provides the software and hardware behind autonomous devices (including drones), AI-equipped cameras, computer vision, and AI-agents to help their clients manage their warehouses.”
“When I first started in accounting back in the ‘80’s my clients were using paper tags, manual worksheets, and clipboards. My year end was filled with auditing the physical counts that their employees were making while operations were shut down. Has this changed? Unfortunately not as much as hoped. Even today, when I visit clients around the country I’m usually seeing the same thing: inventory management like it’s 1986 instead of 2026.”
“[Gather AI CEO Sankalp] Arora says that Gather AI’s technology allows businesses to know where their inventory is every 24 hours, reduce ‘skip picks’ and mis-shipments, decrease write-offs, and redeploy employees from counting inventory to revenue-generating work like picking and shipping. ‘Our customers achieve 99.9-percent inventory accuracy, reduce manual counting by up to 80 percent and improve productivity by 5x,’ he said.”
“Gather AI’s drones operate autonomously, map warehouse environments, and learn the best scanning routes to take, oftentimes leveraging GPS navigation. Their cameras are snapping inventory counts using barcodes, monitoring workflows, while also checking for potential security and safety issues. Their data is then sent back to accounting systems and other databases for monitoring. Arora says that people stop walking the floor to just find inventory because ‘now they go to our dashboard.’” READ MORE
