"Safety in the workplace is always our top priority," says René Sickler, Senior Director of Dematic Services GmbH. "That's why all safety-relevant systems and components must be inspected regularly and checked for any defects. With our new Dematic Drone Inspection Services, systems will be down for shorter and more planned periods in future. They can also be put back into operation more quickly after the drone check. And: everything is comparatively risk-free for the service personnel."

In order to implement this innovative approach efficiently and operate across all brands, project management was handed over to the central Technology & Innovation department of the parent company, KION Group AG. Sickler emphasizes: "By pooling our expertise with KION, we have solved the technical, organizational and regulatory challenges and quickly turned them into a new type of service. This offers our customers real added value." Dematic Drone Inspection Services have been approved by the German Federal Aviation Authority and are now available as a service from Dematic in Central Europe. In the future, this service will also be rolled out globally.

Long system downtimes are avoided

To date, visual inspections have mostly been carried out by service technicians with extensive safety equipment for use at height. This requires elaborate precautions - sometimes even scaffolding has to be erected. This in turn results in long downtimes for the systems and high costs. These disadvantages can be significantly reduced by using Dematic Drone Inspection Services.

The time required for each drone inspection is only around 30 percent compared to an inspection carried out by climbers. The risk of an accident resulting in personal injury is even largely eliminated. Other service areas where the use of drones offers advantages include interim inspections, monitoring congestion situations, facility management and situation analysis in emergencies such as accidents.