Taking GNC's Inventory to New Heights

Overview

GNC operates two distribution centers in Indianapolis and Phoenix to fulfill orders across its global business. With high order volume and a strict on-time-and-in-full shipping standard, an accurate, frequent count cadence is essential to keep orders moving. When inventory drifts from the system, fulfillment delays and stockouts follow.

The Challenges

• Labor-Intensive Process: Inventory counting required large teams to manually audit 40,000 locations across two distribution centers.
• Time: The cycle counting process took place daily, sometimes over weekends, and required external audits twice a year.
• Resource Constraints: Material handling equipment had to be diverted for cycle counting, reducing availability for other tasks.
• Limited Frequency: Full cycle counts were only performed two to four times annually.
• Human Error: High volume of inventory movement led to misplaced products and errors.
• Operational Disruptions: With no downtime in the Indianapolis facility, it was difficult to allocate lift trucks and staff for cycle counting without affecting operations.

The Corvus Solution

GNC deployed the Corvus One™ Autonomous Inventory Management System across its Indianapolis and Phoenix distribution centers. Corvus One brings Physical AI to warehouse operations, running in GPS-denied environments with onboard AI and computer vision and feeding continuous inventory data into the AIMS platform. Drones fly during business hours, automating daily cycle counts to improve inventory accuracy, reduce shrinkage, and free labor and material handling equipment for fulfillment.

The Impact

• Increased Inventory Accuracy: Errors and shrinkage were significantly reduced, leading to improved stock reliability.
• Higher Counting Frequency: Facility-wide drone cycle counting now occurs 10-12 times per year, compared to 2-4 times before Corvus One.
• Labor Reallocation: Inventory control staff was reduced from 20 to 13, with redeployed employees working on other projects.
• Efficiency Gains: Warehouse inventory drones perform 7-8 flights per day, each lasting approximately 30 minutes, providing real-time inventory data.
• Autonomous Operations: Drone inventory management operates independently, freeing up labor and material handling equipment for other warehouse functions.
• Faster Error Resolution: The ability to quickly locate misplaced inventory and reconcile discrepancies has improved, preventing disruptions to order fulfillment operations.