Asics warehouse drones: stock counts go from twice a year to monthly

Asics America now counts two storage zones of its main North American distribution centre every month, up from twice a year, using self-flying drones from Corvus Robotics, according to an announcement Corvus made on 10 November 2026, reported by [Supply Chain Dive](https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/asics-boosts-inventory-management-using-warehouse-drones/874273/) and [Digital Commerce 360](https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/2026/11/13/asics-uses-ai-powered-drones-to-recover-misplaced-inventory-60-faster/). Kyle Koestler, Asics America's senior director of distribution and transportation, estimates the company recovers misplaced stock about 60% faster. Neither report says how that was measured.

The job

The building in Byhalia, Mississippi, is 855,000 square feet and holds nearly 3 million units across roughly 44,000 product lines. Online orders, Asics stores and wholesale customers all draw on the same stock, and returns come back there. It runs on Manhattan Associates' warehouse management system, Supply Chain Dive reports.

The drones work two zones: the singles area, which holds returns and individual pairs, and the case reserve, which holds full cartons. They fly seven times a night from about 7 p.m., steering by onboard cameras and software that recognises aisles, boxes and labels, with no markers or beacons added to the building. On each flight they read barcodes and count boxes, and the system flags any location where the two disagree.

If a unit went missing, we might not find it for six months. That could be the last pair in the building for an order we’ve already taken, and then the customer gets a cancellation.

Kyle Koestler, Asics America, in the Corvus release as quoted by Supply Chain Dive

What changed

• Counts in the two zones went from twice a year to monthly.
• In one three-month period the drones found 26 misplaced cases holding more than 200 pairs of shoes.
• Asics used to hold back 12 to 15 of every 100 units from the stock lists it sends to online marketplaces, because an item shown as available might not be found when the order came (Digital Commerce 360; Supply Chain Dive says "up to 15"). It now publishes its full list. Corvus says that means more sold at full price and less sold off at a discount; the companies did not disclose the revenue.
• The drones cut 200 labour hours at the site, Supply Chain Dive reports. It does not say over what period.

The people side

Inventory associates review every flight the next morning, using the video and images the drone took, to catch misreads. "If it's something that we can correct from the desk, we'll correct it then," Angela Williford, Asics America's inventory control operations manager, says in the case study. The companies say staff moved from routine counting to reconciling stock, investigating discrepancies and wholesale projects. Neither report says whether headcount changed. Corvus adds that counting needs fewer lift trucks in aisles that are mostly under 6 feet wide.

The catch

Every figure comes from the seller's announcement and case study, made with the customer. There is no price for the drones, no rate of misreads, no count of how many flagged locations turned out to be fine, and no hours for the morning review. The 60% is one manager's estimate. The drones cover two zones of one building, not the whole site.

What to do if you run a warehouse

• Write down, zone by zone, how many times a year you count and the longest a misplaced unit can sit unnoticed. At Asics that was up to six months; monthly counts cap it at about a month in those two zones (Wren's arithmetic, not a company figure).
• If you sell through marketplaces, ask whoever owns the stock feed what share you hold back for fear of cancellations, and what that stock fetches when it is sold off. That is the sum a counting pilot has to beat.
• Before a pilot, ask the vendor for the price per building, the misread rate in aisles like yours, and the review hours a customer of your size spends each morning.