warehouse insider
* Customer: GXO (formerly PFSweb), a leading eCommerce 3PL.
* Facility: Multi-tenant, high-bay, single-deep case racking with Narrow Aisles
* Challenge: High-density inventory required faster scanning than existing drone solutions could provide. Managing multiple client SLAs and WMS platforms manually was cost-prohibitive and slow.
Solution: Vimaan StorTRACK
* Results:
GXO (formerly PFSweb), a premier eCommerce third-party logistics (3PL) provider, manages high-velocity fulfillment for major brands like L’Oreal and Thrive. Their facility operates in a challenging environment characterized by high-density, high-bay, single-deep racking and multiple tenants under one roof.
While an early adopter of Vimaan’s drone inventory solution, the facility needed even greater speed to keep up with volume. GXO partnered with Vimaan to deploy StorTRACK, a ground-based computer vision solution. Over two years of operation, StorTRACK has revolutionized their cycle counting, turning a dangerous, labor-intensive process into a high-speed, accurate operation, delivering validated annual savings of over $276,000.
The GXO facility faces unique inventory challenges. As an eCommerce 3PL, they ship directly to consumers for multiple high-profile clients. This requires managing a complex ecosystem:
* Physical Environment: The warehouse utilizes high-density, high-bay racking with narrow aisles to maximize storage. Manual cycle counting in this environment is slow, requires specialized lift equipment, and poses safety risks.
* Multi-Tenant Complexity: Different clients use different Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), creating data silos.
* Varied Service Level Agreements (SLAs): Clients have drastically different inventory visibility needs. One demanding client requires a 100% inventory count every single day—a task that previously required multiple dedicated teams and forklifts working constantly.
The facility had previously implemented Vimaan’s drone solution. While accurate, the flying speed was insufficient for the massive volume and density of the facility. They needed a solution that was faster, safer, and capable of running for a full shift.
Working closely with the customer, Vimaan developed the StorTRACK idea—a ground-based system designed to act as a force multiplier for inventory counting. StorTRACK was ideal for GXO’s high-density environment because of its computer vision capabilities.1 Unlike manual scanning where every barcode takes time, StorTRACK captures data instantly; it can scan a dense pallet of 50 items as quickly as it scans a single item.
SLA Compliance: The sheer speed of StorTRACK enables GXO to easily meet the most stringent client requirements, including daily 100% inventory counts, with minimal labor.
Velocity: Scanning approximately 3,000 boxes per hour—5x faster than the previous drone solution.
Endurance: An 8-hour battery life allows for continuous operation throughout a standard shift.
Single Pane of Glass: Vimaan’s software ingests data from the various tenant WMS platforms, providing GXO with unified inventory visibility regardless of the underlying customer system.
StorTRACK has been fully integrated into GXO’s daily operations for two years. The impact on labor requirements was immediate. The daily count requirement that previously took multiple people and forklifts is now completed by a single operator with one StorTRACK unit. The solution shines in the high-bay, single-deep racking, allowing the operator to drive the aisles while StorTRACK automatically captures inventory data from floor to ceiling.
Following two years of operation, GXO and Vimaan conducted a business case validation to quantify the financial impact. The analysis compared the total spend of manual counting (labor, RF guns, and multiple lift trucks) against the StorTRACK solution (StorTRACK fee, single operator, single lift truck).
| Metric | Previous Manual Process | Vimaan StorTRACK | Impact |
| Total Monthly Spend | ~$34,348 | ~$11,346 | $23,000 Monthly Savings |
| Cost Per Count | $0.07 | $0.02 | ~71% Cost Reduction |
By dropping the cost per scan from seven cents to just two cents, GXO realizes an annualized saving of $276,000 at this facility alone.
Note: These calculations are based purely on hard labor and equipment savings. GXO noted that while accuracy and customer satisfaction remain high, they do not assign a specific dollar value to them in this model, meaning the actual operational value is likely even higher.
With StorTRACK successfully integrated and delivering high ROI, GXO is now exploring the next phase of automation with Vimaan: migrating the StorTRACK sensor suite onto an autonomous forklift. This move would eliminate the need for the driver entirely, further improving the business case and allowing human talent to be redirected to higher-value tasks within the warehouse.