Important Innovations

  FAA Approves Small Drones Flying Over People & At Night                                                      Source:  Amazon Opens the Way to Widespread Commercial Drone Deliveries The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has just approved small drones flying over people and at night.  This regulatory clearance is viewed as enabling the start of widespread commercial drone package deliveries in the US.  For companies like Amazon, Walmart and UPS, this is a long-awaited decision and a big business opportunity.  Until now, drones have been restricted to very limited operations involving direct participants and required FAA clearance and waivers for more public exposure, such as testing drone package deliveries in specific neighborhoods. Security Issues The FAA is addressing security concerns by requiring remote identification technology on the drones so they can be identified from the ground.  The new regulations take effect in March.  Drone manufacturers have up to 18 months to p

  Walmart's Online Business Has Doubled On Demand Drones Walmart is beefing up its delivery services with on-demand drones. It just announced that it's launching a pilot program delivering groceries and other household items by drones.  The pilot program is being done in partnership with the drone delivery service Flytrex.  The world's biggest retailer is flying the grocery deliveries using Flytrex automated drones. Drone Insights Drone deliveries started today in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  Cloud-controlled drones are picking up and dropping off select items.  In a blog post, Walmart SVP of Customer Products Tom Ward said the drones are controlled over the cloud using a smart and easy control dashboard.  Through the drone delivery service in Fayetteville, Walmart hopes to gain insights into  customer and staff drone experiences "from pickup and packing to takeoff and landing". COVID Environment Because of the COVID pandemic, shoppers prefer having items delive

Walmart Using VR To Spot Great Talent Source:  Walmart VR Goggles Deployed to Promote Employees Walmart, which is the largest private employer in the US and one of the world's biggest companies, is using Virtual Reality headsets to spot and develop managerial talent. It's not their only data tool but it is an important one to see how their employees perform in real-time situations as managers in their retail environment.  This is a great example of how VR is  being deployed to advance global business.  For more information, go to Important Innovations Collection: Walmart HR Using VR : Virtual Reality Helping to Test and Promote Employees Source:  Walmart  Technology At the Hiring Edge America's largest private ...

Superstar Robot Packers Source:  CMC CartonWrap Superstar Customers The Italian packaging company CMC in the medieval town of Citta di Castello has robot machines at the cutting edge of 2019 filling some very big orders for big clients and it delivers.  The robotic packaging machine is called CartonWrap.  It can box and seal 600 to 1000 items of every shape and size every hour, 24/7, including in tailor made boxes.  Clients of the automated packaging machines include Amazon, Walmart and Gucci. Big Business in Italy CMC and CartonWrap are one of 630 companies in Italy making automated packaging machines.  This is the new robotic, automated economy and it is one of Italy's fastest growing industries.  In fact, the sector is accelerating 9X's faster than the overall Italian economy.  It's another example of robotic technology cutting time, costs and in this case packaging waste and creating a whole new avenue of global business that's a disruptor.