Amazon is not the only company planning on using drones for shipping. Following the trend, Santa Claus enrolled the professional drone pilots from Team BlackSheep to expedite the massive gift delivery operation. Here is an inside look at the Christmas mission operated directly from Finland.
Imagine the immense task of delivering billions of packages to kids located all over the world in one night. Sure, the time zones and jet winds can help, but Santa has no room for failure. Contrary to common belief, the Christmas operation is run by professional elves using the latest corporate technologies as the supply chain digest magazine explains:
Santa's main distribution center is a sight to behold. At 4,000,000 square feet (370,000 square meters), it's one of the world's largest facilities. A real-time warehouse management system (WMS) is of course required to run such a complex. Unbeknownst to many, Santa actually has to use many sleighs and fake Santa drivers to get the job done Christmas Eve, and the transportation management system (TMS) optimally builds thousands of consolidated sacks that maximize cube utilization and minimize total air miles.
It is no wonder that Santa decided to approach the best drone racing company to help him with his business. The preliminary test flights shown in the video are flown by no less than the multi-award winning professional drone pilots Luke Bannister and Resen. Interviewed by Fstoppers, Santa said:
The preliminary flights have been very conclusive and leading to an 18 percent gain in productivity. That’s enormous for us, because it means that we can deliver the gifts earlier in the night without the risk of getting caught by kids waking up early. Another key advantage is that the additional lift provided by the drone helps to relieve the reindeers. I expect to update all our sleds with drone technology for Christmas 2018.
Congratulations to everyone at Team BlackSheep and the very talented video editor AufmSchlau who produced this behind-the-scene Christmas video.
Merry Christmas to all.
