Dayton business partnership completes first drone delivery – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio

MIAMISBURG – Move over Wright Brothers. A partnership between WinSupply Inc. and Drone Express made history Friday when they completed the logistics industry’s first drone delivery.

>> The roundabout in Washington Twp. It is now open to traffic.

The historic flight was a 3-mile trip with materials from WinSupply’s distribution center on Byers Road in Miamisburg to the company’s showroom in Centerville.

“For the past 26 years, I’ve always thought about how I can help local business owners improve their business,” WinSupply President John McKenzie told News Center 7 on Friday. It was an example of how we can get contractors up to date today. Time is the most precious commodity we have. Imagine that contractors on a job site don’t have to go to the supply house. The supply comes to them at home. That’s the joy that drives it.”

The way supply chains work now, a contractor has to leave the job site and head to the distribution of parts or materials. Once there, the contractor must wait for the load and then return to the work site. WinSupply, described as one of America’s leading commercial-to-commercial suppliers, handles residential and commercial building materials — plumbing and heating, ducting, valves, HVAC and refrigeration, and more.

Dayton is the headquarters of WinSupply and Drone Express.

The success of the trial means that WinSupply’s drones will now deliver a wide range of products from a distribution center in Miamisburg.

Friday’s experience is about “improving the contractor’s delivery house experience,” McKenzie said, calling the project an efficiency driver.

“We’re adding tools to capture more market share or new market share,” he said.

“I’ve seen drones all over the country that take off from Sprinter vans and get close to the job site. . . . You open the back door of the van and launch it,” McKenzie said.

Drone Express, a logistics company that focuses on safe and environmentally friendly package delivery across the country, may only be 3 years old, but CEO Beth Flippo sees an exciting future with WinSupply. Kroger is another Drone Express partner.

“one day [drones] It will be on rooftops all over the city,” Flippo said. “When you issue an order, the drone that comes to it will pick it up and get it. The drone sits on the porch and takes off if it needs to be recharged.

Flippo, an engineer and software developer, says she’s excited about the drone network and what it might look like in the future.

“I’ll use the example of you having a Tesla in the parking lot at your office,” she said. “You’ve been ordered something. The drone is going to talk to your Tesla. Take out the trunk, drop the package. [in] And flying. That’s why I’m so excited about it. “

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