At Ford, Pat Manning has been at the forefront of ensuring drones can help streamline working processes.
Based at the manufacturing plant in Dagenham, Essex, Pat has developed an in –house drone strategy which could be rolled out worldwide following its success in the UK.
The drone operation blueprint uses UAVs to perform inspections, a move which has delivered sizeable benefits from a safety and efficiency point of view already.
Speaking to Commercial Drone Professional earlier this year, Manning explained just what it has taken to get the drones off the ground.
“It was totally new to me. I had seen them but never actually considered flying one or the health and safety implications of doing so within a manufacturing environment.
“Can we have walking people underneath it? Can we have people in the vicinity of it? What happens if it loses power and crashes to the floor? As a company we have developed safety guidance for flying drones within Ford facilities and the Global Safety Team has issued that now.”
