How Henkel is Helping to Power the Logistics Drone Revolution

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) already play an important role across a diverse range of commercial applications, from logistics to surveying and service monitoring. That role is set to grow as UAV technology develops.

A 2021 Henkel article highlights some of ways in which the UAV market is blazing the trail for wider applications of logistics drone technology. The size of the UAV market is set to grow, with one September 2022 report forecasting market growth from USD 26.2 billion in 2022 to USD 38.3 Billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 7.9%. 

Trailblazing enterprises are pushing the boundaries of UAV use in logistics, deploying drones in an ever-broader range of humanitarian, scientific and commercial applications.

This diversification creates opportunities and challenges for UAV design and production.

Volume growth drives demand for more cost and time efficient manufacturing processes that minimize environmental impacts.

Deploying drones in increasingly challenging environments calls for innovative design, materials and manufacturing methods to deliver solutions which are resilient to factors like rain, wind and extremes of temperature, and robust enough for sustained, long-range operations (BVLOS), often in difficult terrain.

This blog explores the benefits of UAVs in humanitarian and scientific deployments and the key role Henkel has to play in the future of UAV design and production. Henkel’s market leading capabilities in materials solutions, along with its commitment to innovation, sustainability and collaboration, positions it ideally for working with drone designers and manufacturers to meet the evolving challenges and opportunities of the UAV sector.

How UAVs are Stretching Logistics Boundaries 

While the vision of drone delivery in urban areas has taken more time to realize than was first forecast, logistics drones have become established as a cost-effective, efficient airborne solution for less densely populated locations with poor transport infrastructure, difficult terrain and other environmental challenges.

UAVs can deliver much greater benefits to this kind of location, without the complications of flying in crowded airspace over large numbers of people and buildings. As a result, drones are starting to transform humanitarian and scientific activities around the world.

Much of the world’s population still does not have reliable, fast and easy access to pharmaceuticals, medical testing or other critical services.

Logistics drones are opening up the capability to deliver or collect drugs, samples and other medical products, on demand, safely, rapidly and economically, in locations where even the simplest medical requirement previously called for a helicopter, 4WD vehicle or a trek through inhospitable and dangerous terrain.  

In the scientific arena, drones are delivering a safe and cost-effective solution to challenges such as monitoring endangered species populations as they range over a wide geographical area, tracking the progress of forest fires, or providing essential live updates on volcanic activity.