Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Borderless Field Holdings (BFHD), an Ibaraki Prefecture-based firm operating four pachinko halls, has entered the drone business, aiming to enhance “last mile” delivery services.
BFHD was hit particularly hard by the onset of the Covid pandemic, suspending business at its pachinko outlets in May 2020 and hesitating from quickly reopening in light of the fact that many of its patrons are elderly.
By the next month, the company was already pivoting, using one of its stores to set up a central kitchen for a catering business using mobile sales vehicles.
In September 2021, BFHD acquired the trucking company Pagota Kyubin, also based in Ibaraki Prefecture, which owns seven trucks and transports mainly clothing, shoes, bicycles, and bathtubs within the Kanto region.
As its next innovation, BFHD, led by its President Lee Chung-Ryol, opened several drone schools with a plan to make last mile delivery services by drone a commercial reality.
The company has independently developed an aircraft it calls “Express Bee” that can carry cargo up to about 25 kilograms.
It has also created a unique communications technology that hands over control authority to pilots at relay points, so that packages can be delivered in areas where out-of-sight flight is not currently permitted by law.
The energetic firm anticipates that by the end of this year it will be poised to make significant advances toward viable drone delivery services.
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