This allows teams on site to adjust the algorithm that dictates reported production rates. How has Propeller changed the process for managing your stockpiles?īeing able to do drone surveys with Propeller means we’re validating the stock on ground regularly and in real time. Giving these guys the tools to do it in-house minimizes the headaches on site come reconciliation time. The site managers have also been pretty impressed with the technology. On our most recent survey, across all six sites we ended up with about $25,000 variance across the region, which is as good as it gets. What sort of results have you seen since you started using Propeller? Making precise adjustments to stockpile bases with the custom base tool. For example, at our Montrose site, stockpiles are partially stacked against a hill. That’s been really helpful in reporting actual, saleable stock levels, not just estimates of what’s on the ground. With Propeller’s custom base tool, we’re able to adjust the base to correctly reflect the ground underneath. By this time, the inventory levels had changed, so reconciling the survey against what was on site was challenging.Īnother limitation is that our previous surveys assumed a flat base. Previously, it would take weeks or even months, between data being collected and results being available. When you’re producing a million tons across the six-month duration between surveys, things can go wrong pretty quickly and errors can multiply. What were some of the limitations of this process? This data would then be sent to site for labeling relevant material and applying densities. The contractor would fly and identify all the stockpiles. Historically, we relied on a third-party contractor doing six-monthly manned aircraft flights to create this report. This stock is then stored in stockpiles around the site until it’s used to fill an order.īased on the relevant reporting requirements, in our case twice a year, we run a report on the complete volume of all stock around the site and adjust our accounting system to match. The crushing plant measures the quantities of each product coming off the crusher, and these are entered into our accounting system as stock.

Once rock has been mined from the pit, it’s brought to a crushing plant where it’s turned into various grades of material. Tell us about your inventory management and reporting process. Today, Burr chats with Propeller Product Lead Chris Illuk about how Propeller’s drone-mapping and analytics solutions give the sites in his region the ability to measure and manage their stockpiles, report on inventory, and share easy-to-understand visual information for planning and tracking work. Leveraging extensive experience as a production and development engineer across mineral and aggregates industries, Burr is driving excellence in efficiency, safety, and quality. In Australia, Boral produces a range of construction materials, such as crushed rock, sand, and gravel servicing Boral’s own concrete, asphalt, and manufacturing operations, as well as its customer network.īoral’s Victorian Metro region consists of six quarries servicing the booming market for concrete aggregates and construction materials in the greater Melbourne area.Ĭraig Burr is the region’s quarry support manager. Founded in Australia and operating approximately 700 sites in Australia, the United States, and across Asia, Boral manufactures and supplies building and construction materials multinationally.

Picture sand stockpile calculator