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Drone & hardware integrations Connect Propeller with your existing tools seamlessly
Aggregate companies reduce stockpile write-offs by switching from six-monthly aerial surveys to frequent drone surveys using the Propeller Platform, giving teams accurate, up-to-date inventory numbers every month instead of a costly year-end catch-up.
For publicly traded aggregate companies, stockpile reconciliation is a direct line to the balance sheet. The accuracy of your inventory numbers determines your reported assets, your ability to fulfill work orders, and your financial standing at every reporting period.
But large inventory write-offs are still treated as a cost of doing business. At $6 to $7 per ton, being off by 10,000 tons on a single site adds up fast. Carry that average discrepancy across several sites and the financial exposure becomes significant. The write-off at reconciliation time is not the root problem. It is the symptom of inaccurate monthly stockpile surveying that compounds over time.
With traditional methods, a quarry or aggregate site is surveyed by plane in an aerial flyover every six months. Conventional stockpile reconciliation can take several days of work. In between, a site manager will typically make a best guess on stockpile volumes using numbers from the last aerial flyover and reports from subcontractors moving material, or by measuring the base of a stockpile and estimating the height.
The result is a rough estimate built on outdated information. With that much speculation in the numbers, large discrepancies at reconciliation time are not surprising.
By using drones and the Propeller Platform, teams can survey their own stockpile volumes more often and with greater accuracy. That means adjusting inventory calculations each month rather than waiting for an annual flyover to confirm a problem that has already grown.
Since drone surveying is significantly faster and more practical than traditional methods, teams can get updated information on their stockpiles as often as the site demands. Multiple 3D site surveys over time create a visual timeline of changes, so teams can see what moved, when it moved, and what the site looked like at each point in time.
Drone-captured data and visualization software do more than improve the numbers. They give aggregate teams the ability to measure and manage their own site inventory without waiting on a survey crew or relying on outdated estimates.
Pairing drone imagery with quality ground control and a processing platform like Propeller makes site data accessible for everyone at your company. The data is precise enough that large audit firms accept it in their reviews.
Drones are faster, lower cost, and more practical than traditional surveying equipment. Because teams can fly as often as the site demands, inventory numbers stay current. That means smaller discrepancies at reconciliation time, less financial exposure to write-offs, and a clearer picture of what material is actually on site from month to month.
Want to see how it works in practice? Explore Propeller’s stockpile volume measurement workflow or learn more about how we support aggregate and quarry teams.
We’re happy to show you how Propeller can power your worksite, and boost productivity.
