How Maurer & Scott Increased Production 10x for Their Client
Maurer & Scott Increased Production 10x for Their client by Adding Drones and Strayos to Their Workflow
Maurer & Scott's Technical Specialist Zach Tobias shares the story of how modernizing 1 quarry's blasting work flow allowed them to increase their production by 10x.
Before
We have a quarry client in the Northeast US and they only have one face to shoot off of. Traditionally, after we would blast they would remove the muckpile before we could go in again. Using the 2D scanner we would have 2 guys spend a good bit of time profiling the face, then I would plan the shot, they'd drill it and I'd come back and boretrack it. It took awhile.
At first, when Maurer & Scott decided to look into drones and 3D photogrammetry software we were simply trying to upgrade from a terrestrial system. But we found with Strayos, we got alot more- a plethora of different drill & blast features that we can use. We started using Strayos in 2017, and in addition to their drill and blast features, we found their cloud based software to be a vast improvement.
By incorporating drones and Strayos into our workflow, we were able to increase production at this quarry 10x.
After
With the Drone you don't have to worry about any sort of equipment or quarry operations getting in the way of you doing your job as a blaster or technical representative unlike a 2dlaser, autoscanning laser, or terrestrial 3d system.
At this quarry, we would blast, then they would bring in an excavator on top of the muckpile, go down and scrape out a trough in front of the face. Once the face was clear we could go in and profile again while they continued to clear the muckpile. If our tool was a 2d laser or an auto scanning laser well you cant really be climbing that muckpile so you would have to wait until the muckpile was completely cleaned up. Using a drone, you can stay on top of the bench and fly and get a really good profile without any error included in the face.
By being able to fly over top of muckpiles we have been able to keep production up 10 fold at this specific quarry where we don't have to wait for the loader operators to move all the material out, we just have the shot prepared and ready so when the muckpile is finally cleaned up, this shot has already been profiled and drilled.
I will come back at a later date and boretrack all the face holes and implement that data into my 3D model and we can instill confidence in the blaster knowing that there are no real mishaps that could happen and we know that the face is exactly what I said it is. Also, with the boretrack data we adapt any hole deviation and any over drilling or under drilling.
Increasing Efficiency led to a 10x increase in Productivity
While the muckpile is being cleared: Zach can fly the drone, profile the bench, load the model, plan his shot in Strayos, export the drill plan to the drillers. The drillers can drill the holes and Zach can come back and boretrak the holes, loading the boretrak data into Strayos and adjust the blast plan as needed, then they can load the shot. All while the muckpile is still being cleared. As soon as the equipment is out of the way, they can shoot the next shot.
The elimination of this downtime has led to the 10x improvement in productivity at this quarry.
According to Zach, the big benefits of upgrading from traditional profiling methods to drone profiling with Strayos is:
- No interference with quarry operations or Equipment
- Muckpiles no longer delay layouts
- Any face is able to be properly profiled- reduces error
- Increases confidence in results
- Can map multiple benches at once
- Cloud based platform allows remote data processing and access
Strayos helps make you efficient, keeps productivity up, and overall makes the workflow much smoother. If your boss is happy and your own company is happy with using Strayos and with the productivity we've been able to push forward- it makes our customers happy. We've been able to do things we would not have otherwise been able to do. With that being said, its a win-win situation.
To see other ways Zach increases his workflow efficiency read his Customer Story here.
Zach Tobias is a Technical Representative at Maurer & Scott providing mine planning and mapping, explosives engineering, stockpile volumetric surveying, 3D photogrammetry, consulting, and other services to his clients.
Maurer & Scott is a blasting services and explosives supplier operating primarily in the North East US and a licensed blaster in 4 states- New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland.
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