March 25, 2016

Are Your Inventory Numbers Tracking to Your 2016 Plan?

Author: Stockpile Reports

How are your inventory numbers tracking to your 2016 plan? Q1 is almost over. Are you feeling confident?

Maybe you are assuming that this year will be “different”, and inventory numbers will come close to reconciling, without making changes in current stockpile measurement methods.

Stockpile inventory management is often a real source of ongoing frustration for the companies that have approached Stockpile Reports for help. We met with, and spoke with dozens of people about their challenges at the recent AGG1 conference in Nashville, Tennessee. They outlined many reasons for infrequent measurements.

CEO David Boardman discusses inventory challenges with booth visitors at 2016 AGG1 conference.

Accessibility, safety, costs, schedules and competing priorities make it difficult for the quarry manager to measure stockpiles as often as the accounting department would prefer. We hear managers say, “Do they want me to make rock— or measure rock?”

The CFOs who spoke with us wants production levels to remain in alignment with 2016’s accounting plan. Accounting departments often struggle with various data entry sources from multiple people. Measurement information comes in from voice, email, paper and spreadsheets. Too often there are data error issues.

Is it unreasonable to want stockpile inventory tracking available on a real-time basis?

No. Our clients have discovered that utilizing a combination of iPhone and aerial (airplane or drone) imagery provides a complete solution. Mark Crain, of Lane Construction, gave a testimonial at AGG1 describing the company’s success using many sources of imagery for accurate perpetual inventory.

Lane Construction’s Mark Crain speaks about success using iPhones, drones and airplanes for company-wide inventory management at AGG1.

The business benefits of using an iPhone and drone/airplane combination include:

• Measuring with an iPhone is easy enough to use that anyone can measure stockpiles with minimal training, reducing outsourcing costs
• Using an iPhone on the ground enables frequent spot-checks
• Using aerial data by plane or drone provides ongoing quarterly, or monthly measurements
• Aerial stockpile measurements provides material information for hard-to-reach, large, or dangerous stockpiles
• Airplane flyovers are the fastest and easiest method to measure multiple sites across a wide geographical area
• Stockpile Reports arranges flyovers and schedules them for your company
• Stockpile Reports has the platform to process your data, regardless of aerial, drone or iPhone collection methods
• Measurement results are automatically processed and available to corporate with no data entry
• The measurement results meets the consistency and accuracy requirements of your company’s third-party requirements
• iPhone and aerial measurement methods meet safety requirements
• Competitive subscription pricing gives the company the freedom to measure year-round

Learn from what hasn’t worked before: don’t assume that this time things will be “different” when it comes to your monthly inventory results. Start now.  Make an action plan that will get you to your 2016 target. Contact us today for more information and ask about a demonstration— we can help.