February 12, 2015

TxDOT Awards Stockpile Reports Statewide Contract

Author: Stockpile Reports

We’re very proud to announce that the Texas Department of Transportation has awarded Stockpile Reports a contract for stockpile measurements, beginning in 2015.

The TxDOT will measure their materials using our service with the iPhone Stockpiles App.

The reason our software service was chosen is because our partnership will improve management operations and reduce operating costs for the State of Texas.

TxDOT maintenance teams training on iPhone using measurement best practices.

Decision Background

In 2014, a Materials Supply Chain Management (MSCM) Team was tasked with locating new technologies to improve TxDOT’s supply chain management operations and reduce operating costs. The MSCM team researched available measuring tools, and successfully tested the Stockpiles iPhone App and our service, that creates a 3D image of a stockpile and calculates its volume.

The TxDOT estimates that there will be over 500 users taking measurements of stockpiles, half of which will be backup users. In addition, TxDOT estimates it will conduct almost 10,000 measurements per year and maintain data for 2,400 stockpiles.

Maintenance sections will no longer depend on survey crews and special equipment to accurately calculate stockpile volumes, freeing surveyors up for more strategic work. A single person can video a stockpile in less than five minutes, without climbing on the stockpile, and obtain accurate measurement results within 24 hours.

“We’re extremely pleased with this partnership,” said David Boardman, CEO of Stockpile Reports. “We believe that StockpileReports.com will save the citizens in Texas significant money from lowered operating costs and make TxDOT employees more efficient. We look forward to helping the agency meet or exceed their goals.”

TxDOT has already begun deploying Stockpile Reports’ patent-pending technology statewide in its maintenance operations. In fact, in January our Support team flew to Texas, and began one-on-one training with users on-site on how to measure piles with an iPhone, upload the video data and review the resulting reports.

Here are some of the photos taken during our training session in January, 2015:

There’s just enough time to pick up some standard construction cones from the store before the next day’s training session.

We’ve got an early morning start before arriving at our destination.

An overview of our site and stockpile reports. We added material types and conversions to accounts, then reviewed online tutorials.

An outdoor classroom experience: Galen shows how to set up the cones before measuring before each team member does it independently.

Galen demonstrates how to hold the phone, while videoing a stockpile.

It is Day 2 of training-time for new users to get out into the field and measure a few stockpiles on their own.

This was the first stockpile that was measured by the team using an iPhone.

Galen answers a question about when the stockpile reports will be ready to view from team members. Reports are usually ready the next day, but for training sessions we push them out earlier.