Drones — the aerial eye of the job site — have become a versatile tool for earthmoving operations. Among the benefits are increased efficiency, productivity and accuracy on job sites. In addition, drones help reduce unplanned costs and rework throughout a project by providing a steady stream of job site progress data.

As drone technology evolves, the return of investment in employing them increases, points out Zach Pieper, director of operations and co-owner of Quantum Land Design, an industry leader in managing and preparing 3D data required for construction projects of any scale. “That is why it is important for those in the construction industry, especially in earthmoving, to learn about using drones.”

Drones are another tool contractors can put in their toolbox to make more efficient and better decisions, according to Pieper. “There are many situations where a contractor might need to keep track of how much earth is being moved, compare the current site to the planned site, and figure out how many yards of earth still to be moved and where that dirt must go. Drones can be a very cost-effective way to do that. Drones can also provide a very rich layer of data that can be added to your knowledge of a project and your ability to manage it properly.”

When it comes to drones, Pieper says there are two types of contractors. “One group I call drone curious. They think drones are interesting and they need to be learning about them,” Pieper says. “The second group are those contractors that already have drones and feel they are not utilizing them as well as they could be. Or they bought a drone for a single purpose, which it is serving well, and they want to get more use out of the information collected. Or they want to get ideas on how to better use their drones on job sites.”

An education session called How to Utilize Drones in Your Earthmoving Business at CONEXPO-CON/AGG will cover the high-level basics of drones, including types of drones, applications, the kind of data you can get out of drones, and basic data collection procedures.

“The session applies to nearly any size contractor,” says Pieper. “It will be an information-dense way to learn how you can use drones to make better decisions with your contracting company and on each job site. It will be focused on applied technology. Everything in the education session will be information that any contractor can take back to their company or their jobsite and put it to work.”

Get 40% off your CONEXPO-CON/AGG badge through Oct. 28 by registering here using the code MEDIA40. That includes the All Access Passes which include access to all education sessions, including Pieper’s session on drones.

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About the author
AEM is the North America-based international trade group representing off-road equipment manufacturers and suppliers with more than 1,000 companies and more than 200 product lines in the agriculture and construction-related industry sectors worldwide. The equipment manufacturing industry in the United States supports 2.8 million jobs and contributes roughly $288 billion to the economy every year.