Stockpile Reports Inc., an inventory management system for stockpiled materials, announced its 2016 year-end report highlighting several data-driven trends and near-term predictions. Insights were extracted from the measurement of $44 billion dollars worth of stockpiled materials by customers in 24 countries capturing more than seven million images from drones, airplanes and iPhones.
The top three business drivers for measurement in 2016 were:
- Eliminating write-offs.
- Verification of material purchases.
- Cutting costs and improving safety.
Measurement activity is on the rise. Measurements have increased 497 percent since the first quarter of 2015, according to the company. Companies have been adopting drones for inventory measurement at an ever-increasing rate.
In the last two quarters of 2016, drone measurements increased 1,346 percent. As of the fourth quarter of, 2016, drone measurements accounted for 51 percent of all measurements, rounded out by 29 percent for iPhone measurements, and 20 percent for airplane measurements.
Measurement from the ground and air is balancing out. Sixteen out of the top 20 largest Stockpile Reports customers use both ground and air-based measurements for their inventory counts.
DOTs, county governments, construction, ready-mix and recycling companies predominantly measure from the ground. Aggregate producers, wood products, landscape materials and mining companies predominantly measure from the air.
Inventory count frequency is increasing. Patterns by industry are:
- Moving toward quarterly measurements: aggregates, DOTs and county government.
- Moving toward monthly measurements: landscape materials and wood products.
- Moving toward weekly measurements: concrete, ready-mix and recycling.
PIle storage practices remain an issue. Storage practices can introduce risk into the corporate balance sheet. Few companies actively manage storage practices to minimize financial risk. The top three storage risks for 2016 were vegetation, high-walls and combined piles.
In addition, equipment, debris, standing water, high-walls and buried bases are common. Early movers are starting to implement management processes to address deficiencies.
Stockpile Reports has published a full report on its website, highlighting industry trends and 2016 data insights.