Materially and Propeller Aero co-hosted a webinar, “Cutting Edge Quarries,” to highlight the value of their solutions to aggregates suppliers. During the session on Dec. 8, a representative from each company gave a presentation on their technology’s use cases and unique benefits for suppliers and then fielded questions from the audience.
Ozan Yalniz, the founder and CEO of Materially, gave the presentation on Materially’s software platform. Materially is a New Jersey-based company that serves aggregates suppliers, buyers (both contractors and fixed plants), and haulers. Yalniz highlighted how digitizing the processes of sales, dispatch and finance can have a number of benefits for aggregate suppliers. One of the most obvious benefits is saving suppliers time: the ability to access all orders in an easy-to-use, comprehensive order portal can reduce the burden on dispatchers who currently receive orders via phone calls, emails and text messages.
Additionally, Materially keeps an auditable log of all communication between suppliers and their customers and haulers, making it easier and faster for suppliers to resolve ticket disputes and detect fraudulent activity. Yalniz also noted that suppliers sometimes overlook the amount of impact that they can realize by tracking and analyzing their data: better insight into customer and trucking data can often lead to significant improvements across sales, trucking efficiency, finance and more.
Yalniz answered a question about what new features at Materially he is most excited about by mentioning a quoting tool that will allow suppliers to optimize pricing. Yalniz stated that the tool will allow suppliers to more accurately generate pricing for projects by easily considering cycle times, trucking routes and competitive dynamics on a map-based interface. According to Yalniz, prices are often generated through a combination of excel, Google Maps and back-of-the-envelope math, and he believes the new tool will greatly streamline this process.
Cameron Bentley, key accounts team manager, presented on behalf of Propeller Aero. Propeller Aero is an Australian company that serves users across aggregates, construction, mining and waste management in more than 120 countries. Propeller Aero offers a drone surveying solution that is primarily used for inventory/stockpile data collection in the aggregates industry. Bentley also highlighted that the surveys can be used for site mapping and construction/haul route planning.
Propeller Aero makes it easy for aggregate suppliers to deploy the drones themselves; after the drones run, Propeller Aero helps with data processing, providing users with intuitive reports on site stockpiles and site topography. Bentley also presented a case study on the success that Haydon Materials has had using Propeller Aero; Haydon moved away from a third-party surveying provider and now uses Propeller Aero’s technology, which grants them more control over the drone routes, flight scheduling and reporting.
When asked about the most exciting new developments at Propeller Aero, Bentley mentioned DirtMate, a new offering that monitors and tracks earthworks volumes. This gives aggregate suppliers and civil contractors greater insight into daily earthworks volumes, aiding the information collected by Propeller Aero’s drone solution. DirtMate can integrate with any machine, making it easy for suppliers to begin augmenting their aerial readings with complementary data from their earthworks machines. In the coming years, Bentley is excited to see more customers implement DirtMate and benefit from the valuable earthworks volume data.
Technology solutions like Materially and Propeller Aero have been transformative for material suppliers, who utilize data and technology to streamline and optimize operations. Both Yalniz and Bentley emphasized that their solutions are easy to begin using and that suppliers can start by piloting the technology at a single quarry.
To learn more, visit the Materially or Propeller Aero websites.