Loading page…
Achieving Next-Level Stockpile Monitoring
This blog dives into how automated machine scanning makes stockpile monitoring part of everyday operations and complements drone surveys. It explores how SDX-Compact helps track inventory, reduce manual measurement work, and make better-informed decisions.
In aggregates and mining, your stockpiles are your balance sheet. But on many sites, inventory is only measured when a surveyor visits or a drone flight is scheduled. Between surveys, production keeps moving, and yesterday’s numbers become today’s estimates. When margins are tight, “that looks like about 4,000 tons” isn’t much to build a decision on. Knowing what material you have, where it is, and how it changes helps you plan production, coordinate deliveries, and manage inventory with greater confidence.
Sodex Innovations offers automated site documentation solutions to enable seamless site-to-cloud data flows, with no hardware interference. The SDX-Compact uses LiDAR and camera sensors and can be mounted on any loader you already run. While the loaders execute their daily work, they scan the site, build 3D digital twins, and sync them to the SDX-Cloud in the office every 10 minutes. Stockpile volumes and tonnage are updated automatically, giving you a real-time picture of your production. You don’t need an extra trip or an extra person.
Drones vs. SDX-Compact: which one fits your site?
Drones changed stockpile measurement for the better, but they still give you a snapshot: someone plans the flight, waits for good weather, eventually stops or adjusts traffic in the flight zone, and then waits again for the data processing. By the time the numbers arrive, loaders have already moved material.
The SDX-Compact flips that model. It rides on the loaders and other machinery already working your site, so stockpile volumes update in real time as you operate, with zero downtime and no surveyor to schedule. It also goes past cubic yards: automated volume-to-ton conversion shows exactly how much high-value material you’re sitting on, and nobody has to get close to unstable piles or walk through active haul zones to get there.
With SDX-Cloud, managers see every location in one view instead of piecing together flight reports site by site. That doesn’t make drones obsolete, though. For large-area topographic mapping, full-quarry surveys, permitting and compliance documentation, or stockpiles that no machine currently drives past, such as long-term storage or remote corners of the site, a drone flight is still a smart choice. The best setups often use both: SDX-Compact for daily operational inventory, and drones for the occasional big-picture survey. And the great news with this is that SDX-Cloud offers drone photogrammetry processing, meaning you can have all your site data in one platform!
What changes for your operation?
More current inventory visibility
Regular updates help teams track changes between scheduled surveys. Production and dispatch decisions can draw on recently captured data rather than estimates carried forward from the last measurement.
Volume and estimated tonnage in one place
Automatic volume calculations show how much material is in a stockpile. Applying the appropriate material density converts that volume into estimated tonnage, helping teams connect site measurements with inventory planning.
Safety: less exposure during measurement
Capturing data from working machines reduces the need for personnel to approach unstable stockpiles or enter active operating areas specifically to take measurements.
Measurement without a separate production task
Scanning happens while the machine works. Operators don’t need to stop production or take any action related to site data collection.
A shared view across sites
SDX-Cloud gives managers access to inventory information across multiple locations, making it easier to compare sites, coordinate material availability, and work from a shared picture.
Scalable Deployment
SDX-Compact can be transferred between machines and projects as needed. Multiple units can be deployed within the same operation, with data consolidated in a shared SDX-Cloud account or project.
See how SDX-Compact fits your operation
Contact Sodex Innovations to speak with a specialist or arrange a demo on your aggregate or earthmoving site.
How SDX-Compact works
SDX-Compact attaches to the wheel loader’s cab roof using screw mounts or magnetic plates and connects to the machine’s power supply. Settings such as correction signals, coordinate systems, projects, user management, and geofences are managed through SDX-Cloud from the office.
Less time measuring. More time for informed decisions.
Stockpile monitoring shouldn’t have to start with booking a survey. With SDX-Compact, machines already working on site become a source of regularly refreshed inventory data. Surveyors spend less time travelling between locations for routine measurements and more time validating results, interpreting changes, and supporting better decisions.
For site teams, the benefit is straightforward: less guesswork between surveys and a clearer view of the material available to move, sell, or replenish.
