Drone Enabler's Digest Takes Flight

?? Done Enabler's Digest: Our First Newsletter Takes Flight??

?? Hello to all of our friends, partners, clients, and connections out there, and welcome to the first edition of our bi-weekly newsletter: Drone Enabler's Digest! ??

Here, we hope to share with you the secrets of successful drone programs that we've learned through years of experience, thousands of projects, and countless hours behind the controls.

From small-scale projects to massive, ground-breaking operations, we've been-there and done-that, and can't wait to share what we've discovered - so you don't need to find out the hard way ??

In addition, we'd love for you to get to learn about the people and ethos behind Consortiq, in a way website blogs don’t generally allow for.

Now, if you're already an expert in the UAV field, this might not be the newsletter for you...

But, if you’re trying to figure out if drones are useful, the best way to start using them in your organisation, or how to scale up your drone operations and harmonise them with your business processes, then look no further.

??BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front)

• Drones can help you clear your inspection backlog, and help you regain the initiative in your maintenance programs.?

• Bringing your operations in-house is less risky, but there is a higher burden. Outsourcing offers ease of scalability & fewer upfront costs, but poses challenges of its own (more on that, below).

Preventative Maintenance Prevents Poor Performance

You all know that preventive maintenance beats reactive maintenance. Especially in terms of operational impact, resource scheduling, and cost.

But, getting out of that reactive cycle is hard... To get through your backlog and onto proactive work, it would take more resources than you have - and your budget isn't getting any larger.

Using a drone seems like an obvious choice; you don’t need to build scaffolding or climb a structure, you achieve plenty of high-quality data in a matter of hours (not days!), and can collect data much more regularly, building up the picture of performance.

?? FACT - In a case study by Flyability (a drone manufacturer), they saved one major power plant 470 hrs. work hours (a 98% time saving!) by using one of their drones to inspect one “scrubber” (flue gas desulfurization unit).?

Scrubbers are huge silos, and a crucial part of power generation. Inside these silos are spray headers that need inspecting to ensure correct operation.

Usually, an 80-foot scaffolding tower is erected inside the silo, which the inspection team climbs to inspect the spray headers. It’s lengthy, dangerous, and expensive.

But, in just 10 hrs., the drone had fully inspected the headers, finding? several maintenance issues, which they put workarounds in for until the next planned shutdown of the scrubber.

In our work in the petrochemical sector, we’ve used Flyability drones to inspect the inside of chimneys. Rather than lower inspectors down the chimney in a bucket, we flew the drones from the top down, and bottom-up to get the data needed. The clients were impressed with the quality of the data, the speed of the work, and the reduction in risk for their teams.

We break preventative maintenance down in further detail, right here: How Preventive Maintenance Saves You Time and Money?

PRO TIP - Know what your success criteria are in advance - Reducing risks to staff, reducing inspection time, or reducing carbon footprints may all require a different approach!

Out-source, in-house (farmhouse, warehouse, dog house)

So, you want to use drones - but where should you start?

Well, you can run your operation in-house, or you can outsource it. Which one you choose ultimately depends on your organization's needs.

To help you get started, we put together a handy list of pros and cons.

In-house operations are great for:

? Maintaining control of the operation

? Immediate response times

? Custom program that meets your every need

Not so good for:

?Risk exposure

?Up-front equipment costs & lifecycle management

?Training & currency overheads for software and hardware

?Keeping up to date with technology & regulations

Out-sourced operations provide:

? Ease of scalability (up and down)

? Lower upfront costs (OPEX, not CAPEX too)

? Less liability

? Data processing handled by same company

However, you need to consider:

? Less flexibility

? Higher response times

? Rigid pricing structures

Of course, you can switch between models as you go, and even blend them, in what we call the hybrid model. An in-house team performs the majority of your operations, but you call in 3rd party experts for more complex ones. No matter which model you choose to start with, you’re not stuck with it forever!

Still not sure which operational model is right for you? Find out more about what each has to offer, right here: Should You Use Drone as a Service or Start an In-House UAV Program?

Thanks for reading, and be sure to follow us through this journey!

Well friends, that just about does it for this edition of Drone Enabler's Digest... Stay tuned for some great stuff new stuff in the upcoming future, and if If you want to learn more about what you can do with drones - follow us on Consortiq LinkedIn, or connect with one of the team.

Feel free to DM us anytime!

Garf Beverley, Managing Director for Consortiq.

Jennifer Taylor, Business Development Manager - EMEA

Michael Hyman, Customer Success Manager