Elevating the Aggregate Industry: The Power of Sodex Innovations Machine Automated Scanning
In aggregates and mining, your stockpiles are your balance sheet. Yet most sites only measure them now and then: whenever a surveyor can walk the piles, or when a drone flight gets booked once a week, or once a month. What you get is an outdated snapshot the moment a loader moves. Between measurements, you’re running on assumptions and a lot of “yeah, that looks like about 4,000 tons.” When margins are tight, “about” costs money. And that’s before we talk about the potential safety risks of sending people out.
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!
Key Advantages with SDX-Compact:
• Real-Time Inventory: Instantly track stockpile volumes without halting production.
• Automated Conversion: Move beyond volume with automated volume-to-ton calculations, providing a clear picture of high-value inventory.
• Safety First: Eliminate the need for personnel to climb unstable piles or walk through active work zones for manual measurements.
• Zero Downtime: Because the scanning happens during operation, there is no need to wait for drone flights or external surveyors.
• Data-Driven Decisions: By syncing data directly to the SDX-Cloud, site managers gain immediate visibility across multiple locations. This transparency allows for faster billing, optimized material planning, and reduced administrative overhead. In an industry where every ton counts, Sodex Innovations’ machine scanning provides the competitive edge needed to move more material with less waste.
How does SDX-Compact work:
1. Installation: The SDX-Compact is either screwed on or attached with magnetic plates on the wheel loader cab roof, and power is the only thing it needs. There’s no calibration. Everything else (e.g., correction signals, coordinate system, geofences) is configured from the office in SDX-Cloud, so nobody has to fiddle with settings out on site.
2. Data Collection: While the operator works as usual, the LiDAR sensor scans up to 140 ft around the machine. It continuously capture the terrain and stockpiles across the working area, with no extra trips or stops.
3. Data Processing: Scan data is processed in batches and sent to the office at an interval you choose, as often as every 10 minutes. Volumes are calculated automatically and converted to tons, so you see real material value, not just cubic yards.
4. Data Syncing: All results flow into SDX-Cloud, which gives you one dashboard across every site. Managers can check inventory, compare locations and act on current numbers without waiting for a survey report.
The bottom line:
Stockpile measurement shouldn’t be something you schedule. With SDX-Compact it runs in the background every day, on machines you already own, and turns guesswork into tons you can bill, plan and trust. It also gives surveyors their time back: no more hours behind the wheel driving from site to site just to take measurements. Instead they get a steady stream of fresh data, so they can spend their expertise on what actually matters, turning numbers into insights and better decisions. That holds whether you’re managing aggregate inventory or tracking progress on an earthmoving job.
Want to know how SDX-Compact would fit your operation? Reach out for more information, to talk to a specialist or to book a demo on your own aggregate or earthmoving site.