That effort was so successful that Bilfinger expanded its use of UAVs into a service the global company now offers to clients.
Brady Guillory, Bilfinger's director of NDT and technology, was instrumental in implementing drones for inspection and continues to oversee the full range of inspection services the company offers.
"With our multi-disciplined experts, we can support our customers across all of their inspection requirements at every stage of their plant's life-cycle, from fabrication through routine in-service inspection to decommissioning," Guillory said. "Our multi-skilled teams, many of whom are also trained in industrial rope access and drone applications, enable us to deliver productivity savings of as much as 30 percent, compared to traditional approaches."
Key to the services offered by the company's Inspection Division, he noted, is the Bilfinger Inspection Concept, which combines various inspection and supporting services into an efficient, single-interface solution for customers. When the Inspection Concept was applied to Bilfinger's UAV services, it did so by having the UAV technicians become not only FAA-certified UAV pilots, but NDT-certified technicians as well. "We can reduce crew sizes when integrated with our NDT technology by implementing two-in-one technicians, providing instant cost savings," Guillory said.
In addition to the cost savings offered through FAA and NDT-certified UAV pilots, Guillory noted that the dual certifications offered through Bilfinger's UAV inspection services also provide the benefits of increased safety for personnel and reductions to downtime. "Offering enhanced visual inspection methods by drones in complex environments and workspaces keeps workers out of harm's way and eliminates downtime," he said.
To demonstrate those benefits, he pointed to a recently completed project. "We recently performed an internal drone inspection where we had to perform visual inspections of 10 tanks with our Elios 2 Drone," Guillory explained. "We were able to internally inspect all tanks in one day without having to send personnel into confined spaces. This saved approximately 50 percent of the man-hours that would have been needed for confined space entry and ultimately eliminated any potential safety hazards that come with confined space entry."
Bilfinger's UAV fleet currently includes the Elios 2 and Matrice 300 RTK models, but Guillory expects both the types of drones and their respective capabilities to continue to increase in the future. This spring, he said, Bilfinger anticipates incorporating drones that can carry out ultrasonic thickness measuring, and Guillory also envisions adding drones that can provide prepping and cleaning applications sometime in 2023.
"Drones are highly technical and effective tools that add value for our clients," he said. "Bilfinger will always look to provide the most optimal and cost-effective tools and solutions to each work scope we take on."
For more information, visit www.northamerica.bilfinger.com or call (337) 289-0092.
