As a drone services provider, we know you're always on the lookout for drones with new capabilities and features. Especially when these capabilities provide new services to your existing clients, and let you expand into new markets.
The Skygauge Inspection Drone is among the first commercially available drones that can do ultrasonic testing and visual inspection. With Skygauge, you can remarket your existing visual customers on UT, and land completely new UT clients.
Our custom-tailored marketing materials will help you advertise your new capabilities to clients.
Our drone platform is modular. The main drone body is designed to be stable enough for physical work, but the type of physical work will vary. At the moment, we offer a bespoke ultrasonic gauge for spot thickness testing, but we are actively expanding into other use-case like wire brushing, sanding, painting, and cleaning. All of these attachments will be compatible with the existing Skygauge drone.
Here are 6 ways you can invest in your drone business by adding a Skygauge to your lineup.
1. Remarket existing customers on UT
Ultrasonic testing (UT) is a rapidly growing industry. As steel tanks, ships, chimneys, and other structures around the world age, demand only grows. The market for UT is projected to double in size by 2030.
Many asset owners combine visual inspection and ultrasonic testing into one. Since the inspector conducts the ultrasonic test, they can complete the visual inspection at the same time.
This makes drone inspection companies less competitive. Most drones can only do visual inspection, not UT, while a human can do both. With Skygauge, the picture changes - our drones do both ultrasonic and visual inspection. Moreover, customers can see savings of 60-90% by adopting our tech over a conventional inspection team.
With a Skygauge in your drone fleet, you can reach out to your existing customers and inquire about UT work. Using your new drone will save them money over a conventional inspection, and you can handle both visual and UT in one job.
2. Access an untapped market for drone ultrasonics
The Ultrasonic testing market is the largest market in the NDT space, even larger than visual inspection. Analysts value the Visual Inspection market at USD 2.5 B, and the UT market at 3.75 B.
Since UT is 50% bigger than VT, expanding into this market is a worthwhile investment for your drone business. For example, storage tank owners have to complete a UT inspection once every 5 years to maintain compliance with regulations.
These customers do not require a visual inspection alongside that UT test. As a drone services provider you would not be able to land this sale without a UT drone. The Skygauge can help you expand into new markets like this one, taking advantage of that 50% larger market share.
3. Enjoy larger margins on inspection services.
Some inspections are much cheaper when done with the Skygauge. For example, using our drone cuts inspection costs by 95% or more when compared to a scaffolding arrangement.
Some inspections are so lucrative that you can get a positive ROI on your Skygauge purchase after one job. For instance, a single shipping inspection saves customers $400,000 or more by switching to Skygauge.
You have the flexibility to pass some of these savings to the customer, or retain the additional profit for your business.
4. Outsource Marketing
The Skygauge comes with a range of powerful marketing materials, including case studies, flyers, brochures and infographics. We are happy to provide these materials as part of your purchase, or to produce dedicated materials that resonate perfectly with your clients.
5. Future-proof your product offering
The UT gauge currently mounted on our drone is just the first of many attachments that are currently in development.
We are currently developing a paint-thickness measurement tool, and tools for wire brushing and painting.
In the long run, Skygauge aims to create a flexible "Workforce in the Sky", which will deploy tools for tasks as diverse as roofing, bricklaying, and window-washing. All of these attachments will be mountable to our standard drone body. As our range of use-cases grows, so does the range of products you can offer as a drone services provider.
Entering this race early grants you a first-mover advantage on new services. You could be the first drone company to offer painting, or wire brushing in your local area simply by having a Skygauge in stock.
6. Operate safely in hazardous environments
As demonstrated during our pilot project with Transport Canada, the Skygauge is capable of operations at sea on the sides of ships, and in arctic environments as cold as -30C. Work at height in these spaces is extremely dangerous.
Instead of putting a team of workers at risk climbing down the side of a ship, the customer can turn to you and use a drone solution. Similarly, inspecting a remote radio tower in the arctic is extremely dangerous, but only if the worker needs to actually climb the tower.
With the Skygauge, your inspector can sit comfortably in a heated vehicle, while the drone ascends to do the dangerous work. These safety advantages will bring customers to you, over conventional inspection teams.
Summary
Adding a Skygauge to your drone fleet permanently upgrades your company's service offering. You can add UT to your inspection capabilities, and take advantage of future attachments for cleaning, wire brushing, and painting.
Our team offers constant support, including marketing material like case studies and brochures. These can help you sell the Skygauge's unique capabilities to customers.
The savings are dramatic, with costs reduced by as much as 90% and inspections happening 10x faster. You can pass on some of these savings to your clients, and take advantage of them to boost your profit margin.
Interested in broadening your service offering to new and existing clients, while helping to push the cutting edge of drone technology? Contact us today to learn more about how the Skygauge can upgrade the capabilities of your drone services company.
