The quarry, situated just outside the nation’s capital San Salvador, plays a crucial role in providing aggregates for infrastructure and construction projects across the region. Producing a variety of aggregates essential for development, La Cantera maintains high standards of quality and efficiency. As it has developed and grown, the quarry has continually sought ways to enhance processes and improve production efficiency, in its operations. The introduction of Loadscan’s Conveyor Volume Scanner (CVS) has significantly impacted their operations.

At the La Cantera facility, the quarry extracts approximately 3,000 cubic meters (m³) of rock daily, processing it through a range of separate crusher lines to produce various aggregate products. To manage this large-scale production, the quarry relies on several systems and technologies to maintain smooth operations. A transformative investment made recently was the installation of a number of Loadscan CVS units across all crushers, providing a number of key benefits that have revolutionized operations.

Improved accuracy in production reporting

Before the Loadscan CVS, production tracking was based on counting truck trips, which was neither precise nor efficient. The quarry estimated the production of each aggregate type by truck trips and percentages established over time. However, this method often led to inaccuracies and lacked real-time precision.
With the Loadscan CVS, production reporting has become much more accurate. The system provides precise volume measurements of extracted material, and materials throughout the day. This real-time data has simplified reporting, increased accuracy, and enabled more informed decisions regarding resource allocation.

Tracking downtime and identifying production bottlenecks

Previously, La Cantera struggled to track plant downtime accurately. Estimating idle periods was time-consuming and often imprecise. Understanding the duration of production stops is essential to optimizing efficiency.

Now, with the Loadscan CVS, the quarry can precisely track downtime, enabling investigation into the reasons for the production stops.  The system logs downtime events, offering insights into bottlenecks or issues within the production process. Whether due to maintenance, truck delays, or other factors, the team can immediately identify and address inefficiencies, reducing downtime and boosting overall productivity.

Real-time monitoring of equipment efficiency

Before the Loadscan CVS, equipment efficiency assessments often occurred too late to address performance issues promptly. This delayed response contributed to unnecessary downtime and inefficient resource use.

With the Loadscan CVS, the quarry can now monitor equipment efficiency on a real-time basis. This immediate visibility allows corrective actions for underperforming equipment or deviations in the production process. For example, if a crusher operates below optimal capacity, or if a truck delays its return, the team can adjust operations right away, leading to better equipment usage and reduced downtime.

Managing stock volumes and preventing material shortages

La Cantera produces a broad range of aggregates, receiving around 200 trucks daily that are loaded with materials across 10 different product options. Accurately understanding stock volumes is vital to meeting customer demands.

Before the Loadscan CVS, stock measurements occurred infrequently, with discrepancies sometimes requiring inventory adjustments that could lead to shortages or imbalances.

With the Loadscan CVS, the quarry now monitors stock volumes in real-time. If an aggregate type is running low, the system helps quickly reassign resources—such as trucks and crushers—ensuring a consistent supply of material for each product. This proactive approach has made inventory management more responsive, reducing the risk of material shortages.

Commitment to sustainability and technology

La Cantera is committed not only to delivering high-quality aggregates but also to sustainability and innovation. The quarry operates a solar farm with more than 4,000 solar panels, generating enough energy to power the entire facility. The addition of the Loadscan CVS aligns with the quarry’s broader commitment to using advanced technology for efficiency and sustainability.

By implementing the Loadscan CVS, La Cantera has enhanced operational efficiency, reduced waste, and improved stock and resource management, reinforcing its commitment to quality, environmental responsibility, and technological advancement.

The decision to install Loadscan’s CVS across all crushers at La Cantera has proven to be one of the company’s best investments. The system’s ability to improve production reporting accuracy, track downtime and equipment efficiency, and manage inventory in real-time has transformed operations. This technology has optimized productivity, reduced inefficiencies, and ensured preparedness to meet customer demands. Furthermore, it strengthens the quarry’s commitment to sustainability and technological innovation. The integration of Loadscan has not only enhanced operational performance but also set the stage for continued improvements in the future.

Brian Northway, the company’s Senior Trucking Estimator explains how the company has successfully integrated the Loadscan LVS into its daily operations to enhance logistics, improve load measurement, and streamline data management for back-end reporting.

The challenge: Inconsistent load measurements and operational inefficiencies

Before integrating the Loadscan LVS into its operations, S&L Materials faced significant challenges with inconsistent load measurements and the time-consuming nature of manual tracking. The company operates a fleet of around 150 company and owner-operated trucks, handling large volumes of material, across a varied range of different sites around the state.

However, their traditional methods of estimating the volume of material in each truck created variability and inefficiency.

Brian Northway explains the issues with the previous system:

“We would just take a full dump truck and just, you know, put 18 yards down on the ticket, and that was it. We went by bucket count. We always tried to stay right around 18 to 19 yards in a dump truck.”

This approach relied on estimates made by excavator and loader operators. For instance, with an excavator, it was assumed that three to three-and-a-half buckets would equal 18 to 19 cubic yards but, in reality, these estimates could vary depending on factors such as the type of material, compaction, and truck size. As a result, there was often a gap between actual load volumes and what was reported, leading to inefficiencies and billing inconsistencies.

Brian elaborates on the challenges with the old system:

“You had drivers that would pop the tailgate, you know, they’d lose some of the material; trucks weren’t coming in [with] full loads and stuff.”

These discrepancies were problematic, especially as drivers were often paid based on the volume of material they hauled. Without accurate load measurements, it was difficult for the company to ensure fairness and transparency in compensation. In addition, the manual process of tracking loads and generating reports for billing was labour-intensive and prone to error.

The solution: Loadscan LVS technology

To solve these issues, S&L Materials turned to Loadscan, who provided a technology-based solution through its Load Volume Scanner.

The Loadscan LVS uses laser scanning technology to measure the exact volume of material in each truck as it passes through a scanner, providing precise and consistent data. The solution ensures that each load is accurately recorded in real time, which significantly reduces human error and makes the overall hauling process more efficient.

Brian explains the decision to adopt the Loadscan system:

“We decided to go with the Loadscan. That way, there was no ifs, ands or buts about it. We knew what was in the truck and, not only that,  you can put the truck number down, where they were going. It just made it a lot easier with being able to calculate and keep track of loads and how many yards are moving in and out of a job.”

The integration of the Loadscan LVS meant that S&L Materials could eliminate any guesswork from their operations. With each truck’s exact load volume automatically measured and recorded, the company could now rely on hard data to improve logistics and billing accuracy.

Improved efficiency in operations

The Loadscan LVS system has significantly improved operational efficiency at S&L Materials. The company now knows the exact volume of material being moved by each truck, which has helped reduce unnecessary trips and optimize the loading process. Before Loadscan, trucks would sometimes be underfilled or overfilled, based on rough estimates, but now every truck is loaded as efficiently as possible.

Brian shares how the technology improved speed and accuracy:

“Even the truckers like it because most of the truckers get paid by the yard. So when they come in and they’re hauling and it’s 18, 18, 18 [cubic yards] when we were generating tickets, they looked at it and would go ‘I know I’ve got more than 18 in there’, so now, with the Loadscan, there’s no guesstimating. They know exactly what it is.”

This level of precision means that the trucks are loaded more consistently, reducing downtime and improving efficiency, as trucks no longer need to return to the site to correct underfills or overfills.

Streamlined billing and data management

In addition to improving operational efficiency, the Loadscan LVS has greatly enhanced S&L Materials’ back-end data management. The system automatically generates daily reports detailing the number of trucks that have passed through the scanner and the exact volume of material that was hauled. These reports provide invaluable data for the company’s billing department.

Brian explains the impact of the system on the company’s billing process:

“We pull a report every day off MyScanner, so we know exactly what happened here. How many trucks, how many yards went out. And then we, you know, build off of that for our billing department.”

By automating the data collection and reporting process, the Loadscan LVS reduces the risk of errors that could occur with manual data entry. This has streamlined the invoicing process, ensuring that clients are billed accurately based on the actual volume of material moved rather than relying on estimates.

Additionally, the Loadscan LVS system allows for remote monitoring. If there are any issues or discrepancies in the load measurement, the team can remotely access the system to investigate and resolve any problems.

“The scanner is also really nice when you can remote in and actually see what’s going on. If there’s an issue, it definitely helps out a lot,” Brian says, highlighting the benefit of remote access.

This ability to monitor operations remotely has improved oversight, allowing S&L Materials to act quickly to address any issues that arise without needing to be on-site in person.

Enhancing client relationships with accurate data

The Loadscan LVS has not only improved internal processes but also enhanced the company’s relationships with clients. Clients can now be confident that the volume of material they are being billed for is accurate and verifiable. In contrast to the old system of estimating, the LVS provides concrete data that clients can rely on.

“When we would go set them [Load Volume Scanners] up at different mines where we were hauling out of, they’d look at it and be like, ‘what does this do?’, and when we started telling them that it takes the volume inside the truck and tells you how many you have, instead of just guessing 18 on every ticket, now you know whether you’re running 20/21 or if you’re at 17, so it definitely helps out a lot better.”

This transparency not only strengthens trust but also gives S&L Materials a competitive edge in the market. Clients appreciate the clarity provided by the LVS, knowing they are being billed based on precise measurements rather than estimates.

The future with Loadscan

The impact of Loadscan LVS on S&L Materials has been overwhelmingly positive, improving operational efficiency, data accuracy, and client relationships. With the technology in place, S&L Materials can now track every load in real-time, generate accurate billing reports, and ensure that their trucks are loaded to optimal capacity.

“It definitely makes it a lot easier. You’re not just guessing at an 18-yard bed and they’ve actually got 20. So you know, we can better keep count of what we got exported,” Brian says as he reflects on the improvements the system has brought.

A cost-effective solution for a flexible location

Russell explains that a traditional weighbridge posed both a logistical challenges and financial barriers, especially as there was the prospect of needing to relocate the weighbridge should the quarry expand in future years.

“The first thing was the cost of the weighbridge was going to be a lot more tricky for us, especially where we’ve got this scanner positioned,” he explains. “If we were going to mine this area then we’d have to shift the weighbridge…and so a lot of it was the cost.

“We’ve had a lot of experience with weighbridges in the past, and this causes a lot of headaches with load cells breaking and stuff like that,” he adds.

That cost factor, coupled with potential reliability issues of a weighbridge, led them to explore alternatives. Enter Loadscan, where an LVS-3BMF load scanner provided a solution tailored to their needs, offering not only cost-effectiveness but also a seamless integration into their operational framework.

“The volume scanner was the better option for us because we sell our metal by the cubic metre.”

“We’ve got weight scales on our loader and we’ll estimate how many cubic metres, as the loader weighs by tonne, but we never have sold it by the tonne.

“We’ve always measured by the cubic metre of gravel coming out — or any product coming out — by the cubic metre,” Russell states.

“It’s very hard to estimate cubic metres if you’re selling by the tonne.”

Embracing precision with volume scanner technology

As well as accurately measuring every truck load of material leaving the site, the data generated by the LVS also provides real-time updates which allows Russell to manage the annual totals being removed from the 14-hectare site.

“We pay a royalty to the City Council for every cubic metre that we sell that comes out of this quarry,” Russell says.

“It was like 30,000 cubes a year, and then the last 2 or 3 years it was down to 22,000. And now we’re at 18,000 cubes,” Russell says.

The quarry also sits on top of an aquifer, which is protected and, consequently, means the limit of the amount of gravel that can be extracted from the site is reducing as part of meeting environmental targets.

Waste Disposal Levy information

Perhaps more immediately relevant to the overall operation of the Delta quarry is the amount of cleanfill coming into the site, which then allows the land to be restored as the quarry is mined.

Trucks entering the site to dump cleanfill are scanned in through the LVS, with totals tallied and the companies then billed according to Ministry for the Environment’s (MFE) waste disposal levy scheme. This precision extends to different categories of clean fill, including class three, four, and even class five material entering the site.

“With the clean fill, we convert the MFE factor of 1.5 tonnes per cubic metre, and then we pay the levy back to the government for $10 a tonne,” Russell says.

“We load different categories of clean fill.

“We generally have class three and four clean fill.

“If we have a contractor doing subdivisions and they’ve got virgin material coming in here, then I can put a category into that machine saying class five, virgin material, so we’re capturing everything that comes in and out now.”

Navigating operational challenges with Loadscan

While acknowledging the reliance on truck drivers for correct data input, Russell emphasises the streamlined process Loadscan brings to their invoicing and administrative tasks through the cloud-based MyScanner web portal, which ties into the Delta billing and administrative system. The real-time access to information allows them to address concerns promptly and ensure accurate invoicing.

“That information is accessed by our administrator in town, and we have a guy in an office that that takes all that information and does the invoicing directly off that,” he says.

Accurate operation with Loadscan

Russell provides insights into the unique challenges posed by the Delta site, where Loadscan not only ensures compliance with the city council’s limits but also aids in responsible practices. The accurate measurement of various materials, including gravel, soil, and bark products they sell, reflects the precision and reliability of Loadscan’s technology.

“It works very, very accurately.”

Awesome technology

“I really think this system is awesome. It’s awesome technology. It works really, really well for what we’re trying to achieve.

Since being installed in December 2022, Russell says the scanner has proven its worth with accurate measurements and increased operational efficiency.

He says the technology and seamless integration into the Delta administrative system provide a serious contrast to the potential challenges a weighbridge would likely have brought, while delivering an accurate measurement tool that increases efficiencies.