Jim Lenz:
In this episode. Buckle up as we take flight into the world of grain silo maintenance, where drones are the new superheroes. We’ll soar into the sky with Cheyenne Wohlford exploring the groundbreaking world of drone inspection services in the grain industry. Hello and welcome to the show. Welcome to the Whole Grain Podcast. My name is Jim Lenz, your host and producer of the show and the director of global training and education at GEAPS, where the mission of the grain elevator and processing societies to champion, connect and serve the global grain industry and our members. At GEAPS. We work to be the global community and thought leader for the grain industry, which feeds and fuels the world. Thanks for listening today and for joining the network of thousands of other grain handling and processing professionals across the globe taking strategic steps to grow professionally. The Whole Grain show gives you the competitive advantage to win at work so you can make more of an impact. In this episode of Whole Grain, our guest is Cheyenne Wohlford. Cheyenne is the CEO and president of CCS Group LLC, a leader in structural assessments and maintenance for grain elevators. With a wealth of experience and affiliations in the grain industry, Cheyenne shares insights into the innovative drone inspection services provided by CCS Group. Cheyenne delves into the adoption of drone inspection services, discussing the initial benefits and surprises encountered during their implementation. Listeners gain an understanding of tailoring inspection processes to desired outcomes, along with the differences between routine checks and emergency responses. Cheyenne shares compelling examples of how drone inspections have uncovered critical issues and informed repair decisions. She also outlines the post-inspection process, including data extraction, video editing and report generation. He emphasizes how these findings drive key repair decisions and points of interest. We’ll also discuss the importance of collaboration and informed decision making in the repair process His explorers ensuring stakeholders are equipped with critical insights. Cheyenne shares how drone inspections have revolutionized grain silo maintenance, emphasizing their modern and innovative solutions that streamline decision making and enhance safety. Join us as we explore the cutting edge advancements in grain silo maintenance with Cheyenne Wohlford. Let’s get started All right. Our guest for today is a very well connected individual within the grain industry. Cheyenne Wohlford is a graduate of the American Concrete Institute and founded CCS Group LLC in 2009. As CEO and president of custom concrete specialists, Cheyenne leads a talented team and set of teams in structural assessments, preventative maintenance and emergency repairs for terminal and country grain elevators. He is a member of GEAPS, the National Grain and Feed Association, the American Shotcrete Association and the American Concrete Institute. That’s why it’s exciting to welcome Cheyenne Wohlford to the show. Thank you for your participation and whole grain Cheyenne. Thank you, Jim. Thanks for the opportunity. We’re excited to be here. The organization plays a critical role in the grain handling and processing industry. We’ll get into that and we’ll talk a specific sector of what you do here in this particular episode. But to allow our listeners to get to know you, to add a bit of positive spirit to Cheyenne, could you share with our listeners a mantra or a success quote that you live by professionally?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Absolutely Jim. My team can tell you. Probably one of our biggest mantras is worry about the what’s and not the what ifs. So we’re here to educate and obviously worry about the what’s and not the what ifs.
Jim Lenz:
Wonderful. Thank you for sharing. Now, to provide some context for our whole grain listeners who are joining us today from really all around the world, cheyenne, could you provide a brief overview of your organization, ccs Group? Our listeners may be curious of the actual depth and scope of your services. Big picture wise, what are some examples of the projects that your team works on?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Yeah, jim, big picture wise. We repair concrete grain elevators all throughout the US, which would include exterior concrete and spalling repair, shock-free liner installation, hopper repair and hopper installation, beam pocket repair utilizing carbon fiber technology. Catastrophic and rupture repairs, unfortunately when needed. And of course the topic today, the drug technology, so kind of a turnkey in the grain industry as far as a repair aspect.
Jim Lenz:
Concrete silos have been such a staple for the industry. They have a long life, but care needs to be taken and make sure the long life continues, and your organization has played such a crucial role. So most of the rest of our conversation here will focus on one particular area, and it is on innovations in grain silo maintenance, in particular, drone inspections and services. Cheyenne CCS Group currently offers drones for grain silo maintenance right and as you initially explore the potential adoption of drone inspection services, what were some benefits of using drones for in-depth visual inspections, and are you seeing some of those same benefits now that you are executing the use of drones for inspection services? Has anything surprised you?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Yeah, that’s a great question, Jim. Kind of back to our mantras, worrying about the what’s and not the what ifs. This technology allows us to determine exactly what the what’s are and so as we started to explore utilizing drones. As far as our inspection process, you know, obviously we’re looking at the safety aspect of it not having to lower myself particularly inside the silos anymore to capture those videos or to make those inspections. You know, to make those inspections more timely so that we can go out and hopefully inspect an entire facility either in a day or a couple days, versus spending a week and maybe really causing a disruption to the facility and then also just getting the more in-depth piece of that, so that what we’re capturing is better than a dusty video or a picture of me swinging from a Boseman’s chair inside of a bin. So that was really the highlights of when we started to explore this. As far as part two of that question has it come to fruition, it’s exactly what we expected and more. The capabilities to slow down and get a better quality picture or video of an area obviously has been crucial. The amount of time it actually takes to inspect these silos has been minimized quite profusely. It’s kind of been eye-opening now that we’re spending 15 to 30 minutes inside of a bin and actually getting then what used to take us an hour to two hours, with all the safety protocols of the rigging and fall protection and such. So we’ve been extremely happy with that and, of course, the 4k video and high-def pictures and the light art point cloud has just been a great addition to this. So, yeah, we’re really excited about taking the leap of faith and pulling the trigger on that.
Jim Lenz:
Oh, that’s fantastic. And now that listeners understand the clear purpose on the use of the drones in the inspection process, can you discuss the importance of tailoring the inspection process? You know, customizing that to the desired outcome?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Yeah, absolutely. Each drone inspection that is requested of CCS kind of comes with a specific purpose. It’s either a 911 call of having a very specific issue either concrete being located inside of the grade man or plugging up a conveyor or discharge or sometimes we’ve gotten phone calls of wood pieces being found and, of course, the client wanting to know where all this debris is coming from. Other times it’s from a preventative maintenance aspect, where we tailor it with a full package of the GPR scanning and the visual inspections. Where they’re more wanting to get a baseline health check, if you will, they want to get a physical done on their silos. So we’re able to kind of tailor our response to exactly what the either engineer or client’s request is specifically.
Jim Lenz:
We’ll be back after a brief message. Custom concrete specialist has you covered with concrete silo repairs. Having completed over 1500 projects, ccs is a nation’s leader in structural assessments, preventative maintenance and emergency repairs for terminal and country grade elevators. Ccs is dedicated to providing advanced evaluation technology, a skilled and experienced team and unwavering commitment to safety. Ccs provides nationwide services of shot creek liners, catastrophic failure repairs, carbon fiber solutions, crack and spalling repairs, hopper installation and repairs and rough coatings. Visit their website at www. CCSgrouponlinecom. Earlier, you alluded to the different sort of use cases of drones. Can you share how the inspection process differs based on whether it’s a routine health check or an emergency response situation?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Absolutely as far as a routine health check or a physical, if you will. These flights are typically longer in duration and we’re trying to collect as much data as possible. So we’re really not in there looking for anything in particular, we’re just checking blood pressure and heartbeat. So we’re using that information, potentially for future repair or future review, if you will. So that type of inspection allows you to have a time stamped data collection process that you can then go back maybe any year’s time and refly that exact location and see if there’s any changes or any dramatic features that are starting to show their face over the course of a set period of time, whereas an emergency response piece it’s usually where they’re looking for a very specific damaged area. They’re needing to make a very quick decision. Either it’s do we replace the rough cap or do we install new rough beams in the structure. So we’re really flying in there to determine what’s existing and what its condition is, and so therefore, the data can be kind of localized for whatever the specific case is. So, like I said, the health check version is usually a longer, in depth flight. We’re just flying and seeing if we see any anomalies, any issues. We’re not specifically going to one location. Whereas the emergency response is usually quick, it’s very effective in and out, gathering the data, typically meeting with the engineer, sometimes on site, and pulling that data off right there in real time and having a team of professionals with us that can deliver that ASAP.
Jim Lenz:
That’s a great summary of the different scenarios. I’d love to dive a little bit deeper into the different examples that could come about that drones may discover in the inspection process and you mentioned a couple of things, but can you provide sort of examples of how drone inspections have been instrumental in uncovering unknown issues and facilitating, ultimately, key repair decisions?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Absolutely Just here recently, jam, we inspected a facility which entailed 38 silos in total and delivered that information not only to the client but to the client’s third party engineer, which then helped determine which silo caps actually needed to be fully removed or replaced or what structural beams needed to be either reinstalled or having some additional support added so that it wouldn’t be a full-on roof cap removal. In the end we’re able to narrow down the repair scope, obviously save the client a pretty significant amount of money but furthermore help minimize the facility downtime by not having to remove all the entire rough structure of a facility. We were actually very specific and narrowed it down to two of the rough caps, versus removing the whole entire 38, what I would call the whole annex rough cap and exposing way more than what was necessary. So in the end it was kind of win-win for everybody. It was a win for the client but, like I said, to reduce that financial aspect of the outlay of the expenditure. It was a win for the engineer because we really give them great detailed information that they felt confident and not necessarily having to lean back on their conservativeness of just saying, well, it went in question, just replace it. They were really felt confident in the decision-making of we are still being conservative, but we have real, accurate data that’s allowing us to be that accurate and conservative. And then, of course, for us, for my team when I send the repair team in to make those repairs the crews they know exactly what they’re looking for, where it’s not a blind leading the blind and we’re not doing exploratory type repairs, we’re very surgical and removing pieces and parts. We’ve seen the benefits on our crews and the specialization of just knowing exactly where they’re headed and what they’re doing. So it’s been a great tool for everybody in our opinion.
Jim Lenz:
We’ll be back after a brief message. Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, Interstates offers electrical construction, electrical engineering and control system solutions. For over 70 years they have tackled complex challenges and developed innovative solutions for grain handling facilities around the country. Interstate brings their clients a wide breadth of experience in the grain industry, from greenfield builds to support for existing facilities, including upgrades, service calls and ongoing maintenance. They do what it takes to deliver your solution on schedule, on budget and on target with your needs. Come visit them at the GEAPS Exchange or contact them today at www. interstates. com. So CCS Group doing great work. You upped your game even more with drone inspections. If you can provide clarity for your clients and you said the word confidence a lot that’s such a good feeling and downtime is so critical in facilities. You mentioned that it would be kind of neat to take a sort of trip in the day in the life of a drone inspection your auditorially at this point through the podcast here, but I would imagine our whole grain podcast listeners may be curious on that aspect. In a day in the life of drone inspection, cheyenne, could you offer some understanding of the post inspection process, including data extraction and report generation?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Absolutely yeah. So you know it’s a great time that’s one of my favorite times is to be on site and interact with the client collecting that data. It’s neat to see that all kind of in bold in your eyes, but the job’s not done there. It’s actually the harder piece comes into play of actually downloading that data collected in the field and of course those are large data files that take a very specific software and team to kind of digest. So once the inspection is done in field, I would say that’s 10% of our job. The other 90% is remaining is coming back and utilize our marketing director and a very specific software that allows her to make the edits to the drone videos. She takes a lot of pride in editing all my crashes bouncing against the wall out of those flight, but it doesn’t look chaotic in the moment. She then turns that into a very nice streamlined deliverable to our clients. So downloading that information and into a Dropbox link that hopefully is easy to open and share with the team, but it even gets a little bit further down in detail. We utilize a software that then allows us to do a point cloud from a light art version. The newest addition to our drone team is the Yelios 3, and it actually has a light art hub attached to the drone. So it’s constantly collecting a point cloud or point of interest, and that enabled us to 3D map the silo as well. So it’s kind of neat. You can actually see a live view of the drone as it’s in flight and she’s foot screams that and puts it into the light art view, the point cloud, if you will, or the 3D model. So in one particular screen you can see what the drone is seeing in live view as it’s collected. And if you look to your left you can see where the drone is located in that specific bin, what direction it’s facing, what the view like is of the drone if it’s turned to the left or the right, if it’s side lit, if it’s fully lit. It’s really neat to kind of see that unfold. So again, she takes great pride in developing that and putting those videos together so that you’re never asked the question. You know, okay, I see that there’s a major chunk of concrete missing in this bin. Where are we at? Here? You can automatically look and see the location of the drone, the height from the ceiling or the height from the hopper or the floor, if it’s the north wall, south wall, whatever that is. It’s really a great view of that. That’s just one piece. A second piece is actually a full-on written report, if you will. That includes all the POIs or the points of interest that we see in our view. So if we’re flying and we see, you know, a major chunk of concrete missing or a hopper connection that is not correct or something, while we’re in the moment in flying we can then take still shots of those specific areas and those still shots are kind of chronographed with a timeline down below in the software. If you will that again you can see the exact location, where that drone was and where he was looking or what direction. And so this POI report that we delivered to the client in a PDF view or a PDF document then explains each individual point of interest that we feel is necessary to share. Or sometimes an engineer would maybe request that we put a very specific photo on that report and then in turn, at the end of that that allows us to write a scope or repair for that piece, which would be including a cost associated to make that repair. So our clients really enjoy that full report, the PDF report, not just of the videos, but the full PDF report of here’s what we found, here’s how we’re going to fix it and here’s what it’s going to cost. It gives them the turnkey partnership piece of it. That’s kind of a neat deliverable at the end that the clients are really kind of come to expecting now. So we’re kind of setting our own standards, if you will, as we’re paving the way here.
Jim Lenz:
That is amazing. You’re right Setting your own standard. I think, coming into this interview and probably a lot of listeners out there, when you hear about drone inspections, they’re primarily talking about video and really high quality video, and people have gained understanding. You can access things, you can be efficient. But you just mentioned another of different things about report generation and data extraction. You talked about lighter point clouds. You talked about points of interest, pois. I’m kind of blown away by this. In fact, I was just watching a show where there are archaeologists who are using these same things to locate and confirm native settlements in the rainforest. You’re using these same things here, and that was my first with some of the terminology that you mentioned. So not only did you invest in the equipment or hardware, you invested in the software that goes along with the hardware and the drones, but you invested in your team in terms of training and communicating and deciphering, and you are leveraging technology and the people skills to make really sound decisions and wow, what confidence again that brings. So let’s talk a little bit more about collaboration decision making. Now a lot of critical information is collected. As you said, I would imagine this leads to a meeting so all parties can fully comprehend the situation. This leads to collaboration between organizations and, ultimately, decision making. You provide an insider’s perspective on that decision making process. You alluded to that. Can you provide a little more detail? How do you ensure that all stakeholders are well informed for a successful repair process?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
And Jim, that’s you’re absolutely right, it’s a lot of information. And one thing I failed to mention earlier a new addition, as we’re doing the drone flights, that we found was necessary is actually adding a secondary tablet connected directly to the drone so that you can have a team of people actually viewing the live view. And so the engineering clients have really found favor in this because they can be huddled around a tablet, not necessarily looking over your shoulder where I’m trying to make flight decisions, and they can stop me and say, hey, can you back up a little bit or pitch up or pitch the camera down and take a picture of that? And so that’s been a great addition. But, as you said, you’re absolutely right, it’s a lot of information. It’s a very large storage pieces of it, and so the collaboration piece, the information, like I said, what we’re finding is it’s really been requested in two folds. It’s not uncommon for us to go do a flight inside of a bin and the whole entire team wants to meet immediately on site. Cameron, our marketing director travels very well equipped with her laptop and the software downloaded and to actually make those pull those videos up immediately. And what’s been nice is is if we flew a bin or a silo and we didn’t collect the exact information that was expected. We can go back and redo it. That’s what’s nice about actually being able to go and download that immediately, pull that up and make that decision. Like you know, we need to do a retake here, or, now that we see this, can we go back up and look at the other end of the beam or something of that nature. So we really like that view of it is being able to unload that immediately right into the client or to the engineer and then, once there’s been the nod of the head that this is exactly what we’ve been looking for, then obviously we can come back and provide all that information, like I was telling you earlier. So what’s nice is, in our opinion, you can have as many people on a presentation or in the room as possible and it doesn’t leave anything unanswered, as a lot of our and I’m not, you know, I’m not going to lie a lot of our past inspections used to leave a pretty big gap and it was pretty impossible to go back and reset the tripod up and reinstall the fall protection Typically another day of travel, something of that nature. So it wasn’t always, you know, the most desirable outcome, but if I didn’t collect the right picture, or if it was too dusty or, and of course, the information that the drone is collecting? Versus a, the typical camera that I was equipped with is way more intense and it’s got the different lighting and dust proof lighting, so again equipping us with tools that we typically didn’t have. But what I like about that is like you can include as many people as possible anybody that may have any effects by the repair process, meaning clear down to the grain marketers or the operations team. You can involve pretty much anybody in this and they can ask the questions that they feel necessary and we can hopefully get them the answers as solutions, as we see it there. So, yes, it’s great you can involve the whole entire team.
Jim Lenz:
Yeah, you’re talking about evidence based decision making, and you did that before, but your team is leveraging what is out there, what is capable. How can we improve as an organization? We serve a lot of clients, but you feel the gap, as you just said there. So that’s incredible Serving as a leader Cheyenne, such a highly experienced team who has seen so much and accomplished so much when it comes to this niche of the industry. Big picture wise, how have drone inspections transformed the grain silo inspection process?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
That’s great question. If I had to summarize that one answer, I would say having everybody on the same page at the same time has streamlined the repair process and mitigated a lot of unnecessary repairs. So what we found is, oftentimes we go into that inspection process thinking we know what the issue is, or we think we know the extent of the damage, and what we end up with is the reality of exactly what needs to be repaired or replaced, and so that’s been a benefiting factor to our clients as well. Oftentimes we find that the issue is not as big of an issue as they suspected. Or and that’s a great feeling too we’re not just there to sell our services, we’re there to fully get everybody on the same page at the same time and make those real life decisions kind of immediately. So yeah, it’s been a great tool for us.
Jim Lenz:
Yeah, concrete silos are long-term investments, obviously support, you know, big revenue come in and value for the organization. But you’ve been really innovative as an organization. Innovation comes in all shapes and sizes. Can we work more efficiently? Can we work more effectively? Can we be safer? The impact of drones seems to hit all these marks. Drones certainly support the longevity of concrete structures in the grain handling industry. Now, cheyenne, you and your entire team at CCS Group play such a critical role in the grain handling processing industry. That’s why it’s been such a treat to have you as a guest on the Jeeps Whole Grain Show Today. You’ve shared insights into the innovative drone inspection services that your organization offers Whole grain listeners. The information you’ve gathered from this conversation might be reaching your ears at just the right time. You may want to learn more. So, cheyenne, if listeners want to further explore these advancements in grain silo maintenance, what are the best ways to connect with the team at CCS Group?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Oh, Jim, there’s a couple of different opportunities. Obviously, we do direct you to our website, which is www. CCSGrouponline. com. You can always reach out at our toll-free number, which is 855-752-5047. Or if you’re coming up in the very near future as our obviously our GEAPS Exchange, we’re excited to be an exhibitor and a presenter at that. Our booth number is 2426 at the exchange, so really looking forward to seeing everybody.
Jim Lenz:
Yeah, very exciting big event coming up for the industry. You can’t miss CCS Group when you’re at exchange. You’ll know where they’re at. But that’s good that you mentioned the number there, Cheyenne, we have Jeeps Exchange coming up, so listeners are hearing this for the first time. It’s the biggest and best-showing in the grain-handling and processing industry, GEAPS Exchange. It’s filled with incredible education sessions, a huge trade show floor and an assortment of other networking activities as well that are a lot of fun. Listeners can find out more information at www. GEAPS. com/exchange. Cheyenne, you and members of your team at CCS Group will be at Exchange. Are you excited for it?
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
We are it’s. Numerous meetings have been had, clear down to the dress attire where are we eating and where are we staying? And the buzz has started, so it’s becoming a reality. We always look forward to the GEAPS Exchange. It’s a great time to reconnect with everybody, see familiar faces, meet the new people. It’s a great time. We’re excited. So, yeah, we’re really looking forward to that Awesome.
Jim Lenz:
We’re excited as well. I’m glad you’ve been such a big part of it. We thank you for your support. The links that you just heard, listeners, they are in the show notes. If you’re not familiar with that, this show is broadcast in all major podcast directories, so find your favorite podcast app, but it’s also found at jeepscom forward slash full grain. There’s a dedicated page for this episode. There You’ll see a wonderful picture of Cheyenne. In this imagery there’s an audio player. There’s links in those show notes. So what Cheyenne mentioned and other links. We can also include a link to the blog of the article this subject matter from their website as well. In the show notes You’ll see that there. Other things I want to mention is just, generally speaking, you and your team have given so much to advance the grain handling and processing industry. You are really one of those big innovators in the industry and I think listeners have understood that continues and it’s growing and you’re filling in gaps. CCS Group has been highly active in terms of your involvement with the GEAPS, the grain elevator and processing society. Now, with that in mind, I’d like to start a sentence. Cheyenne, I’d love for you to conclude the sentence, and here it is being part of the GEAPS family means…
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
I would say being connected to some of the best people and what I think is in the best industry.
Jim Lenz:
Awesome, wonderful. Thank you for that, Cheyenne. Thank you for serving as guests on Whole Grain. On behalf of the entire GEAPS team, we thank you for your commitment to GEAPS and the greater grain handling and processing industry. We also thank all the members of your team as well. They’re terrific and they do great work, as we all heard here today. It’s been an honor and a pleasure to connect with you. Thank you for spending time with Whole Grain listeners.
Cheyenne Wohlford, CEO/President of CCS Group:
Very good. Thank you, Jim. It’s been an honor. I appreciate it.
Jim Lenz:
Is this the first time you’re listening to the Whole Grain show? If so, we thank you for joining us. You’ll find the show on your favorite podcast app just to search for Whole Grain, then hit the subscribe button. That way, you’ll be notified as soon as an episode is released. Plus, you can check out all the past episodes as well. We’d appreciate it if you could leave a five star rating and a comment on the podcast app If you’re choosing, as it enables others to more easily find the show. Don’t forget to share the Whole Grain podcast with your network. You can also catch up on all Whole Grain podcast episodes on the Jeep’s website and the Grain Elevator Processing Society’s website by going to jeepstcom. Forward slash whole grain. The Whole Grain show is a production of GEAPS, the Grain Elevator Processing Society’s largest organization dedicated to advancing the grain handling and processing industry. Be sure to check out www. GEAPS. com. That’s G E, A, P S dot com. As you’ve heard in this show, whole Grain offers a terrific opportunity to spotlight your business through audio ads. You can also be featured as a global thought leader by serving as a guest in the show as we work to advance the grain handling and processing industry, if you and your organization want to sponsor an episode and be a featured guest in the show? Please reach out to me. Jim Lenz, director of global training and education at the Grain Elevator and Processing Society and host and producer of the show. We do offer an in-house audio production studio that can serve your needs, all from the comfort of a virtual environment. Just reach out to us with any questions or comments, or perhaps let us know what you think about the show. We could feature your audio commentary in a future Whole Grain podcast episode. Please reach out to me. My email is james@geaps. com. We look forward to connecting with you. Continue listening, share the news of the show with your friends and colleagues. Have yourself a great day and thanks for listening to Whole Grain.
