SGS and SkyeBase provide/develop an innovative solution for industrial drone inspections

Antwerp, 29 December 2021 - SGS Belgium and Skyebase have signed a cooperative agreement for the development of an Intelligent Asset Inspection Platform for Ship-To-Shore (STS) harbour cranes and the performance of industrial drone inspections. Combining data collection via high-tech cameras and drones with data analysis and artificial intelligence puts companies on the road to an efficient, safe and sustainable way of working.

Together with the University of Antwerp, SGS and Skyebase will develop an Intelligent Asset Inspection Platform for Ship-To-Shore (STS) harbour cranes. Port cranes are a critical part of the infrastructure for companies based in the Port of Antwerp and beyond. It is crucial to be able to guarantee the safety, operating time and lifespan of these cranes to meet the logistics needs of European industry.

This Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform aims to support inspectors during inspections and help asset managers make better maintenance decisions. This is achieved through the generation of more informed maintenance insights and recommendations with the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Thanks to these more qualitative insights from the platform, companies can:

Inspections carried out by SGS with drones and high-tech cameras provide more qualitative data than traditional inspection methods. The drones are an extension to traditional inspections. They ensure consistent inspections and have access to difficult to reach and unsafe zones. Following the inspection, SkyeBase uploads the data on its Asset Inspection Platform, where they are analysed and checked via artificial intelligence.

To support data collection, the platform works with 3D visualisation technology. Defects such as corrosion are automatically recognised by the AI software and marked on the 3D models (digital twins). This gives the customer a clear picture of exactly where the defect is located and how it will evolve in the future. These insights improve the customer decision-making process allow them to make (preventive) maintenance decisions, to reduce downtime and to extend the life of their installations in a controlled way.

"Thanks to our partnership with SGS we have a full package for industrial drone inspections, and the customer has a total inspection solution with one phone call. The inspector looks along during an inspection from our service vehicle and can immediately make adjustments on the spot and perform an inspection flawlessly", says Jean-Louis Weemaes, CEO SkyeBase.

"We see that our inspections are evolving along with the digital transformation. Our customers expect much more digitalisation of our services and demand flexibility and convenience. Customers demand to receive remote and real-time data from us in an automated way. By working together with Skyebase, we want to develop a smart cloud platform that can quickly and accurately map all defects and potential risks based on the drone images and accurately follow up on them. By supporting our physical inspection work with drones and high-tech cameras, we can give our clients a better understanding of how quickly their assets are degrading. The trick is to be able to consistently take the same measurements in exactly the same place and centralise all data in one place", says Kristof Van Hoecke, Digital & Innovation Coordinator at SGS.

About SGS
​SGS is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognised as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 93,000 employees, SGS has a network of more than 2,600 offices and laboratories around the world.

About SkyeBase
​Industrial assets will become safer, more ecological, data-driven, and more efficient with hightechnology robotic inspections, data technology, and digital transformation. SkyeBase takes care of every customer by guaranteeing maximum asset uptime with the deployment of innovative drone & data capture technology for industrial inspections and the use of artificial intelligence to generate actionable maintenance insights.