Steel is an essential material that underpins modern society and daily life. It’s also an industry with a high risk of worker injury and a significant source of CO2 emissions (7-9% of all direct emissions from fossil fuels, according to the World Steel Association).

ArcelorMittal, which operates steel manufacturing facilities in 16 countries worldwide, is working to make its plants safer, cleaner, greener, and smarter. 

One way they’ve found to streamline? Using drones for routine maintenance and inspection.

Program basics:

• The preferred drone is the DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced

• A team of six pilots performs a variety of missions from inspection and maintenance to thermal and stockpile surveying

• The program takes advantage of thermal cameras, waypoint functionality, and real-time kinematic (RTK) capabilities

Aerial camera technology isn’t new for ArcelorMittal. It adopted air balloons with cameras in 2004, added remote-controlled helicopters with cameras in 2010, and have moved onto drone technology as new innovations arise. 

ArcelorMittal estimates that its investment in drones has led to savings ranging between €100,000-€200,000 ($115,000-$230,000) per year. And workers are kept out of more and more hazardous work tasks as drones take them on.

Thanks to drones, workers no longer need nerves of steel to work in the industry.