“CPT is a fast and relatively easy way to do soil research,” says Jeroen Jacobs, Team Manager CPT at Geosonda. He calls it a very reliable way to quickly get information from the ground, provided you work with skilled people and suitable material. For that material, the company has found its way to Royal Eijkelkamp.
Geosonda has been active in the world of CPT since the 70s, but they also offer the rest of the full package of soil research. They were already familiar with the sonic drilling machines of Royal Eijkelkamp for soil sampling. When they came into contact with Cone Penetration Testing at a Demo day, they knew that they also wanted to use this technology to expand their services.
As the highlight of their CPT range, Geosonda recently added the Boxed Truck Crawler 180 kN to their fleet. “That was the highliner for us, especially because of its design,” says Jeroen Jacobs. “The futuristic look that the vehicle exudes immediately appealed to me. That also allows us as a company to say: Geosonda is taking the next step. We already have several large CPT crawlers, a CPT truck on pneumatic tires, mini crawlers and a separate CPT pusher in our fleet. But the BTC 180 was the missing link. Mostly because of the combination of crawlers and tires, something we did not yet have in Belgium.”
Geosonda did not decide to purchase the BTC lightly. Jeroen continues: “I spent hours at Royal Eijkelkamp to do research, was given the opportunity to come and see how the vehicles are made, to test them in the field. So I knew, if they were going to build our truck like that, it would be fine.”
During construction, Geosonda was also given the opportunity to make suggestions themselves. “Royal Eijkelkamp was very open to taking our wishes into account, within the limits of what was possible. They even included a few of our suggestions in the standard design. That makes the collaboration special, that I can also provide input for them in this way.”
I think that the more CPT products Royal Eijkelkamp will offer, the more we will include in our program.
In addition to the CPT rigs, the company also uses the cones and modules from Royal Eijkelkamp. The modules are instruments that are attached behind the cone to collect even more information about the soil. “We have the video module, the geomagnetic module and soon we will also start with seismic CPT.”
Geosonda is active in the archaeological market, construction and infrastructure, and civil engineering. They offer CPTs whenever they can be of value. The company started working with modules when a customer asked: wouldn’t it be nice if we could look into the ground to see what is there? That was the trigger to start using the Video Module. “We actually tell customers that we can do anything.” The Team Manager CPT explains that they introduce new techniques within the company by daring to do it. The rest will follow automatically. “If an order comes in, we make sure that we can carry it out on that date. Where necessary, new equipment is purchased to meet the demand.”
They do whatever it takes to keep up with innovation and increasingly demanding customer requests: “I think that the more Royal Eijkelkamp offers, the more we will include in our range.”
The fact that Geosonda can respond so quickly is partly made possible by the service of Royal Eijkelkamp. “If we give them a call now because we need something, it will be in a box to be sent in half an hour, so to speak. They do everything they can to ensure that we can continue to produce, and that is great.”
