30 years of Sonic at Royal Eijkelkamp: an anniversary to celebrate. Although SonicSampDrill was founded in 2005, development of sonic drilling started much earlier. Just like we constantly innovate to respond to market challenges today, that is also how we first explored this technology. CEO Huug Eijkelkamp and his father Fons, head of the Board of Directors, look back on the early years and how Sonic was built into what it is today.
Huug - I believe that standing still is going backward. Our products are reliable and successful now thanks to the innovation we did 10 years ago. I will never say that we are done; there are always new techniques and materials that you can use and we invest in that every year. This is our key to success. We always look beyond a customer’s request: how can we continue to develop? And that is how Sonic was ultimately born at Royal Eijkelkamp.
Fons - In 1992 the NAM, a Dutch producer of natural gas and oil, approached us with the question of whether we could offer a less destructive alternative for seismic shothole drilling. We recommended our percussion hammers and lost points. This worked like charm in the soft peaty soils, but in harder clay and sandy soils, more power was needed.
We received a grant to conduct worldwide research. In North America we found the technology of Albert Bodine, among others; he built very large machines with equally large power requirements. But the idea of resonance drilling was born. We brought it back and then developed our first small drill head.
I believe that standing still is going backward. Our products are reliable and successful now thanks to the innovation we did 10 years ago
Huug - Then I joined Eijkelkamp to represent Sonic. I was assembling, servicing, and selling machines, and doing training all over the world.
Fons - We supplied the full package, including training. Our people flew all over the world, visiting even the most difficult places to drill. They would return with stories and experiences that we could use for optimisation of the drill head, as well as the drill rod, bit, tooling and accessories so they could withstand the forces of rotation and vibration.
Huug – Drilling in all those different geologies provided us with a lot of knowledge that helped us to create the multi-purpose product that we have now; that can truly drill anywhere. In 2005, we identified a market demand for larger machines and founded SonicSampDrill to develop them.
The great thing is that Sonic continuously develops along with the market; contrary to conventional drilling which is already 50-100 years old.
Fons - We deliberately chose to focus on that drill head. There are already so many machine builders out there, we wanted to leave that to others. In 2008, we found the ideal partner in Fraste, who could build according to our specifications.
Huug - I dare say that 50% of our innovation is driven by customer demand, 50% by proactively anticipating the market and technology. An example is ManipAll. Before, customers would use cranes and winches to manually carry rods to the machine. So we thought: this needs to change.
This is the benchmark moment. From now on, the focus will also be on data, with Monitoring While Drilling and our future vision for self-learning and automated drilling.
Fons– The great thing is that Sonic continuously develops along with the market; contrary to conventional drilling which is already 50-100 years old. It turned out to be much more than I expected, but I always believed in it. It just delivers the best samples.
Huug - For companies that cannot fully exploit the benefits of Sonic, due to the market or geology in which they operate, we have developed the DUO Sonic rig: in addition to sonic, it also has a 1,000 rpm rotary head. This is how we help customers to secure their current output when purchasing a Sonic machine.
Now, after 30 years, our sonic technology is better than ever, and we have a customer base of over 1200 machines worldwide. We mark this moment with a colour change. This is the benchmark moment. From now on, the focus will also be on data, with Monitoring While Drilling and our future vision for self-learning and automated drilling. But it doesn't stop with drilling. Royal Eijkelkamp offers more than Sonic and we are also implementing the colour change for those products. This is our way to show that we truly are a one-stop shop for soil and water projects.
This article was published in our Sonic Special Magazine. Download to read more about Sonic at Royal Eijkelkamp.
