Material balance is continuous volumetric stock measurement for production reconciliation. Belt scales cover the flows — OWL EYE® covers what sits in between, so the ledger actually balances.
Material balance — also called mass balance or production reconciliation — is the periodic check that what was fed in equals what came out, plus any change in stock. In cement, steel, recycling, sugar and mining, the in-flows and out-flows are usually well instrumented: belt scales, weighbridges, MES counters. The stock layer in between is the weak link. Piles, silos and bunkers are estimated by laser sticks, level sensors, or simply by manual surveys every quarter.
OWL EYE® closes that gap. 3D-LiDAR sensors mounted above the stockyard, silo or bunker deliver a continuous, measured volume — and with material density, a measured tonnage — at any timestamp. The reconciliation ledger pulls real opening and closing inventory, and the unexplained-loss column shrinks to what it actually is: sampling, moisture, belt-scale drift. The basis for this work is our bulk-inventory practice, hardened inside an active mining operation.
Running today across cement, salt, woodchips and active mining — same workflow, same dashboard, same signed ledger output.
Opening and closing stock become measured numbers, not estimates. The unexplained-loss column drops to the residual it really is — sampling, moisture, scale drift.
Shift, day, week or month — the dashboard cuts a period on any boundary and outputs in, out and stock-change for every material, every location, ready for ERP/MES.
Every scan, every period close, every density assumption is versioned and exportable. Internal audit, external audit and customs each see the same signed record.
Most reconciliation systems take in and out as measured facts and treat stock as the balancing residual. We turn stock into a measured term too, so the residual is real signal — not the sum of all your uncertainties.
Belt scales, weighbridges and MES counters feed the in/out flows into the ledger as they do today. No change in your fiscal layer.
OWL EYE® takes a 3D snapshot of every pile, silo and bunker at the period boundary. Volume × calibrated density → tonnes.
The dashboard outputs in − out − Δstock for every material and location. Residual variance is small, traceable and signed.
The mass-balance equation finally has three measured terms instead of two.
Any plant where the stock layer carries hidden tonnage — and any operation where unexplained losses get written off as shrinkage.
Cement plants reconcile clinker silos, additive bunkers and limestone yards against kiln feed and despatch. The silos are usually well covered — the open yards are not.
Steel and sinter reconcile ore and coke piles against the sinter-strand and blast-furnace charges. Belt-scale drift on long stackers and reclaimers shows up here as a phantom stock change.
Recycling and RDF reconcile inbound deliveries and outbound bales against pile inventory. Cameras and manual surveys cannot close the period; LiDAR can.
Sugar reconciles beet and pulp stocks across campaigns. The number on the pad has to match the tax declaration.
Mine-to-mill reconciliation against the block model only works if the ROM stockpile is a measured term. See our stockpile-monitoring page for the sensor side, and our bulk-inventory service for the survey-grade counterpart. Why the gap only closes with continuous data: perpetual inventory vs annual stocktake.
Plant controllers, MES owners and internal audit ask the same questions before adopting a measured stock layer.