'Getting deeper and bigger'

Drilling for geothermal energy has also been on the rise in recent years

"The tendency is for drilling depths and drilling diameters to increase," says Marnik Janssens, representative of German manufacturer STDS-Jantz, from the sales office in Ternat, Belgium. "Safety is coming more and more to the forefront and that requires better foundations."

What is striking is that less and less piling is being done and more and more drilling is being done. "And so large Dutch piling and foundation specialists are knocking on our door for all kinds of drilling solutions," Janssens explains. Especially the so-called auger drilling solutions are widely used in the Netherlands because of the soft soil. These are broadly applicable products that are available with both full and hollow couplings. The latter variant is ideally suited for mortar screw piles.

"By the way, just as much in northern Belgium and in Denmark," Janssens clarified. "Those have similar subsoil conditions. Horizontal drilling has also been taking off in recent years. We supply all kinds of solutions for all the major players, mostly of our own manufacture."

In addition, STDS-Jantz is a distributor for the Betek and Emde brands, manufacturers of wear parts and anchor materials, respectively. Betek's offerings include weld-on teeth with carbide or drill teeth in tooth holders. The weld-on teeth are welded at the bottom of the drill tip to allow for more efficient drilling as well as through hard layers. With Emde, STDS-Jantz provides a wide range of drilling materials for anchor drills, such as insert ends, flushing heads, hammer rods, drilling crowns, chisels and lost drill bits.

STDS-Jantz also manufactures small piling and drilling rigs in-house. From a fixed concept, we can start making customized machines. Compact machines that can be used in limited spaces with appropriate drilling equipment, all made in-house.