So we feel we’re at that spot now where we can scale. At least me personally, I have confidence that we’ll be running at full capacity this coming year.
Scott Larson: Any more news or updates on Ukraine is it still a focus hasn’t been a whole lot in the last little bit. Where do you see the next three to six months look like both from a UAV standpoint and perhaps how Dragonfly fits into the mix?
Cameron Chell: Yeah. So initially, we were quite focused on humanitarian efforts and very pleased to do that. As that conflict has matured, the type of drone that is in theater there has also matured significantly. So a drone that we would have put into that environment within the first few months or even six months of that scenario. It wouldn’t last 10 minutes there now. I mean, it’s just the level of sophistication around jamming and radio frequencies keeping a GPS-denied environment and such like that. So I think Ukraine potentially in terms of the news factor has been overshadowed as of recent, because of the unfortunate events in the Middle East. But the demand for drone is actually increasing. And the amount of people that have a level of sophistication to know what they need to buy what they want to buy is increasing significantly as well.
The testing environments are being standardized. So we see things like the mining being a multi-decade opportunity for Dragonfly there. ISR work is something that we’re very active within that market is absolutely growing. But utilizing the commander, 3XL for a dual purpose so that it’s ISR as well as other potential combat scenarios is really a big feel for that market. So we’re very active. We’re a little quieter than we have been over there for probably some good reasons. But there’s — that is still the biggest immediate drone market in the world that we’re actively engaged in.
Scott Larson: Any plans on reducing cost expenses going forward?
Cameron Chell: Yeah. Absolutely. It’s — we actually have gone through a cost reduction exercise, it started a bit last quarter, and we saw that in the numbers. We were able to implement that on many levels here very recently. And a big part of why we were able to do that, I believe, without losing any operational efficiency is because we have very clear visibility with our order book now. So let’s talk about a year ago. A year ago, there are 15 markets or 15 verticals that you’re all — you’re trying to capture, which is going to be the biggest, which is moving the fastest, which has the greatest opportunity, which is regulatory has regulatory impact, et cetera, et cetera. And so you’re moving through those. At the same time, we’re building out plant capacity and trying to be very careful about where we place the specifics of that back capacity in terms of resources because we’re not sure exactly what — which one — eventually five years now, these will all have tapped and been incredible markets.
But as you’re working through the start-up phase and into the scale phase, where do you actually put those resources to make sure that you’re not trying to do everything to everybody. Well, we’ve gone through that in this last year, and we now have a very clear idea because we have the order book to support it, as to where we can put those resources. So what that’s allowed us to do is get prudently going through some cost reduction exercises, but actually be able to do it in a way where we go. Okay. We can make a rational judgment here that this cost is okay to that goal right now because the opportunity over here doesn’t cost us by not going after it a bit more aggressively. So we’re able to measure opportunity costs now and be more focused in the approach that we have in the very specific markets that we’re going after.
Scott Larson: A few more here for sure. A few more good ones actually. Comment on current business with windfall. We mentioned it this on the last earnings call, things are moving up ahead. Any updates there? What does it look like? Obviously, not giving guidance here, but maybe a couple of thoughts or comments on some of the downstream stuff, particularly within the mining sector that we do with windfall Geotech.
Cameron Chell: Yeah. We’re absolutely committed and understand clearly that we are an important player in the data world. And in fact, I would suggest that over time, Draganfly is will be a data company. I mean we’ll always be known as a drone company. Our advantage being is that we can customize drones and sensors in order to collect data for our customers that maybe others can’t, right, which is really the strategic differentiator for our customer. Again, whether that’s a commercial and energy government, military, it’s all about in many respects to the quality of that data. And so because of our integrated approach and capabilities that is a major strategic differentiator for us going forward. So mining is one of those first areas that allows us to collect data and provide it back to the customer that other people necessarily haven’t been able to collect.
So I’m not at liberty right now to speak specifically about windfall. But I can say that it is a very robust market, and it is an absolute focus for us in the commercial market, mining, in particular, and mining data. It will be a template for how data is collected and used and how AI is employed into other markets. Mining will be that way. Windfalls got an incredible platform that we’re building on. And again, where last quarter, I could have talked about an order book — excuse me, last quarter, I could have talked about a pipeline with windfall. Next quarter — the quarter we’re in, we’ll be able to talk about our order book. So we’re really excited about what was happening there.
Scott Larson: When Draganfly goes to Drone conferences and UAV shows and things like that, how do you see the competitive mix between Draganfly some of the other drone companies? Where do you — where do we see that the company fits into this? What are some of the other things that other companies are doing that Draganfly might want to emanate in the future — a copy in the future. Maybe give a little color and context in terms of how we fit into the market?
Cameron Chell: Yes. There is incredible, incredible creativity and great power in this space and I never want to profess very closest to the smartest folks out there. Every time I go to a show or I get to meet other folks in the Drone space, it’s just like, wow, where did you come up with that? And how did you think about that? Like really, really stuff that just like grab you is — that is — it’s really impressive. I think some of the differentiator, in particular, around Draganfly having been around so long is that the objects that we chase are customer-driven. And so, there’s a lot of shiny objects that we don’t go after. And because we know that they’re not going to have a production capacity either in terms of being able to be produced or have a demand signal where it might be the coolest thing in the world, but it might be a $2 million market, right, or it might be a $20 million market, but that’s five years from now.
