MARTF (Modular Automated Roof Tile Factory)

"UK construction is in the midst of a continued period of growth, which is largely stimulated by an ongoing government policy to build an additional 300,000 houses per year beyond 2025\. Construction relies on the skills and volume of its manpower more than most, but an ageing workforce plus cultural shifts that disfavour manual trades has led to a 7% labour deficit in the roofing industry, which irrespectively continues to grow exponentially each year. Furthermore, recent FMB reports have revealed severe building material shortages, resulting in waiting times for up to six months for roof tiles. This, in-part can be attributed to antiquated production facilities and the reluctance of large manufacturers to invest in new equipment and infrastructure in an industry which is commonly perceived to be historically conservative and averse to change.

To address these issues, SunScape Systems Ltd (SSL) has designed Carapace Slate, a patent-protected, bio-composite snap-fit roof tile system designed to essentially deskill the roof installation process which is installed 90% quicker than the current state-of-the-art; increasing build speed and contributing to the growth of construction.

Given the scale of the UK roofing market, a suitable manufacturing infrastructure is required to produce Carapace at volume if it is to address the deficit between construction output and available labour. Traditional and now antiquated methods of production employed by the industry has led to an alarming supply deficit which is challenging government policy to alleviate the housing crisis. As the next logical step in manufacturing technology, SSL will form a new Joint Venture with CNC Robotics (CNCR) - one of the UK's leading machining Robotics integrator to develop a system compliant with the industry 4.0 standard and develop a revolutionary commercial infrastructure that can intelligently and readily react to the demands of an ever-changing market.

Using the robotic integration expertise of CNCR, the joint venture will implement a dynamic and repeatable 'SMART' /Industry 4.0 aligned manufacturing solution, hereby named as ""MARTF"" - the Modular Automated Roof Tile Factory. Essentially, the production facility will be a literal plug-and-play 'factory in a box', specifically built and calibrated offsite to manufacture the Carapace Innovation and then made ready to be deployed to any/multiple locations capable of housing its footprint. Monitored and operated through advanced cloud-based and IoT technology, MARTF will satisfy SSL's first customer order and provide a distributed manufacturing array capable of responding to an ever-demanding market."