John Brash and Co has unveiled its new state of the art scanning line as part of a ?750,000 investment which it says has been prompted by increased activity in the housing sector and changing perceptions towards graded roofing battens.
The Gainsborough-based company installed a new Goldeneye laser and colour camera scanner, as well as upgraded its handling line, ahead of the introduction of BS 5534:2014 at the end of February. The new machine has almost doubled the operational line speed of the company’s previous system, grading 210 metres of roof batten per minute and allowing production of the company’s JB Red to treble.
This is due in part to Goldeneye’s ability to reduce the time needed to scan timbers, as it does so at intervals of 0.1mm and ensures every batten meets requirements and is compliant with the standard.
Chris Watson, managing director of John Brash, said:
“Not only is the new scanner much faster, the quality of the technology in the laser and colour scanning is streets ahead of our old one. It is also allowing us to harvest the extra 12% of material that previously we couldn’t pull out from JB Red. We’ve had a tremendous productivity improvement in terms of our yields.”
The new scanner was installed within 12 working days and weekends and scans the dimension, scatter and grain deviation and colour the timber that passes through the machine.
Christian Brash, chairman of John Brash, said:
“The investment we have made means that John Brash continues its proud heritage spanning more than 100 years of producing quality products that are trusted by the roofing industry.”
According to Chris Watson, the investment in the Goldeneye technology has been prompted by the future of the UK housing market, which John Brash expects will continue to grow as demand for new homes increases.
He said:
“There is plenty of underlying demand, and we feel confident about making new investments looking at the forecasts of what’s coming up. We’re confident that if the boom really did come back into housing – like in 2005 & 2006 – we would be at the forefront of being able to supply as much roofing battens as people need.”
Despite its prioritisation of the housing sector, John Brash is unphased by the rapidly approaching General Election, which has caused many to take stock of its activities between now and May 7. Mr. Watson explained:
“House-building, and the demand for house-building, never goes away no matter who is in 10 Downing Street, and pretty much all parties have the same story, which is that they want to improve house-building figures. In terms of what the result will be, and how it will affect housing, I think housing will just carry on going.”
The installation of the new technology has also come as a result of what the company believes to be a new attitude towards graded battens, particularly with the introduction of new BS 5534 regulations. While the new guidelines do not change the rules for batten grading, John Brash believes they do highlight a new attitude towards the practice across the roofing sector.
Chris Watson said:
“There is a general acceptance among all the key stakeholders in the roofing world that roofing battens arriving on site need to be fully graded. Grading on site is no longer acceptable.
Christian Brash added:
“There’s been no changes to the grading rules but the trade has taken the vi
