Russell Roof Tiles has announced that it is to unveil a £1.7 million capital investment programme for its 11-acre Scottish tile plant at its Lochmaben site, which will include a major upgrade to its utility plant.
This investment involves a replacement building that will house a new packing system, including the firm’s first robotic packer. Russell Roof Tiles is also carrying out a full electrical upgrade and introducing mechanical improvements across key machinery.
This will increase the capacity of this production line to allow the company to meet the growing demands for its products and help secure the efficiency of this line for future years.
The investment follows on from new moulds purchased for this production line back in 2019 and 2020, a £70,000 investment on new staff welfare facilities, as well an upgrade and modernisation of the company’s aluminium third round ridge manufacturing equipment.
Russell Roof Tiles’ response to COVID-19 has meant that it has started 2021 with a strong order book, allowing it to make this investment. It was one of the first in its sector to resume manufacturing last year, enabling it to meet pent up demand.
Despite ceasing production when the first national lockdown was announced in March 2020, the business was quickly able to restart production at all its three sites in May. This meant that Russell Roof Tile has been able to maintain good lead times and fulfil a growing order book as construction bounced back.
This latest investment is part of the company’s capital improvement plan to further enhance quality across the business.
Andrew Hayward, managing director at Russell Roof Tiles, said: “Over the past five years, we have invested significantly in new plant and equipment at all of our three sites to both increase manufacturing efficiencies and reduce our environmental impact.”
