Want to operate a pre-cut drywall facility?

Differentiation on drywall is challenging.  Offer your customers a point of difference with technology to deliver pre-cut drywall, ready to install on the wall, power sockets, windows all pre-cut.  This is a game changer to increase your market share.

EC8 provides an end-to-end solution: software, hardware, training, and maintenance.

This includes:

• Digital measuring equipment designed specifically for drywall measurement of houses or commercial sites. 
• Accompanying app integrated to the measuring gear, specifically designed for drywall measurement.
• Cloud based optimisation software designed to create cutting solutions for the entire project with minimal material and create all cutting code for production.
• CNC production lines specifically designed for fast processing of drywall with automatic robotic loading and unloading, directly integrated into EC8 optimisation software.
• Integrated billing, material management and customer management software, so the measure can flow directly to cutting, then directly to an invoice with minimal human interaction.

A typical 3-bed house takes 2 hours to measure, replacing the quantity survey. The cutting process takes 3 hours for a typical house. There is virtually no time between the measure and cutting, as the software automatically creates the cutting solution. You can have production cutting the house while it is still being measured onsite.

Through trials, the savings are typically 30% and above. This varies depending on the type of house and the experience of the installer. This comes from a combination of having sheets pre-cut, site-based logistics, having stacks of sheets in the correct install order, and not dealing with waste onsite.

Through digital optimisation, the waste produced is reduced by approximately 30%. This varies by house type and the quality of the installer's manual quantity survey that is replaced. The additional benefit is that waste is captured at the factory. This is beneficial as it avoids transporting the additional mass to site and back for processing. The waste is easy to capture, and contamination from soda cans is avoided, so it can be cost-effectively recycled back into manufactured board.

Yes, by reducing the waste by 30%, you avoid the CO2 embedded in producing virgin drywall. Transport CO2 from trucking the waste to and from site is also avoided. EC8 can help estimate these reductions for your market.

Very little. In the launch market in New Zealand, we found that, post-first trial, we had a long-term adoption rate of near 90%, with a similar 90% retention rate. Once builders try the system, they do not want to go back to a manual process. There is some modification to their program to allow for drywall digital measures; however, very little needs to change to adopt the process in their builds.

Companies that should consider pre-cut services include:

• Existing distributors of drywall offering a pre-cut service to their existing customers.
• Large builders of 1000s of houses or large commercial installations, like rest homes or hospitals.
• Manufacturers offered through their distributer to increase market share.

Plenty

• In markets where skilled labour is scarce, this not only reduces the labour requirements but allows one skilled installer to measure and plan several houses to be installed by other crews
• Cutting off your project's critical path allows for shortening of the overall build time.
• Customers can be assured they are paying the right amount for sheets actually used, as EC8's software can provide an auditable track of where each sheet is used.
• The digital measurements of each room create an amazing dataset that can be used for other applications on the build. Talk to us about what these can be used for.

We're open to opportunities. Our first focus is New Zealand, Australia, and the USA, followed by Europe. The product suits markets with high labour costs, where the savings are highest.

Hard question, as this depends on your market and existing operation. The largest space requirement is robotic picking, which depends on the number of different products you wish to load into the line. And the robotic picking can replace a lot of your existing area used to manually prepare orders. We estimate around 20–30% extra space above a typical distribution facility. EC8 are developing vertical robotic picking solutions to work in high-stud factories to reduce factory floor area requirements.

Sure thing. Come and experience some New Zealand hospitality and view our plant, or we are happy to do a virtual video tour and show off our software online.