Russell Roof Tiles has adopted AI technology to transform its daily operations and increase product quality, reducing the time spent on some processes by over 50%.
The tile manufacturer has invested hundreds of hours over the past 12 months in using AI to develop multiple tools to address the daily challenges faced by its manufacturing and operational teams and improve internal processes.
A new digital quality monitoring system has replaced traditional paper-based quality checks to record data electronically and directly from the factory floor. In turn, production teams and machine operators have real-time visibility of manufacturing performance across its two sites in Burton on Trent, covering the production of tiles and uPVC accessories.
Machine operators can now also make any necessary adjustments in real-time during the shift, which is helping to improve accuracy, minimise waste and avoid machinery down time.
Alongside this, AI has also been used for its team to access and analyse information held within Russell Roof Tiles’ enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Instead of manually searching through data, staff can retrieve information more easily to quickly identify priority orders and focus on the areas that require attention.
Chris Bailey, Group IT Director at Russell Roof Tiles, said: “We identified key challenges that our teams regularly face and discussed how AI technology could boost efficiency.”
“We have developed our own bespoke internal tools that are providing our teams with real-time information to work more efficiently and make faster decisions. Since the technology has been implemented into daily operations, it has allowed our teams to continue to deliver the quality and reliability that Russell Roof Tiles customers expect.”
“One recent example of how these AI tools can speed up administrative tasks includes one element of our month-end financial reporting, a process which previously took around 60-90 minutes each month, has been automated to be completed in approximately just three minutes. Alongside this, machine operators can now update stock numbers in real-time once a production run is complete, rather than the production team updating this on the system manually 8-10 hours later.”
Russell Roof Tiles has also used AI technology to improve order management with faster access to relevant, allowing it to improve order management through faster access to relevant information, providing customers with clearer, more proactive updates regarding their orders and deliveries being managed more effectively.
Chris added: “Our quality manufacturing will always depend on the knowledge and experience of our fantastic staff. We are demonstrating how AI can complement that expertise.”
