Road marking giant WJ has launched what is thought to be a UK-first innovation designed to save lives and revolutionise the road marking sector.
ThermoPrint is an automated machine that uses advanced application equipment, eliminating the need to undertake the century-old practice of applying thermoplastic road markings by hand.
WJ said plans are already in place to trial the installation of road markings on the strategic road network following successful trials on local authority roads.
Currently, the process of laying thermoplastic road markings such as letters, numbers, arrows and other symbols is completed via hand moulds. However, ThermoPrint has all the road symbols used on the UK network programmed into its operating system.
It can also scan existing road markings and match them to programmed designs. After scanning, the machine will continue forward to immediately re-lay thermoplastic to rejuvenate the markings and bring them up to standard.
The new innovation will allow operatives, who can often be applying the road markings next to live carriageways, to run the machine in the safety of the cab.
WJ said ThermoPrint will also deliver efficiency benefits through increased speed of application and potential reduction of traffic management.
Chief operations officer Martin Webb said: ‘Safety is one of our core values and we are always looking for ways to improve working conditions for our operatives. A key concern for us is working on live carriageways where we are exposed to live traffic and potentially dangerous driving and incursions into our working space, and so we wanted to find a way to remove our teams from harm’s way.
‘WJ has a rich history of leading the way in innovative thinking, and our latest machine shows this in practice. We have worked with Norwegian road marking machine manufacturer Trysil Maskin to deliver ThermoPrint, which has been a fantastic experience. The result is a UK-first machine which we are proud to present to the industry.’
