UK-first innovation set to revolutionise road marking sector

ThermoPrint, a new one-of-a-kind innovation designed to save lives and revolutionise the road marking sector, has been launched by WJ, with plans already in place to trial the installation of road markings on the strategic road network following successful trials on local authority roads.

WJ’s innovative ThermoPrint eliminates the need to undertake the century-old practice of applying thermoplastic road markings by hand. This is achieved through an automated machine, which utilises advanced application equipment.

Currently, for thermoplastic road markings such as letters, numbers, arrows and other symbols, the process is completed via hand moulds. However, the new technology has all road symbols used on the UK network programmed into the operating system, reducing the need for operatives to lay the markings by hand. ThermoPrint also has the potential to scan existing road markings and automatically match them to programmed designs. Upon completion of the 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. As well as providing much-needed protection, ThermoPrint will also deliver efficiency benefits. This is achieved through a combination of an increased speed of application and potential reduction of the required traffic management in appropriate situations. The machine is perfect for car park line marking applications.

Martin Webb, Chief Operations Officer at WJ Group, 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. ThermoPrint has been designed to eliminate this risk of operatives being hit by any traffic, as well as reducing the manual handling risks they face. We believe we have a machine that delivers on these ambitions.

“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.”

For more information, please visit www.wj.uk.