Tag Archive for: capabilities

Turf Tank exhibits new Robot Capabilities at Saltex

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Turf Tank exhibits new Robot Capabilities at Saltex: Turf Tank, a leading name in robotic line marking solutions, is proud to announce the release of its latest software update at Saltex 2025, Stand number B100. Designed to empower UK grounds teams to achieve more with less, the enhanced Turf Tank robot now boasts new features that extend its versatility from sports pitches to parking lots, and everywhere in between.

Already trusted by over 5,000 organisations worldwide, Turf Tank’s autonomous robots have transformed the way schools, clubs, and professional venues mark their grounds. The latest update, built in direct response to user feedback, introduces smart tools to further boost precision, efficiency, and user control.

Turf Tank exhibits new Robot Capabilities at Saltex

Turf Tank exhibits new Robot Capabilities at Saltex

Key Features being Showcased at Saltex 2025

  • Logo Bundles for Pro Subscribers: Instantly access and paint a library of preloaded logos for sports teams, holidays, and special events—no stencils required. Grounds teams can now easily mark out detailed designs for school events, awareness campaigns, or club matches straight from their tablet.

Car Park Marking: The Turf Tank robot can now tackle car parks as well as pitches. Mark entire car parks or individual bays on your own schedule, with the flexibility to complete the job in stages minimising disruption and avoiding the need to close off large areas.

  • Enhanced Tight-Space Navigation: Set the minimum turning distance for the robot between painted lines, making it ideal for compact or multi-use locations near fences, buildings, or other obstacles.
  • Quick Settings for Football Pitches: Updated templates let users adjust arc radius and line widths in moments, reducing setup time and ensuring consistent results.

These enhancements reinforce Turf Tank’s commitment to accurate, consistent, and efficient line marking—helping grounds teams save time and focus on maintaining first-class playing surfaces.

Request a Live Demonstration at Saltex

Curious to see the robot in action? Visit the Turf Tank stand at Saltex 2025 and request a hands-on demonstration at your own site. Select your preferred layout and watch as the Turf Tank robot brings it to life—no strings or stencils required. You can also request a demo at your site by visiting https://turftank.com/en/ or contacting your local Turf Tank representative:

About Turf Tank

Turf Tank is transforming pitch marking across the UK, from Premier League stadiums to local schools and grassroots clubs. By eliminating the stress and physical effort of traditional line marking, Turf Tank gives groundskeepers, volunteers, and facility managers more time to focus on quality and performance. With over 120 preloaded designs, custom layout options, and dedicated UK-based support, Turf Tank makes marking lines, logos, training layouts, and even car parks effortless.

Join us at Saltex 2025 and discover why thousands of clubs trust Turf Tank to streamline their pitch maintenance and elevate their facilities. Visit https://turftank.com/en/ for more information.

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Turf Tank Unveils Expanded Robot Capabilities

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Turf Tank Unveils Expanded Robot Capabilities: Turf Tank, a leading name in robotic line marking solutions, is proud to announce the release of its latest software update at Groundsfest 2025, Stand number OSA481. Designed to empower UK grounds teams to achieve more with less, the enhanced Turf Tank robot now boasts new features that extend its versatility from sports pitches to parking lots, and everywhere in between.

Already trusted by over 5,000 organisations worldwide, Turf Tank’s autonomous robots have transformed the way schools, clubs, and professional venues mark their grounds. The latest update, built in direct response to user feedback, introduces smart tools to further boost precision, efficiency, and user control.

Turf Tank Unveils Expanded Robot Capabilities

Turf Tank Unveils Expanded Robot Capabilities

Key Features being Showcased at Groundsfest 2025

  • Logo Bundles for Pro Subscribers: Instantly access and paint a library of preloaded logos for sports teams, holidays, and special events—no stencils required. Grounds teams can now easily mark out detailed designs for school events, awareness campaigns, or club matches straight from their tablet.

Car Park Marking: The Turf Tank robot can now tackle car parks as well as pitches. Mark entire car parks or individual bays on your own schedule, with the flexibility to complete the job in stages minimising disruption and avoiding the need to close off large areas.

  • Enhanced Tight-Space Navigation: Set the minimum turning distance for the robot between painted lines, making it ideal for compact or multi-use locations near fences, buildings, or other obstacles.
  • Quick Settings for Football Pitches: Updated templates let users adjust arc radius and line widths in moments, reducing setup time and ensuring consistent results.

These enhancements reinforce Turf Tank’s commitment to accurate, consistent, and efficient line marking—helping grounds teams save time and focus on maintaining first-class playing surfaces.

Live Demonstration at Groundsfest

Curious to see the robot in action? Visit the Turf Tank stand at Groundsfest 2025 for a hands-on demonstration. Select your preferred layout and watch as the Turf Tank robot brings it to life—no strings or stencils required. For those unable to attend, request a demo at your site by visiting https://turftank.com/en/ or contacting your local Turf Tank representative:

  • Southern UK: Alex Robinson – alex@turftank.co.uk – 07311 370 250
  • Northern UK: Lewis Weldon – lewis@turftank.co.uk – 07533 969 557
  • Scotland, Northern Ireland & Ireland: Alan Donaldson – alan@turftank.co.uk – 07426 436 090

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Come and see the amazing slope capabilities of Ventrac

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Come and see the amazing slope capabilities of Ventrac: At Grounds Fest 2025 Price Turfcare, Ventrac distributor for the UK & Ireland will be demonstrating, live, the amazing 30 degree slope capabilities of the Ventrac 4520 compact tractor. Their specifically designed exhibition vehicle has multiple slopes so you can see for yourself what the Ventrac can do.

According to Price Turfcare’s Rupert Price, since Ventrac’s introduction into the UK, hundreds of customers have adopted it to solve labour intensive vegetation management on steep slopes. Additionally some are rethinking turf area maintenance by replacing mower only machinery with this multi season workhorse. Once adopted, the Ventrac 4520 can then complete other grounds maintenance tasks that would usually necessitate the purchase of hire of specialist machines. Tasks such as gravel and hard surface pathway maintenance, stump grinding, trenching, seeding and materials handling to name but a few.

Come and see the amazing slope capabilities of Ventrac

Come and see the amazing slope capabilities of Ventrac

Price Turfcare encourage you to visit them on stand RB50 to see our live demonstrations

www.priceturfcare.com

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How Groundtel’s line marking capabilities service 150 schools

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How Groundtel’s line marking capabilities service 150 schools: Groundtel Ltd is a family-run business with a proud reputation for precision, reliability and service. With over 150 schools on its books, the company has become one of the region’s leading grounds maintenance providers.

At the heart of operations is Danny Perkins, Contracts Manager and member of the founding family. Danny is helping steer the business into the next generation of efficiency with robotic line marking machines.

How Groundtel’s line marking capabilities service 150 schools

How Groundtel’s line marking capabilities service 150 schools

“We were already delivering a high standard,” says Danny, “but the TinyLineMarker robots have taken us to a different level. They’ve paid for themselves ten times over.”

Each season, Groundtel’s team prepares a wide range of sports markings across school playing fields. For summer months, this includes 100m, 200m, 300m, and 400m running tracks, complete with relay boxes, rounders and softball pitches, and throwing areas for javelin, discus, and shot putt. In winter, the focus shifts to football pitches, rugby pitches, and training grids, all initially marked and then overmarked throughout the season as required.

The 20-strong grounds team has a significant workload and has a two-person team dedicated solely to line marking. Historically, that meant traditional pedestrian machines, such as push-along markers, a Fast Liner, and plenty of manual setup.

“That’s a lot of tape measures and string lines,” Danny comments. “It was time-consuming and hard to keep up when schools need everything done quickly and precisely. Once we brought in the TinyLineMarker robot, everything changed.”

Groundtel took delivery of its first TinyLineMarker Pro X in 2021, followed by a second robot 12–18 months later. Both are now integral to operations, running daily from late February to July.

“With the robots and some long hours, we have been known to overmark over 100 schools in 7 to 10 days. Before, it would take about four weeks. However, on average, we run the robots for six to eight hours daily.”

Initial marking has seen the most significant impact, with the robots removing the need for traditional set-out methods. “It’s incredibly accurate,” says Danny. “You just load the template on the tablet, and it remembers exactly where to mark, even if the lines have disappeared after cutting. Schools appreciate that kind of consistency.”

The robots’ size and weight were a major consideration. “I looked at Turf Tank, but it was too heavy. I couldn’t lift it in and out of the van alone. The Tiny robot is light, compact, and fits easily in the back of a small van, which makes life a lot easier.” Rough and uneven ground is a common challenge across school fields, particularly in the state sector. “That’s another reason the TinyLineMarker works so well for us. It’s robust and can handle bumpy surfaces where other machines might struggle.”

Groundtel uses IMPACT® Pro paint from Origin Amenity Solutions for both their robotic and two iGO Premier Pedestrian markers. Danny says, “It’s a perfect match.”

“The robot’s set to moderate speed, and the lines are bright, crisp, and clean. And because the paint’s ready-mixed, there’s no faffing around with water. It saves time and hassle, and we get a consistent finish across every pitch.”

In addition to time and paint efficiency, the robots have helped Groundtel reduce labour demand and improve safety and sustainability, which are key concerns for schools.

“The schools prefer the robots,” Danny says. “They’re small, quiet, and there are no fuel emissions. This ticks a lot of environmental boxes. From a health and safety point of view, especially during the school day, it’s a win.”

Behind the technology is a strong support system, which is something Danny values. “The training was excellent, and the support from Origin Amenity Solutions is brilliant. It’s one thing to buy a product, but having ongoing help makes a huge difference. I can ring Simon or Joe and get an answer immediately without waiting for a call-out, although that’s also available. A quick answer on the phone saves me so much wasted time.”

Origin Amenity Solutions is the sole UK distributor of TinyMobileRobots and one of the leading providers of GPS line marking. The company offers one of the most comprehensive line marking ranges in the UK and Ireland, including pedestrian and ride-on machines, ready-to-use paints, and advanced robotic technology. All paints and machines are manufactured within the Origin group, ensuring consistent, high-quality performance backed by nationwide support and product expertise.

For Danny and the team at Groundtel, the move to robotic line marking has exceeded every expectation. “We’ve saved time, reduced labour, improved accuracy and consistency. I wouldn’t go back. The robots are a vital part of how we operate now, and they’ve transformed the service we can offer our schools.”

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SIS Pitches expands production capabilities

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SIS Pitches expands production capabilities: The UK’s leading synthetic turf manufacturer, SIS Pitches has made a major investment at its Cumbria manufacturing facility and in the growth of its team as the business targets further strategic growth across a number of international markets.

SIS Pitches produces premium hybrid, synthetic and natural pitches for an array of sports, including football, rugby, hockey, padel, Gaelic sports, multi-use games areas, tennis and cricket.

SIS Pitches expands production capabilities

SIS Pitches expands production capabilities

The company has spent over £500,000 on two new tufting machines at its factory in Maryport, which will more than double the site’s capacity to produce elite level sports surfaces from new and existing clients including Celtic Football Club, Rangers Football Club, Saracens Rugby Club and Loughborough University.

The major investment follows three years of controlled growth, which has seen SIS Group – the business comprising SIS Pitches as well as specialist machinery and undersoil drainage divisions – grow turnover by an annualised 30% over recent years. This growth has seen the company increase the size of its team by over 25% during the same period.

Last month saw SIS Group open a new office in Warsaw, Poland, from which a new business unit will be based with the remit to expand the company’s presence across Central Europe. This move followed a similar investment in Saudi Arabia, where the opening of a new office in Riyadh coincided with SIS Pitches recent installation of the world’s first fully indoor hybrid pitch in just 21 days at Riyadh’s iconic Kingdom Arena.

Over the last 12 months alone, SIS Group has experienced significant growth in other emerging international markets. The business grew its footprint in Georgia significantly following the successful installation and ongoing maintenance of 11 hybrid pitches for the UEFA under-21 European Championships. Similarly, it has also diversified its offering in the UAE through the provision of Padel courts in addition to baseball and equestrian surfaces across the country. Two new turf farms, in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, were also purchased to facilitate the production and transportation of SIS’s own turf to Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

The newer, more powerful tufting machines in Maryport will be used to manufacture SISTurf, SIS’s synthetic pitch product used by some of the world’s biggest sports teams, as well as schools, colleges and universities worldwide.

With the new machines capable of reaching up to 600 RPM, SIS will now be able to design and manufacture product at a much quicker rate while using 20% less energy. The global sports surface specialist will also be able to prepare new turf designs as separate orders are being completed, made possible by the double creels fitted on each machine. As well as increasing SIS’s own output, the move will also enable further sales to third-party installers.

In anticipation of further growth for versatile sports surfaces from its global client base, SIS Group has also made six senior appointments.

Dan Meredith joins as Group Marketing Director with a focus on executing a first-class marketing, advertising and communications strategy, with Lucas Poen taking up the role of Operations Director with the aim to scale the operations of SIS Grass while increasing efficiencies.

Simon Drury is taking on the role of Sustainability Manager to strengthen SIS Group’s B-Corp certification as well as steering it towards achieving Net Zero by the end of 2028. Also joining the business is Duncan Drury as Head of IT to foster innovation and implement standardised IT procedures, while Dan Ramsdale has been recruited as SIS Project Manager for its specialist maintenance contracts service.

Finally, Rafal Abel joins as the company’s new Business Development Representative for Poland and will be based at the company’s new office in Warsaw.

George Mullan, CEO at SIS Group, said: “We are committed to the development of exceptional playing surfaces using the latest materials and manufacturing techniques. Our latest investment will make us more efficient and is a signal of our intent to grow, just as we experience sustained interest from some of the most recognisable names in sport.

“But this is also a commitment to our future as a UK-based manufacturer,” continues George. “With these new machines, we will be able to complete more projects at home and abroad. This will have a real impact at both elite and grassroots level, giving people more opportunity to participate in their chosen sport.”

SISTurf is made with a choice of monofilament or fibrillated yarns – or a mixture of the two – plus thatch support yarn. This provides exceptional performance and durability, making it easier for facilities teams and groundspeople to maintain a consistent, high-quality playing surface. The product forms part of SIS’s wider portfolio of sports surface solutions, which includes the hybrid variant SISGrass made using a small percentage of polymer fibre stitched into a natural grass pitch.

For more information on SISTurf, visit: www.sispitches.com/services/synthetic-turf-manufacturing

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