FBR (ASX) Wienerberger's other robotic company

Originally posted by Weitwinkel: ↑

I just googled a bit on the austrian Wienerberger website and found this:
A Poroton (belongs to Wienerberger) press release from March 2019, where they state, that automation and robotics are the future of building for Wienerberger. https://poroton.org/service/presse/PM--2019-03

They describe FBR and RedBloc. RedBloc is a fully customizable prefab wall system made of standard bricks. More on that later.

Concerning FBR, Poroton says they already showed RedBloc and FBR on an exhibition ( "BAU2019" biggest european construction fair in Munich in January 2019). I will have a look, if they really have been there
They also state, that after finishing a pilot project with FBR, the goal is to bring the "newly developed robot" to the market, according to Jürgen Habenbacher, speaker of the Wienerberger board and head of the german Poroton board.

Coming to Redbloc:

They already have a factory in Bavaria producing prefab walls made of bricks and adhesive, fully automated.
https://www.schlagmann.de/de/Produkte/REDBLOC/Ziegelfertigteile (I only found a german version)

From the Product description in german (translated by google):

" The unique Redbloc solutionRedbloc also invested in the vision of the fullAutomation. Redbloc developed a uniqueDry adhesive method for prefabricated brick walls. This enables individual brick tubes to be built within a very short timefully automated to produce - with the consistently highQuality of an industrial prefabrication.In 2014 the factory of Redbloc Elemente GmbH inPlattling, the Redbloc system walls are manufactured in a patented, Germany-wide unique process.
...
Blanks of every imaginable shape are possible - that opens upUnimagined creative possibilities for living space.Sloping ceilings and outlets for windows and doorsalready part of the Redbloc system walls, oneelaborate further processing is eliminated. The Redbloc system walls do not need to dry out or be baked out,The quick and clean assembly makes it easier for your employees to work on the construction site. The dry oneProduction of the walls in the plant means for you high independence from the weather as well as reliability and punctualityfor your builders.
"
Here is the image video of RedBloc:

It states "one story per day!"

Here is a short video of th manufacturing process:

Interesting for Germany and Austria, maybe Czech republic, since the factory cannot be to far away from the construction site. But other factories might follow.

Definetly an interesting concept. I simply proofs that bricks are still the most desired resource for houses, wherever they are glued together (in the factory or on site).

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Awesome work here @Weitwinkel - These links are littered with great information! A little scratch at the surface and I have recieved some interesting information.

Wienerberger: "A partnership was agreed with the Australian construction robot manufacturer Fastbrick Robotics (FBR) with the aim of launching the newly developed construction robot for brick processing on the market after completion of the pilot project in Europe".

This statement sounds a lot like the deal is pretty much done conditional to a successful pilot project. This Partnership is already leaps and bounds above the sleepy MOU with Caterpillar yet we dropped 70% when we traded CAT for Wienerberger & Brickworks. We never saw an announcement, a commitment, not even a peep from CAT, yet we instantaneously saw the CEO of the multibillion dollar WB company personally address FBR in a video presentation and dedidicate a page in their Annual Report to FBR. It blows my mind how attached people Had become to CAT as the reaction was and is in no way proportional to the sell off we endured.

Click ' here ' for Wienerbergers 2018 Annual Report announced on March 28th 2019 - Page 46 has a page dedicated to FBR as seen below:

Another Statement from Wienerberger "Within the framework of a pilot project, specialbricks are being developed and tested in cooperationwith FBR. Subsequently, the masonry robot is to bedeployed in selected Wienerberger markets". This says to me again that the pilot project is a monumental part of the agreement. In addition, whilst we are prepping HX for the pilot, the above statement "special bricks are being developed" details that the wheels are already in motion on this front. So in my eyes theres no need to worry about brick compliance to building standards, WB is the expert, and they will make a compliant brick that HX can lay.

Theres also statements not just from the above but also FBR going out of their way to mention "HX01" that leads me to believe that WB & FBR will eventually collaborate on a dually funded HX02... Purely speculation at this point but the idea is growing on me that they will work together on the next generation...

Some other digging up also lead me to some Sqm pricings which could quite well help on further Analysis on how FBR compares competitively against Poroton's prefabricated walls using practically the same bricks we propose to use - Click ' here ' for the full price list report.

Although Poroton is somewhat operating in the same 'robotics bricklaying' space as FBR, re-iterating what Weitwinkel mentioned - FBR can capitalise on a different market. Whilst Poroton is attractive to local construction companies, its location is fixed and its its Return On Investment is restricted to its demographic location wheras HX can adress non-localised areas in which the factory is basically on wheels. In WB's point of view, i would imagine them seeing FBR as the solution and market fill to Poroton, or potentially vise versa Poroton is the market filler being used where demand is unusually high and demands a production hub.

When i get a chance i will try to prep up a comparison of our Sqm cost against Poroton's based of the average of 8000 bricks per 3x2 home using the below Case Study i wrote up a few months back:

If you still have questions around how water Ingress issues for Monolithic (single leaf) building practices i strongly urge you to research Porotons building practices as you will find that the answers are more than likely there.

Thanks @Weitwinkel for bringing great insight from your end of the globe.