Sto also sees it this way: construction suppliers must secure their sales by means of robotics

Sto and Neura Robotics are cooperating, it was announced today. The photo gives a rough idea of what it's all about. The pioneer in the building sector was probably Hilti. The Lichtenstein-based company first developed its own mobile hardware solution. Fischer followed suit. Now Hilti is cooperating with a US startup. So now Sto, a leading international manufacturer of products and systems for coating buildings, is following suit. Based on the southern edge of the Black Forest, the company generated around 1.8 billion euros in 2022.

It's not just about expanding value creation

What at first glance looks like a clever move to expand the company's own value added, in my opinion serves to secure the sales of the core products in times of a shortage of skilled workers. Without craftsmen, these products cannot be processed. In this respect, it is surprising that so few construction suppliers have ventured into robotics so far.

Construction suppliers are an interesting "species"

As a management consultant, I have frequently had to deal with construction suppliers in the past, especially from the balance sheet side. I therefore take the liberty of saying that there are numerous larger and, above all, financially strong construction suppliers in Germany. While the returns on sales of the construction companies, i.e. the actual house builders, are often very low, the material manufacturers generally earn splendidly. Quite a few of the construction brick manufacturers are internationally positioned and each generate several billion in sales (Sika, Holcim, CRH, Mapei, Carlisle, etc.).

Critical size at robotics construction supplier could slowly be reached

Within industries, one should not underestimate the herd instinct. The first tech entrant may still have been eyed curiously by other companies, but internally described as a visionary, etc., who should not be followed. Slowly, however, the critical mass of companies that follow suit could be reached. Fischer already had a reputation as extremely innovative, Hilti as financially strong, but Sto? M.E. as rock solid, but nothing more (that's enough). However, it should be noted that not every trade could be easily automated, at least not with the existing infrastructure. As an example, I can mention the roofing membranes with which I am familiar. Some of them (bitumen) are welded (open stitch flame on the roof) and are therefore hardly manageable for robots. The plastic membranes, on the other hand, are glued. Either with adhesive to be applied or already have an adhesive layer. Here, in my opinion, a robot would have the problem of the roll material. Roofing foils are not shipped as sheets on top of each other, but as rolls. If unrolling cannot simply be automated, production would have to be converted. A Herculean task.

But there are other trades for which, in my opinion, the necessary technology is already available today. One example is the bonding of tiles, especially for large objects such as walls - larger sanitary facilities.

It's time for the other construction suppliers to take action.

Are we networking? LinkedIn
-> Go to the Cobot group on LinkedIn (link). The author is also a consultant (robotics, tech & finance). Hardly anyone is likely to have a comparable market overview.