Groundskeeping Journal Issue 2 2020 | Page 22

PITCH & LINE MARKERS Robotic Line Marking A Big Future For Rigby Taylor’s Tinylinemarker www.rigbytaylor.com he extraordinary levels of savings in line marking time, resources and therefore money by using Rigby Taylor’s robotic TinyLineMarker (TLM) are proving irresistible to everyone involved in line marking - including local councils and contractors as well as sports clubs of all sizes. T TLM can initial mark a standard size football pitch in under 20 minutes, including all perimeter lines, penalty boxes, the ‘D’, centre circle, corner angles and penalty spot all with just one touch on the tablet control. Even pitches with fixed post sockets can be marked. It was such benefits that appealed to Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, one of the first to invest in TLM. Parkway Ground Maintenance’s Dean McDermott with his TLM With the maintenance of 92 pitches in its care, the council’s Street Scene team – led by Operations Manager Darren Bisby – was formerly taking four man-hours (two men) to initial line mark each pitch (predominantly football) each week with the conventional 3/4/5 triangle method and string, using a total of eight men in four vehicles. Now, with TLM, one man is able to deliver the borough-wide service for line marking. So, with 2,392 scheduled overmarkings across the pitches, 797 man-hours will effectively be put back into the Street Scene operation. In addition, one vehicle has been removed from the fleet - saving several thousands of pounds on lease costs and around £900 on annual fuel plus any maintenance and repair costs. Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council was one of the first to invest in TLM 22 Today, each Street Scene pitch is marked every fortnight, with the paint being applied GroundskeepingJournal.co.uk | Sept/Oct 2019