Entrepreneur reveals AI success on podcast

A Teesside-based flat roofing and insulation firm is transforming operations through artificial intelligence (AI) and university collaboration.

Aman Chahal, chief executive of Stockton firm TaperedPlus, spoke on Teesside University’s Knowledge Exchange Podcast about how a research partnership with the university is helping “turbocharge” his business. 

The company secured a £270,000 grant from Innovate UK for a 30-month Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) to digitise and automate traditionally manual design workflows.

Aman’s team includes KTP associate Sam Ojuri, working with Dr Alessandro Di Stefano and Professor Farzad Rahimian from the School of Computing, Engineering & Digital Technologies at Teesside University, to develop the AI-driven system.

Speaking on the podcast, Aman highlighted how collaboration between academia and business can support innovation, workforce development and growth, demonstrating how research-led partnerships are delivering tangible benefits for companies like TaperedPlus in the Tees Valley and beyond.

Aman, who revealed that since starting the programme with the university, TaperedPlus has cut the time taken to do certain tasks by up to 90 per cent, freeing staff to focus on more complex work, said: “By extracting certain parts of information to design, what would take us 40 minutes now takes four.

“The secondary part of this, which we didn’t even consider, is the development of the app which checked pipeline, meaning we are not duplicating effort and doubling up on work.

“It is important for our people to see the impact; this turbo charges their day so they can get on with higher value work.”

He added: “The pace of change since Covid is seven times faster than before and we want to be at the forefront of innovation and act as a disruptor in the roofing industry, driving real and beneficial change.

“This partnership will help digitise our operations, allowing us to remain competitive by improving productivity and delivering even greater value to customers.”

From left, Dr Alessandro Di Stefano, Professor Farzad Rahimian, Lucie Burton and Aman Chahal on the podcast

Sam added: “This project is about transforming how technical information is captured and processed – turning time-consuming manual workflows into intelligent, automated systems.

“We are creating a smart solution that extracts key information, such as measurements and instructions from complex email chains, PDFs and Word files, to streamline the design and specification processes, ultimately futureproofing the business.”

The Knowledge Exchange Podcast highlights how Teesside University’s research partnerships support businesses to innovate, grow, and develop their workforce, while also showcasing insights from pioneering centres such as the National Horizons Centre and the Net Zero Industry Innovation Centre.

You can listen to the episode with Aman here.

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