SBCA Announces 2026 Innovation Grant Recipients

Cadynce – AI Estimating & Workflow Platform: Cadynce is the first industry-specific platform to unite AI-powered estimating with structured bid workflow in one system built for component manufacturers. Its AI reads plans, extracts key project data, and generates estimates in a fraction of the time manual takeoff requires. Then it brings structure to that speed. Instead of more revisions and lost bids, Cadynce adds ownership, stage tracking, version control, and full visibility across every bid. And each bid compounds into a proprietary data asset, turning history that once vanished into file cabinets into sharper, more accurate estimates over time.

Crowdbuild – Crowdbuild™ CB Quote: Crowdbuild™’s CB Quote™ brings automated 4D and 5D intelligence to residential construction documents. Using AIM-E, Crowdbuild™’s domain-specific vision model for AEC, CB Quote reads architectural and structural PDFs and converts them into model-based material takeoffs, estimates, sequencing logic, labor assumptions, and procurement-ready BOMs. As part of CB Suite™, the product connects design, estimating, configuration, scheduling, and purchasing in one workflow, helping component manufacturers and builders move from plan review to quote generation to material ordering with less manual re-entry and greater operational continuity using one model, one login, one single source of truth.

Shelfmark – Shelfmark for Truss Visual Inspection: Shelfmark's Truss Visual Inspection platform applies artificial intelligence and advanced computer vision to automate quality inspections within truss manufacturing environments. Shelfmark's technology operates in highly customized production settings where each truss may be unique. The system can identify missing plates, misaligned components, and other structural inconsistencies without relying on design files or predefined templates. This reference-less inspection approach enables real-time quality validation directly on the production line, reducing rework, improving throughput, and helping prevent downstream quality issues.

Stiles Machinery – Automated Sealing-Tape Application and Integrated Robotic Sheathing Cell Solution:

Automated Sealing-Tape Application: Stiles Machinery's automated sealing-tape application system addresses a labor-intensive step in wall panel manufacturing by automating the placement of sealing tape directly within the production process. Integrated with a WEINMANN bridge and driven entirely by software, the solution delivers precise, repeatable tape application across multiple sheathing materials. By moving this process from the jobsite into the factory, manufacturers can increase prefabrication levels, improve quality consistency, reduce installation labor, and accelerate field assembly.

Integrated Robotic Sheathing Cell Solution: The Integrated Robotic Sheathing Cell Solution combines sheet pre-cutting, material buffering and sorting, and robotic sheathing into a synchronized production system. The solution ensures materials arrive at the production line exactly when needed, minimizing manual handling while improving throughput and reducing waste. Built from proven technologies already utilized in component manufacturing, cabinet production, and international panelized construction facilities, the system offers scalable automation levels to fit varying customer needs.