Floor upgrade boosts safety & efficiency
May 21st 2008

Concrete Grinding has upgraded the racking aisles in Sony DADC's national distribution centre in Enfield, Greater London, to allow more efficient and safer use of VNA man-up trucks in the building.

Sony DADC uses three-wheel wire-guided man-up trucks to pick orders from 12m high racking. The flatness and general condition of the six 60m long aisles meant truck speed had to be reduced to prevent them disengaging from the guidance wire and making contact with the racking. Previous attempts to improve floor flatness with localised hand-grinding had only improved the situation to a small extent, so Sony DADC appointed Concrete Grinding to carry out a full upgrade.

Following a profileograph survey, the first task involved removing steel expansion joints that had failed and replacing them with high-strength epoxy mortar. The LaserGrinder then ground the whole width of each aisle to DM2 specification, in some areas removing 15mm of material despite the presence of exceptionally hard flint aggregate in the concrete mix used for the floor.

Following the grinding operation, the joint in each aisle was saw-cut and a clear protective sealant applied. One aisle was completed at a time in order to minimise disruption, and the whole operation was carried out while the warehouse continued to operate and without the need for stock to be protected or moved.

More articles from Concrete Grinding Ltd: