Industrial flooring specialists, Concrete Grinding Ltd, part of the CoGri Group of companies has delivered another successful VNA floor grinding solution. This time for Global transportation and logistics powerhouse, Kuehne & Nagel.
Their latest project found them in the heart of England helping with a new configuration of their existing warehouse facility in Erdington, near Birmingham.
As the global economy continues its recovery, many distribution centres are bursting at the seams and drastically out of space. When expanding the footprint of the warehouse is not an option, companies often employ creative techniques such as using narrower aisles to improve space utilisation.
So it’s no surprise that as this demand for warehouse space increases, Concrete Grinding Ltd are adding to their long list of enviable clients.
Very Narrow Aisle Floors
Concrete Grinding Ltd, worked in conjunction with by main contractor, JJL to complete this reconfiguration project. They wanted to switch the operation from the existing three-metre wide aisle to very narrow aisle (VNA). This would allow for much more storage capacity and result in greater through-put.
“This Very Narrow Aisle floor grinding job was very complex due to the sheer number of contractors onsite” said Dan Myers, Contracts Manager at Concrete Grinding. “All contractors were working to very tight deadlines set by JJL Groundworks to make sure the project was on time.”
The project was carried out in three phases, so that operations could function throughout.
Phase one
In the first phase, Face Consultants carried out a profileograph (floor profiler) survey, which was analysed by the team at Concrete Grinding to determine which areas needed grinding.
Paul Altham, Technical Manager at Concrete Grinding said: “A huge benefit of working with the CoGri Group of companies is that we can offer a full turnkey solution to our clients needs. With this project we provided the profileograph survey, floor repairs and the grinding work. All this work was managed through the main contractor, JJL and it’s this approach that makes life so much easier for all parties.”
He added: “Rather than having three separate contractors, JJL had the benefit of a single point of contact. We can take care of the whole flooring solution and this is appealing to Contractors and end users alike.”
Phase two
Before the grinding could start, CG Flooring Systems needed to carry out some work to the warehouse floor. The team replaced:
- The steel armoured construction joints that were crossing the aisles and failed the flatness specification.
- The Two longitudinal steel joints that fell into the wheel track of the VNA Truck.
The team carried out the floor grinding in two wheel tracks to transverse property only of TR34 (3rd Edition) Category 1 classification. The team also ground the construction joints in the centre wheel tracks to match the outer tracks. This classification was required by truck manufacturer Still, for safe and efficient operation of their VNA Trucks.
VNA Floor Grinding
The project consisted of 38 VNA, a total length of 3,365 linear metres. This meant that approximately 35% of the total aisle length needed grinding to comply with the specification.
Two Laser Grinders® were deployed for phases one & two which meant that the job could be completed within a shorter time frame. Following closely behind the laser grinders was the racking erection for smooth transition.
Phase three
The grinding contractors introduced a third Laser Grinder® for the final phase, as Dan Myers explained:
“Phase three was quite unusual in that, our grinding team had to overtake the racking contractors. There had been a delay in the delivery of racking components. We responded well to the changes on site and were flexible enough to cope with the demands of the job”
The completed work was a success, and the floor grinding provided the warehouse operation with the correct level of floor flatness . The floor flatness means that MHE equipment can operate at full capacity and with minimal impact to vehicles resulting in reduced service costs to vehicles and the floor.
Give Concrete Grinding Ltd a call today on +44 (0) 1484 600080 or email them at info@congrete-grinding.com. We are happy to discuss any VNA floor grinding, or floor flatness queries you may have.
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