Patrick Moll, Technical Consultant at Face Consultants S.E.A, explores how Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) ready floors are essential for effective warehouse operations. He looks at achieving 100% floor compliance using the Laser Grinder®, bonding topping slab upgrades, and manual grinding for floors requiring minimal grinding work.
Face Consultants S.E.A. has been busy recently checking VNA floors around South East Asia. All suffer from the same problem – uneven floor flatness.
The surveys carried out in accordance with the Defined Movement (DM) floor specifications show that all aisles in the VNA warehouses we surveyed failed to comply with the required tolerance.
The question is: what are we going to do about it?
There are a few ways to upgrade VNA floors to achieve the required tolerance.
1. Laser Grinding for 100% Floor Compliance
The most effective is through laser grinding. The Laser Grinder® has been specifically developed to operate in a working warehouse environment, with minimal interference to a client’s ongoing operation. The wet, vacuum-enclosed grinding process is free from airborne dust and is clean enough to work alongside fully stocked racks – even in food and pharmaceutical storage facilities. This is the quickest method that will guarantee 100% floor compliance to the specification.
Warehouses in Singapore of one of the largest engine providers and one of the biggest logistics supply chains in the industry upgraded their VNA floors through laser grinding earlier this year. Both warehouses achieved full compliance to DM2 classification upon completion of the remedial laser grinding works.
2. Bonded Topping Slab Upgrade
In 2019, a Defined Movement floor for a ride track in Bali and Cibubur, Indonesia, was upgraded with a bonded topping slab over the existing suspended slab. As laser grinding is not applicable for defined curving paths, the floor was upgraded with a bonded topping slab using a long strip casting method.
Flexible forms were used to set the edges of the ride track, and highly skilled finishers carried out the straight edging to ensure compliance to Defined Movement floor specification in accordance with American Concrete Institute’s (ACI) Fmin 55 floor classification.
3. Manual Grinding for VNAs
Last September, we assisted on a VNA upgrade, for the world’s leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment. The non-compliant portions of the aisle were ground down to achieve the limits set on DM3 classification in accordance with The Concrete Society’s TR34 (4th Edition).
Out of tolerance spots along the wheel path of the Materials Handling Equipment (MHE) were ground down using an electric hand grinder. Our in-house developed All-In-One Profileograph was used to quickly check that the transverse and longitudinal properties of the DM floor were being corrected as the grinding works progressed
A local flooring contractor from Jakarta, Indonesia, will soon attempt to upgrade a VNA floor to DM1 classification in accordance with TR34 (4th Edition) through manual grinding as well. With the use of a trolley grinder and hand grinder, high spots will be lowered down to tolerance. This method of floor upgrade is ideal if the VNA does not require extensive grinding works, providing an experienced and diligent grinding operator is used.
No matter how much work your warehouse floor requires, Face Consultants S.E.A can help you upgrade it to VNA ready operations.
TAKE THE FIRST STEP – HAVE YOUR FLOOR PROFESSIONALLY SURVEYED BY FACE CONSULTANTS S.E.A. – Contact us today
Patrick Francis Moll
Patrick Francis Moll is a Technical Consultant at Face Consultants S.E.A. He moved to Singapore after completing his Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering at Technological University of the Philppines. Patrick has been working within the CoGri Group for the past 5 years, initially as a Project Engineer for CoGri Asia Pacific before joining the Face Consultants team in 2017. Patrick is an expert on industrial flooring surveys and testing.Contact Patrick and the Face S.E.A team today or follow us on LinkedIn:
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