Most industrial facilities are built to withstand the rigors of heavy-duty use - the daily grind of huge manufacturing machines and process equipment, constant traffic from forklifts and wheeled trucks, and foot

Empire Southwest maintenance  bays resurfaced with BayTop.

traffic from employees. And, if you stop to think about it, which part of the facility receives the most punishment in a day's work? - The answer is: the floor! 

Most facility managers do not realize how much the "bottom" of their plant can affect their bottom-line. A concrete floor that is worn, pitted and dusty can lead to environmental and safety concerns that can eventually develop into product and liability issues  - along with employee morale problems stemming from having to work in a messy environment. Downtime for floor repair must be carefully considered before any floor solution is chosen.

But how can you determine the type of flooring that is right for your facility and will provide the best value for your money? What's more, having to cease operations to resurface the floor can have a big impact on a facility's productivity, so finding a provider that will install a floor in the least amount of time is also important.

A "Tough" Option

According to Jim Andrews, at Delta Pacific, a division of Structural Preservation Systems (SPS), if a facility manager is buying resinous or cementious floor systems today, and they are having any level of discomfort or dissatisfaction, "they need to know there are options available that might significantly change their feelings about topical floor systems and provide the best value for their dollar."

SPS' iron aggregate floor systems last up to eight times longer than concrete and offer superior abrasion and impact resistance. These highly wear-resistant systems are ideal for equipment maintenance facilities or heavy manufacturing plants where the current flooring is showing significant wear-and-tear, and resurfacing the floor with the same coating or epoxy is not a satisfactory solution.

"Iron aggregate flooring is particularly appropriate for an environment where there is a lot of foot and wheeled traffic - where workers are rolling around tools, parts and components on dollies or carts," explained Andrews. "High traffic areas can become eroded and abraded to a surface that would be considered unsafe or unusable by regular traffic patterns of the day."

Putting down a cheap floor coating is not going to solve the problem if the floor has to be resurfaced again just two years later. Today's facility manager is looking for a floor resurfacing option that offers a permanent fix and a good return on the company's investment.

"A business manager has a lot of decisions to make every day," noted Andrews. "Decisions about the product they are manufacturing or selling and decisions about their employees. One thing you don't want to be worrying about is the floor. If you install a good flooring system that is dependable and will give years of service, it's one less thing you have to worry about."

BayTop is designed to handle heavy  loads like this heavy duty engine.

A Problem: Old Concrete Floors

As an authorized Caterpillar dealer for heavy equipment and engines in Arizona and Southeastern California, Empire Southwest's maintenance bay floors must be able to withstand high-impact conditions, and provide a dust-free environment for servicing high-tolerance engines and hydraulic equipment.

Empire's old concrete floor was beginning to show considerable wear and its poor condition was not only causing problems for its workers but also was impacting equipment performance.

According to Bob Swan of Euclid Chemical, a supplier of specialty products for the construction industry and the manufacturer of SPS' iron aggregate floor products, the maintenance bay floors where Caterpillar rebuilds and maintains parts and equipment were pitted and full of grease and oil spills.

"The maintenance bays saw constant use from wheeled vehicles, heavy track and roller equipment, and foot and cart traffic," said Swan, "The floors were all chewed-up from the traffic and the occasional dropped tools and machinery parts."

Deterioration of the concrete floor joints also presented problems. Workers were becoming frustrated because they could not easily move carts over the damaged floors without having parts and tools fall off.

"The dust from the eroded concrete also posed a problem by potentially contaminating the equipment that was being repaired," Swan said.

Because today's high-compression, hydraulic equipment is manufactured with close tolerance specifications, there is no allowance for dust or dirt getting into Caterpillar's equipment, whether during standard maintenance or a complete rebuild.

"Empire Southwest wanted to take the steps necessary to minimize future equipment problems," explained Swan. "If they refurbish a vehicle or rebuild an engine, they can't have it come back in six months because the equipment wasn't working properly due to a problem stemming from dust or dirt contamination."

The Solution: BayTopTM Floor Topping

Empire found a solution to its flooring problems in SPS' BayTopTM, an epoxy and iron aggregate system. Because BayTopTM is a floor topping, and not a coating, it could be applied in the thickness that Empire Southwest needed, providing one smooth, contiguous floor surface.

"Empire had been using floor coatings to resurface their floors. The problem was that a floor coating is usually applied only several mils thick, whereas BayTopTM iron flooring is placed at 3/8-of-an-inch-thick. Additionally, because the floor had worn unevenly, BayTop was used to re-level the floor surface.

BayTopTM can be applied to fill in all imperfections in the floor, and can be placed to provide increased slope for better drainage, an important aspect for handling spills and facilitating cleaning. The end result is a smooth, flat floor that not only looks good, but also is also highly impact resistant.  And because the iron aggregate within the epoxy does not fracture, it will not cause dusting.

"Compared to concrete, BayTop, repels almost any type of spilled liquid," Swan explained. "Spills stay on the floor surface and can be easily wiped-up, so it is easy for workers to keep their environment clean."

Randy Lamb, at Empire Southwest, was especially pleased with the installation of SPS' iron flooring system. "We selected this product because of its aesthetics, the durability and the strength of the product," said Lamb. "But what was also important to us was the time frame in which the flooring could be applied. It was installed over a weekend, and so we did not have to incur an extended downtime in our facility.

"Our concrete floor was 35 years old, and was in pretty bad shape," continued Lamb. "The iron flooring provides the high-impact resistance for the type of equipment and use that Empire's facility handles on a day-to-day basis. We know that we got good value for our money." 

It's Not New, But Better

While iron aggregate flooring is not a new concept (iron aggregate floors have been in existence for more than 100 years), SPS has worked with Euclid Chemical to improve the formulation and develop an installation system that makes the flooring much more cost effective than previously.

"Over the years, iron flooring fell out of favor because although it was very popular at one time, it was also very hard to install correctly, and so cost became a deciding factor for both the installer and the buyer," Andrews said. "We listened to our customers and found out that they were looking for a tough, dense flooring system that could stand up to the rigors of an industrial facility." 

BayTop works well in areas with  heavy forklift traffic.

"We knew that iron aggregate flooring, with its almost steel-plate-like surface, could be the solution our customers were looking for," said Andrews. "We worked with Euclid, modified the chemistry, and came up with new technologies to make the flooring work better, be easier to install and more economical."

In a plant or manufacturing facility, over time, equipment will need to be replaced. Machinery, lift trucks, parts, components - all of these things can usually be replaced without a major impact on the rest of the facility.

"But this is not the case with the floor," Andrews noted. "Everything must stop, all work activity must be shutdown, while the floor is resurfaced. Not only must the work be done quickly, but if the flooring isn't properly installed or the flooring is of poor quality, and you're reinstalling or recoating the floor every year or two, that can have huge impact on your facility and your business margin."

SPS' installation process is totally turnkey. Because they are a national company, with 25 offices throughout the country, they have access to local labor and equipment and the work is performed by their installers and not sub-contracted out.

"With SPS, a company will find itself working with one team that knows how to get the job done, from the initial sale to the final installation, and beyond," said Andrews. "This is not a ‘pour & go' operation. We treat the building as if it were our own, and we return periodically to check up on the floor and make sure it is meeting the facility's needs."

Being able to resurface a floor with minimal downtime was an important aspect in Structural Preservation System's redesign of the iron aggregate system.

"If we tell someone that we are going to be in their facility for 72 hours, or over a weekend or for four days - it's very important to keep to that schedule, so a business owner can get back to the business of the day as planned," Andrews said.

Maintaining an iron aggregate floor requires no special maintenance. The floor can be cleaned and washed with the same sweepers or washing equipment used on any floor surface.

"One of the unique features of these floors is that they actually get better with age," Andrews noted. "As the resin or cement wears away with abrasion, the iron metal particles begin to polish, so in high-traffic areas, such as aisles or walkways, you begin to see a bit of shine. It's a nice feature that develops over time."

Making The Best Decision

Andrews cautioned that an iron aggregate floor might not be the right flooring answer for every flooring problem. "If a company has tried other flooring systems, and nothing seems to be working for them, then they might want to consider iron flooring," Andrews said.

Empire Southwest services large  tracked machines like the CAT385B.

To make the right decision, a company needs to evaluate both upfront installation as well as the cost of long-term floor maintenance. How a floor looks, how it feels and how it performs is vital and critical to the overall functioning of a facility.

"I can walk into a facility and I can generally tell, in a matter of minutes, about the attitude of the environment by the comfort and the hygiene of the facility, including the condition of the floor," Andrews said. "If management and workers care about their environment, it will be reflected in a clean and neat work area, including a floor that is properly maintained and is providing a safe working surface."

A good flooring surface, like Structural Preservation System's iron aggregate flooring, can provide the right foundation for your business, allowing you to add the equipment, machinery and employees to run a successful operation.