All buildings have them and we rely heavily on them,
yet most floors are neglected. Your company could be paying the
price for it.
There
are two types of floors — those that are conducive to productivity
and those that can be labeled productivity black holes. The first
type help make you money, while the second steals from you in
ways you may have never considered.
Warehouse floors come in many shapes and sizes: Large, small,
heavy duty or regular, polished or coated, super flat or sloped
to drain. No matter the type of floor, they all can have the same
common problems.
Random cracks, bad joints, curled edges (thumping joints), spalls
(pot holes), delaminations (overlays), and moisture problems can
and do occur on older floors as well as many that have been newly
constructed.
All these problems cost you valuable time and money. Many people
never consider what bad floors are costing them in lost productivity
and related costs. It is those "related costs" that are often
overlooked and under-valued.
Most warehouse facilities run a fleet of electric hard wheeled
forklifts. These lifts do not have a suspension system to absorb
the shaking, rattling, jarring, thumping, and other forms of abuse
that bad floors can deliver to them. All have expensive electronic
components and batteries that can cost thousands of dollars to
replace. Main drive and out-rigger tires are replaced long before
they wear out due to damage. Forklift batteries are expensive
and constant jarring knocks the paste off the plates causing them
to short out prematurely. Forklift operator fatigue also becomes
an issue when the jarring and bouncing begins to affect a driver's
productivity. Recently in one facility a worker on a double pallet
electric walkee/rider pallet jack was thrown coming around a corner
and broke her wrist as a result of a bad floor joint. This incident
resulted in a worker's compensation claim and a reduction in productivity
due to this reportable lost time injury.
Figuring
out whether or not a floor problem exists can be easily done by
analyzing forklift maintenance expenses. How many batteries and
tires were purchased last year? What was the average age of any
replaced parts? Were parts replaced due to wear or damage? Often
a piece of equipment will be off the floor for days while being
repaired, awaiting the arrival of parts and leading to more lost
productivity. While these increased maintenance costs may affect
different department budgets, the impact is reflected by the company's
bottom line. The solution is to fix the problem at its source,
allowing everybody to win.
Fleet and maintenance costs, operator fatigue, longer cycle times,
and reduced building value can all impact a company's productivity
and bottom line. Prime Resins can help facilities increase productivity
by providing the materials, tools, and expertise needed to fix
the problem at its source — the floors.
When looking for productivity improvements, the answer may be
right under your feet.
