Saint Gobain’s warehouse floor contains steel armored joints. Over the years the impact of the trucks has bent and displaced the steel and the joints have broken down creating deep voids and potholes around the joints. Driving over these joints in such a state of disrepair produces a shockwave through the vehicle, this has often resulted in the load being damaged and has caused frequent damage to the material handling equipment such as damaged or smashed bearings. In order to avoid such damage, and to reduce the impact and strain placed on the body of the operative, the drivers were forced to slow the machines down to a crawl over the joints which had a significant negative effect upon productivity.

After an initial Floorbridge trial joint, Saint Gobain immediately saw the benefits, and very quickly instructed us to install FloorBridge in numerous locations around the warehouse. The situation regarding the installation of Floorbridge has now been discussed and reviewed by senior engineers, operations directors and also the team responsible for truck repairs. The outcome was that there had been a significant reduction in impacts recorded by the trucks computer and a dramatic reduction in truck repairs and associated downtime. There had been zero reports of lost or damaged loads over Floorbridge joints, drivers reported that they were able to move around the warehouse without slowing down for the Floorbridge joints and commented that they were able to achieve there tasks more quickly and efficiently.

Saint Gobain UK Glass immediately placed a further order for half of the remaining joints to be replaced with Floorbridge, this work is now complete and the rest of the remaining joints are scheduled to be replaced with Floorbridge during 2016

Mike Thubron, a Senior member of the operations team from PWS in Newton Aycliffe outlines the companies reasons for choosing FloorBridge as the solution to their problems and explains the positive impact FloorBridge has had on their business

Reason for choosing Floorbridge.

We have had constant problems with expansion joints in our concrete floor, basically the joint was pushing against its self, creating a ridge in the floor.

This was having a dramatic effect when trying to engage our VNA vehicles onto our wire guidance system, not to mention an H & S issue, as the trucks would jump off the guidance system often hitting the racking and causing damage to stock.

Work undertaken.

When the FloorBridge team arrived on site they were very professional and advised us of the best way to complete the project.

They came on site at times that suited our work patterns and worked with us to have as little impact as possible on our operation.

The work was completed to a very high standard, with very little dust or debris.

Since Floorbridge.

We have had no problems at all, the cost of maintenance on our equipment as reduced dramatically and the MHE no longer jumps off the guidance system. We have had no damage to stock in the areas where Floorbridge has been installed and many of the drivers have commented about how smoothly the trucks pass over these joints and how much more comfortable it is now.

I would have absolutely no hesitation in recommending Floorbridge.