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“…the operation of our VNA trucks within the 107 aisles totaling more than 4,500 linear metres of our 50,000 sq.m facility is flawless.”
The floor at a new Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) warehouse facility in Greece was recently completed by Eurolit Industrial Flooring who represents Concrete Grinding Ltd in Greece.
The floor of the distribution centre, belonging to a well known supermarket chain Masoutis S.A in Greece, was built by Eurolit using Laser Screed construction to meet at least with Line 4 of the DIN 18202 – the strictest DIN free movement specification.
CG’s involvement in the project was to use their patented Laser Grinder® technology to grind the narrow aisles to a tolerance suitable for the VNA trucks to operate safely and efficiently.
Before grinding, a Profileograph survey was carried out in every aisle and the results analysed to determine where the floor was out of the required specification of DIN 15185 >6m (for lift heights of 6m or higher).
Of the 4,510m of aisles, CG found that only 46% (2053m) of the floor within the truck’s outer wheel tracks and 8.5% (384m) of the centre wheel track required Laser Grinding to meet with this specification. CG’s unique and cost effective approach minimised the amount of grinding, as only the areas out of specification needed grinding rather than the full length of every aisle. This process also ensured a quick work programme on-site, which was critical for this project, as grinding was completed before the installation of racking. After grinding, a second Profileograph survey was carried out in every aisle and Face Consultants issued a report to the client to confirm compliance with the DIN 15185>6m specification. It is worth noting that the design of the warehouse included a large number of columns and around 40% of the aisles were located very close to these columns. This made it difficult to achieve the DIN 15185 specification during the floor construction. If these columns were not so close to the aisles, only around 30% of the aisles could have been found to be out of this specification, lowering the grinding cost even more.
Ioannis Masoutis, Chairman of the Board added, “The high standards required by D. Masoutis S.A throughout our operations demanded the construction of an industrial floor of the highest quality. The technical solution offered by the main contractor VERMION S.A and executed by EUROLIT INDUSTRIAL FLOORING in co-operation with CONCRETE GRINDING LTD fully justified our choice.
The Laser Grinding process did not interfere at any time with other ongoing works. We had a very strict programme and the whole floor construction and grinding process was completed according to schedule and without any deviation. It also proved cost effective; as the floor was laid to a high standard, Concrete Grinding Ltd identified areas within the aisles that already complied with the specification, meaning the amount of grinding was minimised.
As a result, the operation of our VNA trucks within the 107 aisles totalling more than 4,500 linear metres of our 50,000 sq. m facility is flawless. The trucks operate effortlessly and efficiently at the maximum speed specified by Linde Materials Handling of 9 km/h, even with the operator cabin located at the maximum height.
We are extremely pleased with the overall results and highly recommend Eurolit Industrial Flooring and Concrete Grinding Ltd.”
Thanasis Giouletzis, Branch Manager Northern Greece of Ergotrak S.A. – the official distributor of Linde Materials Handling in Greece added, “We confirm that due to the high flatness standards achieved by Eurolit Industrial Flooring and Concrete Grinding Ltd (DIN 15185) of the floor at the new warehouse of “D. MASOUTIS S.A.” in Kavalari – Thessaloniki, our VNA forklift trucks operate at their maximum designed speed of 9Km/h regardless of their elevation point.”
The new DC was fully operational in September.
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