Concrete Grinding Ltd, part of the global flooring specialist CoGri Group, recently used its patented Laser Grinder technology to smooth the floor of an Ikea warehouse owned by industrial property management group, Goodman
Goodman is an integrated property group that owns, develops and manages industrial property and business space globally. Within Goodman’s portfolio is a recently acquired existing warehouse located in Moorebank, approximately 30km from Sydney, Australia’s Kingsford Smith International Airport. In early 2008 Goodman decided to convert the warehouse to very narrow aisle (VNA) racking to meet the requirements of a new client.
Goodman’s warehouse client, Ikea, is an international well known home products giant that distributes its products through its own retail outlets. CoGri Group has completed other floor upgrading projects for Ikea in Spain and Greece in recent years.
Aware that floor flatness is critical to Ikea, Goodman’s lead consultant, Hungerford Project contacted the CoGri Group via its UK website. This resulted in the floor being surveyed using the Face digital profileograph. The survey confirmed Hungerford’s initial assessment that the floor tolerances were not adequate for the proposed VNA installation. CoGri Group got in touch with the company’s Singapore office, CoGri Asia Pacific Pte, that proposed to upgrade the floor tolerances by Laser Grinding.
In June 2008, the CoGri Group was awarded the contract to upgrade 1,980 linear metres of aisle way by whole aisle width grinding to comply with the requirements of DIN 15185 for lift heights greater than 6m. Two Laser Grinders were mobilised for the project, one from the UK and one from Singapore. The first Laser Grinder arrived and started grinding in early August 2008.
Transit for the second Laser Grinder from the UK took longer than expected due to a change in the shipping schedule. The CoGri team therefore opted to reduce potential lost time by working the Singapore laser grinders in double shifts. The shipping delay was not the only obstacle the team encountered. Those Aussies can build a tough floor; a big chunk of the warehouse was post tensioned and topped with a metallic dryshake. Grinding was hard going!
Finally the UK machine arrived on site and a third team mobilised to site to help drag metres out of the unwilling floor. In late October, 12 weeks after starting and just ahead of the racking team, the CoGri Group completed upgrading all 22 aisles each of which measured 95m long.
Graham Pinney, Goodman’s director of property comments: “We haven’t heard of any issues from Ikea in relation to the aisle grinding, which is great, and overall we seem to have a very satisfied customer.”
This project was the first laser grinding job in Australia for the CoGri Group. The patented Laser Grinder can economically upgrade wheel path floor tolerances for three or four wheeled material handling equipment and for maximum flexibility the whole aisle width can be upgraded to suit multiple material handling equipment, platforms working in the aisle. Floors can be upgraded to meet DIN, TR34 or ACI tolerances for VNA floors.
