Flowfresh Solves Procter & Gamble’s Flooring Specification Search

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11 Jan 2016

The company’s baby care and feminine care units needed new floors that would provide an attractive, hygienic and visually appealing surface for an extended period of time despite the many challenges that such a large-scale processing plant would inflict on the floor.

Large quantities of globally recognised brands would be handled in these areas, including Pampers and Whispers, which meant that every aspect of the site had to meet the highest levels of quality to avoid contaminants or flaws creeping into the processing line. The refurbishment project also had to be completed to a demanding standard and within a tight time schedule to avoid disrupting the site’s productivity.

To meet these requirements, 6,250m2 of the global resin flooring manufacturer Flowcrete’s polyurethane system Flowfresh MF was installed across the manufacturing facility’s production halls and packing areas.

Flowcrete India’s Managing Director, Vivekanandan Margasahayam, said: “We faced some stiff competition to win this contract, as Procter & Gamble were rigorous in their specification process and were determined to source the best possible solution.

“The combination of advantages that Flowfresh could provide made it the most attractive proposition in the end, as it could meet all of P&G’s cleanliness, durability, longevity and application criteria. The specifiers were assured that the final finish would achieve what was required before anything was installed, as we are able to draw on an extensive reference list of previous Flowcrete India projects relevant to P&G’s needs.”

P&G had undertaken a cost analysis that exposed the true price of floor failure. If an insufficiently robust solution was installed P&G knew that its facility would risk failures that could turn the production area into an unattractive, unhygienic and unsafe environment. Therefore the chosen solution would need to be durable enough to withstand point loading from large pallets, traffic from staff and heavily laden trolleys, equipment, regular cleaning and occasional impacts for an extended period of time.

It was also important for P&G that the new floor finish complied with international hygiene standards to prove that it is up to the task of minimising contamination within a busy industrial environment.

The ability of Flowcrete’s Flowfresh range to retain a clean and effective finish in the face of difficult industrial conditions has led to it achieving HACCP International certification. This accreditation was crucial to P&G’s specifiers as it provided an assurance that it would retain the desired flooring properties for the long term.

The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) system was designed to minimise contamination events in the food and beverage industry, however it has been adopted by other market sectors thanks to its proven ability to develop facilities that can maintain a clean, productive and risk-free industrial environment.

To enhance a site’s hygienic credentials even further, every Flowfresh system has had the antimicrobial additive Polygiene® homogeneously distributed throughout the floor’s polyurethane matrix. This bactericidal agent is able to eliminate up to 99.9% of bacteria in contact with the floor, including E-coli listeria and Salmonella typhi.

Flowfresh MF was also specified for this project because it could be installed on top of a less than one-week-old concrete slab. This saved P&G almost a month of drying time, which would have been necessary for epoxy systems, allowing the plant to start operating again much sooner than it otherwise would have done.

Flowcrete India and its approved applicator were set a five-day window in which to install the new floor. The project was successfully completed on time, avoiding any delays and disruptions to P&G’s operational activity.