Services & Products: Floor Flatness : Why Floor Flatness Is Important

FLATNESS COMES FIRST

The warehouse floor is the all important surface that affects the speed, efficiency and often the safety and movement of the distribution centre operatives and their manually operated hardware.

Kevin Dare, MD of Face Consultants Ltd and a member of the Concrete Society working group on floor regularity puts forward some important views on producing the best surfaces underfoot.

“Floor flatness has a significant impact on efficiency and safety when materials are handled by fork lift trucks,” says Dare. “The Concrete Society Technical Report TR34 published in 1988 was a pioneering step and indeed contains the principal standards used to determine floor flatness in warehouses.”

Why Flatness is important
Correct floor flatness is essential for the following reasons:

• Operations are more efficient if lift trucks operate at Maximum speed.
  
• Poor surface regularity will cause excessive vibration on a lift truck and increase down time and maintenance.
  
• Health & Safety and driver fatigue.
  
• Reduced damage to stock.
  
• Gives control on the general quality of a floor when constructed.

Undoubtedly the most important category of industry where flatness is essential is within aisles of high density warehouses where defined path, very narrow aisles trucks operate.

The static lean table shows how the potential for truck lean is increased by the lifting height.

Floor Types And Related Standards
There are two basic types of floors:

1. Free Movement Floors
   
2. Defined Movement Floors

Floor Flatness Specificaitons
As the demand for faster, more efficient warehouse technology increases and truck developments continue, floor flatness standards help to contribute to warehouse operators peace of mind. There are different types of flatness specification for Free Movement and Defined Movement floors.

Read more on Floor Flatness Specifications.

Floor Flatness Testing
Face Consultants use the latest in digital measuring equipment, designed and built at our UK headquarters, to check both Defined and Free Movement floors to meet specifications.

Read more on Floor Flatness Testing.


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