WA Newspapers, a newspaper printer in Western Australia, recently expanded its plant in Perth to include a further 4,000 square metres of processing and printing areas, as well as 1,500 square metres of additional warehousing.
The expansion was undertaken to accommodate new printing presses from Germany and KBA robotic movers.
In the printing areas, a hard-wearing, flat floor finish with high electro-static dissipating (ESD) properties was required to enable the highly sensitive robotic equipment to function properly.
The ESD system was also required to prevent any risk of sparking caused by the many solvents and other chemicals used in the printing process, which also necessitated a floor with high levels of chemical resistance. In the storage areas, the flooring was to be non-dusting, slip resistant and easy to clean.
Following installation and 3-month testing of a trial area, Flowcrete Australia was selected for the project based on its ability to meet the specification on all criteria.
Flowcrete Australia’s Peran ESD CR, a self-smoothing, chemical resistant system with electrostatic dissipating properties, was installed in the printing area. The high grade ESD system installed enables static charge to be dissipated to earth safely.
A seamless, hard-wearing resin system, Flowcoat SF41, was installed in the warehousing areas with aluminium oxide aggregate included between coats for additional durability and impact resistance. A final coat of Flowseal UV polyurethane provides added durability and cleanability.
Flowcrete Australia’s Country Manager Tony Di Girolamo says, “We were able to meet the demanding criteria with the range of systems that we proposed.”
“The ability to offer shorter lead times on product delivery from Malaysia was also very attractive to the client who wanted the work to be completed as soon as possible,” says Tony Di Girolamo.