Having Flat Floors is essential

With the developing vogue of crossdocking and its emphasis on shorter cycling time for inventory, DC floors must be durable enough to be able to withstand the strenuous abuse of 24-hour traffic. In today's throughput logistics, specifically regarding DC's, the floor profile should also play an integral part. The emphasis on durability and its ease in integral installation comes from the truth that an imperfect floor, that being the one that is not flat enough will constantly impair the DC from giving its peak and optimum performance.





The significance of flat floors are emphasized in how that particular truck manufacturers tend not to issue warrantys to new lift trucks, except if certain specifications regarding floor flatness is met. The reason for this is that a lot of lift trucks lack a suspension system or pneumatic tires, that assist in the absorption of shock caused by road bumps. Lacking this feature, warranty costs will therefore be higher if the truck has a substandard floor. The slightest variance of height in a floor, much as 1/116th of an inch in actual fact, can cause wheels to lift in the pavement in the event the truck is operating at full speed.This invariably leads to excessive strain to the unit itself. Prolonged stress on the unit will certainly result in its failure, which does not pose well for either the user or the contributors. Apart from time and cash being thrown away for repairs, these minute failures can pose hazardous risks for the operators, causing possible injuries and damage to the machine.

Due to the necessity of getting a level floor, contractors utilize three measurements to gauge the flatness of a floor:

The first is ‘face flatness’ or bumpiness metric, abbreviated to FF. This measures the curve of a floor stretching over two feel. This indicates how smoothly a car or truck will travel over the floor.

The other metric is ‘face levelness’ or the pitch or tilt of the slab. This measures the elevation variation over floors ten feet long. This is used as an signal of how well tall storage racks will rest on the floor.

The third metric is termed Fmin, and is utilized to measure the
concrete levelness of a specific aisle in applications concerned with
super-flat floors which are held up by wires or rail guidance, just like those used for defined traffic.

The specifications that ought to be met in today's DC's are related in the following metrics:

For random traffic in conventional DC applications, a FF35/FL25 is a
Good metric. This could be used well in lift trucks which bring pallet storage applications.

For high throughput DC's, just like those in the receiving or shipping area, a FF45/FL35, being a Flat floor metric, is best. Crossdocking DC's and AGV's are the most frequent receptors of this application.

In the case of DC’s that are very high in efficiency, for example those that go through traffic patterns that are random, a reading of
FF65/FL40 (that is already an extremely flat measurement for a floor)
is utilized. It really works best with High Bay or order picking DCs.

Addititionally there is the VNA or Very Narrow Aisle application,
suitable for high bay ones. They contain six or more pallets, measured as Fmin50* or Fmin100; these being Super Flat floors
employed for high speed operations regarding Turret Trucks.

Most 'Spec' facilities these days build floors which have 6" of fiber
mesh reinforcement, as much as 4,000psi. FF35/FL25 concrete floors
are a common example, utilized often for basic logistics and storage
applications. For all those needing a high throughput however, the
FF45/FL35 is a much better option, since, regardless of its priciness, the presence of this flatter floor will lower maintainance costs to the truck by enhancing its performance and also decreasing mishaps that come out of faulty floor installations. It is advised that such an application be taken especially when it comes to crossdocking.

For DCs with high ceilings, just like those capable of pallet storage
stretching to 6 or more pallets, the Very Flat floor option, FF65/FL40 will allow for maximum retrieval and putaway, leading to optimized overall performance. Such smooth operations are necessary
especially in cases involving order picking applications, where even
the slightest variations on floor flatness can encumber operators by
forcing them to have the load lowered down so the mast sway will be
lowered when moving into various locations. This wastes some time
and impedes their efficiency. A Very Flat floor must provide a suitable ROI, with regards to the level of activity, when comparing either a Good or Flat floor.