Valspar Flooring Keeps General Mills Bakery Cooking

All the ingredients were present for a production slowdown at one of the world’s largest food manufacturers: Delamination and pitting resulting from thermal shock and the use of aggressive cleaning chemicals had begun to deteriorate an epoxy flooring system. The floor had to be replaced, but stationary production equipment stood in the way.

General Mills’ bakery facility in Minneapolis, MN, had to act quickly. Problems caused by the presence of fats and oils on the floor had been compounded by high temperatures and chemical cleaners that had been used to meet FDA regulations. In addition, the floor had taken a real beating from high-volume forklift traffic.

Valspar Flooring and Duluth Coating Solutions (DCS) offered a remedy—Flowfresh RT polyurethane concrete. This heavy-duty overlay is suited for the unique demands of food production facilities such as that run by General Mills. Flowfresh floors, which utilize proven Flowcrete technology, cover millions of square feet in the most demanding production facilities around the world.

With bakery production schedules running tight, time was of the essence. General Mills could afford to give the Valspar and DCS installation team only five days to get the job done. The team would have to overcome a variety of obstacles: More than 4000 sq ft of damaged flooring had to be ground down to bare concrete; several areas had to be elevated or sloped so that runoff could reach the drains; crews had to crawl beneath or work around stationary production equipment that had many support legs. By working around the clock, the team completed the preparation work well ahead of schedule.

The next step involved applying Valspar Flowfresh RT by pulling the product across the floor using screed boxes, a simple process on an open floor. “RT is a self-priming and self-topping product,” explained Dick Olejnik, an architectural and engineering representative for Valspar. “A quick, light trowel with a finish-roll technique completes the system.”

“Using RT greatly reduced installation time and helped us get the job done two and a half days ahead of schedule,” said Brian Myhre, sales manager for DCS.

Flowfresh RT has lived up to its performance claims at General Mills. It is highly stable under thermal shock conditions, offers excellent resistance to organic acids and cleaning chemicals, endures heavy forklift traffic, and has antislip properties in wet conditions. In addition, an antimicrobial agent within the flooring inhibits the growth of bacteria, fungi, mold, and mildew.

For more information, visit www.valsparflooring.com or call 800-637-7793.