Philip Morris International

Flowcrete South Africa has worked with the country’s second largest tobacco company, Philip Morris International (PMI), to create a colourful, high performance floor finish for its plant in Boksburg North.

PMI knew that the floor area would have to withstand a long list of challenges, such as forklift truck traffic, point loading from heavy pallets and machinery, frequent cleaning, impacts from tools and equipment and exposure to large quantities of tobacco. Failing to choose the right finish could lead to a cracked, hard to clean, substandard floor, which could impede the large-scale plant’s operations. With high profile brand names such as Marlboro and Chesterfield to safeguard, PMI needed a finish that would effectively support the plant’s daily activity for an extended period of time.

This long list of factors meant that a robust and easily cleanable surface was required. To achieve this, Flowcrete South Africa supplied 12,000m^² of Peran STB, which was installed across the entire plant including in the production area, packaging rooms and warehouse.

Peran STB is a decorative, durable, epoxy resin floor coating made up of colour stable quartz granules sealed within a clear resin binder. This formulation ensures that the floor retains its colour and seamless finish for the long term, even when faced with difficult industrial conditions.

PMI chose this system in a newly available emerald green colour, helping to create a pleasant working environment for staff and visitors. Bright white signage was incorporated into the floor to provide clear pathways around the site for pedestrians and forklift truck drivers as well as to ensure that pallets and equipment are put in the right place around the plant.

The flooring project had to be undertaken within a very tight schedule in order to fit into the plant’s limited shut down period and to accommodate the installation of new equipment.

Flowcrete South Africa faced some very stiff competition in order to win this project. PMI chose to apply Peran STB thanks to the quality of the product and the fact that it knew Flowcrete would be able to complete the task to a high standard due to several previous successful flooring partnerships.