Electronics manufacturers often face a costly dilemma: Their ESD flooring needs to be replaced, but shutting down production to remove and replace the floor may be even more disruptive.
SelecTech, Inc.’s StaticStop interlocking esd flooring products—including SelecTile ESD and FreeStyle ESD—can be installed over many existing flooring surfaces without adhesives. Installations can also be completed in phases, allowing manufacturers to keep other areas of the facility operating while work is underway.
“For electronics manufacturers, ESD flooring is an essential part of protecting sensitive products and equipment. The problem is finding a way to replace that flooring without bringing production to a standstill,” said Thomas Ricciardelli, president of SelecTech, Inc. “An interlocking floor that can be installed over the existing surface gives manufacturers another option.”
Traditional floor replacement may require manufacturers to remove the existing floor, prepare the subfloor, apply adhesives and wait for the new flooring to cure. Depending on the size and requirements of the facility, that process can result in hours or days of lost production.
The visible cost of that downtime begins with a straightforward calculation:
Hours Down × Units per Hour × Contribution Margin
Yet lost production represents only part of the total cost. Manufacturers may also continue paying idle employees, incur scrap or rework from interrupted production runs and spend additional time restarting, testing and stabilizing the line.
A more complete picture includes:
Total Downtime Cost = Lost Throughput + Labor + Scrap/Rework + Recovery + Expediting + Customer Impact + Overhead
“Lost production is the expense everybody notices first,” Ricciardelli said. “What can make downtime especially costly is everything that happens around it—from paying employees who cannot work to testing the line and getting production back to normal.”
The ripple effect can be particularly significant in electronics manufacturing. An interruption may affect product yield, increase the potential for defects and require additional testing before full production resumes. Schedule disruptions may also lead to overtime, expedited materials or shipping, missed delivery windows and strained customer relationships.
SelecTech’s adhesive-free interlocking system is designed to reduce those disruptions. Because the tiles can be installed over many existing floors, manufacturers may avoid demolition and extensive subfloor preparation. The flooring can also be installed one section at a time, with equipment and production moved between completed areas as the project progresses.
“One customer needed to make a 4,000-square-foot area ESD compliant without significantly disrupting its operation,” Ricciardelli said. “By coordinating its operations and facilities teams with our StaticStop team, the company limited downtime to a single shift, primarily for moving furniture. That’s the kind of result thoughtful planning and an interlocking flooring system can deliver.”
Depending on the facility, the condition of the existing floor and the installation requirements, some customers can install the flooring using their own personnel.
“The objective isn’t simply to install a new floor,” Ricciardelli said. “It’s to deliver the ESD performance the facility requires while minimizing the impact on production, employees and customers.”
SelecTech also conducts testing before and after installation to help ensure the flooring performs as intended. This includes testing in a controlled laboratory environment to establish a record for comparison once the flooring has been installed.
Proper testing and installation are especially important for electronics, aerospace and defense manufacturers, where increasingly sophisticated components may be vulnerable to electrostatic discharge. A properly designed ESD protected area helps control static electricity and reduce the risk of damage to sensitive products and equipment.
To learn more about SelecTech’s StaticStop ESD flooring products, visit staticstop.com.