Knauf Plasterboard is a leading manufacturer of lightweight construction materials, a major supplier to the lightweight construction industry and a one-stop-shop for complete wall framing solutions across Australia and internationally.
The company’s innovative lightweight construction systems include plasterboard, steel framing systems for walls and ceilings, decorative, acoustic and air cleaning wall and ceiling linings, facade linings and plaster finishing compounds and accessories for internal applications.
Knauf prides itself in its commitment to sustainability, with employee health and safety, reduced impact on the environment, respect for local communities and social responsibility part of its foundations for long-term growth.
Challenge
Cleaning any factory is a challenge. Add the powdery gypsum used in the manufacture of plasterboard and the resulting dust you get the potential for sludge; which can be very difficult for the average floor cleaner to cope with.
Knauf Plasterboard’s cleaning machines were also old, had expensive rental fees and required a high level of maintenance that added to the running costs.
Solution
Tennant Australia recommended an M20 Integrated Ride-on Scrubber-Sweeper as well as two 5700 walk-behind scrubber dryers.
Knauf’s commitment to sustainability and employee health and safety made the M20 an obvious fit for the company’s cleaning needs.
The M20 is designed to sweep and scrub simultaneously, minimising the potential to create sludge that is not only difficult to clean but can damage machinery and potentially reduce workplace health and safety. The M20 is easy to operate and maintain, and cleans floors in a single pass – wet or dry.
The integrated FloorSmart™ cleaning system combines both sweeping and scrubbing functions perform well. This contributes to businesses reducing the cost of and need for multiple machines.
The M20 equipped with Tennant’s proprietary ec-H2O™ technology uses up to 70 percent less water when compared with conventional scrubbing methods.
ec-H2O™ technology is a globally well-adopted cleaning technology introduced in 2008 and commercialised across Tennant’s family of automated floor scrubbing machines. The technology electrically converts water into an innovative cleaning solution that cleans effectively, saves money and reduces environmental impact* compared to daily floor cleaning chemicals.
Tennant Australia also provided two 5700 walk-behind floor scrubber dryers to Knauf Plasterboard, because of their ability to deliver exceptional cleaning performance and withstand the warehousing and manufacturing environments.
Made to withstand the toughest environments, the 5700’s industrial grade construction features a corrosion-resistant scrub deck and durable polyethylene body and tanks that carry a 10 year warranty.
The 5700 can clean virtually any hard floor surface with a wide range of cleaning heads including disk and cylindrical options, plus its large capacity 114 Litre solution tank and 151 Litre recovery tank save on cleaning time by allowing it to operate longer between empty and fill cycles.
Result
“[Tennant Australia provided a] swift and expedient tender proposal that fitted the needs of the business.“[We] negotiated a national service arrangement to benefit all our Australian sites with Tennant machines.“Tennant’s Territory Manager was a pleasure to deal with as an account manager and has been very diligent in offering his services to ensure a smooth transition.”
* Based on a study by EcoForm™. Visit www.tennantco.com for more information.
Note: since this testimonial has gone to print the 5700 has now been discontinued, the replacement model being T600/T600e.
