An automotive manufacturing plant in Tennessee needed to add a second paint line inside its existing paint shop. Paint booths, ovens, decks and any area a car would go through during the painting process would need to be deep cleaned after the new equipment was installed and prior to running paint trials or full production.
This section of the plant, which was approximately 150,000 square feet in size, had not been deep cleaned since production began in 2011. The scope of work for this project was outside of the normal range of work for the equipment installation contractor at this plant, requiring a subcontractor that could provide the systematic problem-solving capabilities and trained labor force to complete the project on time and within budget.
Solution
The equipment-installation contractor has come to depend on MPW Industrial Services for its competitive pricing and quality of work at multiple sites. MPW Facility & Environmental Services managers created a grid layout and coordinated teams to clean assigned zones, eliminating unnecessary congestion and confusion.
After each zone was cleaned, MPW managers inspected the area with representatives from the paint department as well as the equipment-installation contractor. MPW would not consider the project completed until every zone was cleaned to the strict specifications and standards of plant personnel and its own managers.
High-pressure water blasting was not an option as the paint shop is a dry booth system, so MPW technicians used vacuums and wipe-by-hand techniques. For the most part, equipment usage included only mechanical lifts.
Results
MPW completed the project precisely according to its plan and with zero safety incidents.
While other facility and industrial cleaning contractors routinely operate with larger crews on deep-cleaning projects of this scope, MPW has found that smaller crews are more efficient because they limit congestion, which improves efficency. Additionally, MPW’s smaller crews limit labor costs to the original contractor and in turn, the plant.
Plant personnel remarked that the MPW crews were thoroughly impressive, consistently exceeding expectations with regard to appearance, professionalism and efficiency.