Stonhard Floors Help World’s First LEED Platinum Snack Food Manufacturing Plant Achieve Performance and Sustainability Goals

Shearer’s Foods has produced some of America’s favorite snack foods, including potato chips, pretzels, pork rinds and tortilla chips, since 1974. Much of Shearer’s success is due to the company’s commitment to excellence. In recent years, they have placed a heavy emphasis on sustainability and the environment.

In 2009, when the company undertook constructing the world’s first ever LEED Platinum certified snack food manufacturing facility, Stonhard had flooring products that met the requirements for both performance and sustainability. The new plant, located in Massillon, OH, would house a massive potato chip production operation, and planners on the project had very specific concerns for the floors that would outfit these areas.

Since oil is used in the manufacture of potato chips, a top concern was employee safety; Shearer’s needed a floor that would remain slip resistant, even when wet or oily, to minimize the risk of slip and fall incidents. The floor would also need to be extremely durable, easy to clean, stain resistant and be able to withstand thermal shock. Shearer’s was also exploring floor options for its offices, labs, locker rooms and break rooms. Here, they needed durable, easy-to-clean, aesthetically pleasing floors that would contribute LEED points to the project.

Although this was a new construction project, Shearer’s was well aware of their flooring options. Previous experience with failed epoxy systems in some of the company’s other locations made them reluctant to consider another epoxy system. However, Stonhard offered them a suggestion: a urethane mortar floor system. Stonhard suggested that Stonclad UT, a system formulated to hold up to the rigors of the food and beverage industry, would be the best option for Shearer’s production areas. The floor would be able to withstand impact, abrasion and temperature extremes, and with the addition of a textured aggregate, would be slip resistant.

Stonhard recommended Stonblend GSI-G for the offices, labs, locker rooms and break rooms at Shearer’s. Stonblend GSI-G is a long-wearing, stain-resistant, decorative floor system that incorporates recycled glass chips into its composition. Because it uses recycled materials, Stonblend GSI-G contributes to LEED points. Additional LEED points could be accumulated because Stonhard’s products are low-VOC emitting and become a permanent part of the building’s structure, eliminating the future need to remove and cause landfill waste. 

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Installation of the new floors began over Thanksgiving weekend of 2010. Because of the demanding schedule, Stonhard was required to work second shift around multiple contractors and had to carefully coordinate heat, lighting and power to ensure optimal work and floor cure conditions. In all, Stonhard installed 40,000 square feet of Stonclad UT in Shearer’s production areas. Cove bases formed an integral, seamless transition between the floor and wall, making for easier cleanability. In the locker rooms, break rooms, offices and labs, Stonhard installed nearly 6,000 square feet of the Stonblend GSI-G system. Additionally, Stonhard used Stonclad UT mortar and Stonset TG6 grout to build custom pads for equipment legs to be placed.

Shearer’s is extremely happy with the results of their new Stonhard floors. Management reported high level of satisfaction with how the floors withstood construction and operations traffic. The company is confident that the new floors will continue to live up to their expectations and is considering standardizing all of their facilities with Stonhard products, relying on Stonhard’s single-source warranty to guarantee the satisfaction of their floors, whether they’re in an office in Ohio or in a production plant in Texas.

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