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Industry

Industry flooring

Forbo Flooring Systems is an international market leader with a wealth of experience in providing ESD and cleanroom flooring.

Sphera EC 450000 white

Industry

Keep the environment under control

Forbo Flooring Systems is an international market leader with a wealth of experience in ESD and cleanroom flooring. Whether it concerns ESD safety, chemical resistance, dynamic load capacity, explosion hazard or extremely low emissions, Forbo Flooring Systems offers a range of ESD and cleanroom flooring solutions which can serve the highest demands and requirements of controlled environments.

Colorex

Spaces

Spaces in Industry

  • Colorex EC

    Electronic industry

    Electrostatic dissipative flooring

    Electronic industry

    Reducing the generation of electrostatic charges is the main purpose of control measures in ESD protected areas (EPA). In such areas as electronics assembly, mechatronics and data centres, the right floor covering plays a crucial role. It not only drains electrostatic charges from personnel and equipment, but it also reduces the generation of charges where they occur, at the interface between the shoe soles and the floor.

  • Colorex EC-2

    Life sciences

    Protect your products

    Life sciences

    n ISO standard cleanroom environments in the pharmaceutical, life sciences and manufacturing industries, airborne particles can be a major source of contamination. Not only can they cause yield loss, the particles can also lead to corrosion and product degradation. ISO standards and cGMP regulations for air purity require complaince by presenting consistent results that can be verified on a regular basis.

    Because of these requirements, we recommend our Colorex and Sphera SD/EC ranges. Suitable products are Colorex SD, Colorex EC, Colorex Plus EC, Sphera SD and Sphera EC.

  • Colorex Plus Quartz

    Automotive

    Keep the environment under control

    Automotive

    Advancing in-car technology must be matched by even greater control of contamination and static discharge in the manufacturing environment. Whether you are a chip manufacturer, a tier 1 component manufacturer or an OEM manufacturer, we have the right floor covering that will protect your product and profit.

    For this segment, we recommend our Colorex and Sphera SD | EC ranges of static control flooring. There are conductive and static dissapative options along with a Plus collection that is ideal where downtime or sub floor repairs are an issue.

  • Colorex

    General industry

    Suitable for the toughest settings

    General industry

    Industrial environments present their own flooring issues, particularly in areas with high wear and tear. Our Colorex high performance floor covering systems are designed for all industrial areas, including the toughest of settings. Cut from a homogeneous, solid block of highly compressed material they have a high vinyl content and a well balanced amount of mineral filler for optimum performance.

  • Flotex linear stratus and cirrus combined

    General areas

    Every solution, one supplier

    General areas

    Within most industrial sites or factories, there will be areas requiring general flooring such as offices or corridors and areas requiring flooring with specialist features such as entrances, areas with slip risk or areas where acoustics may be an issue. Forbo has a solution for all of these areas.

Products

Products to use in Industry

Colorex SD - static dissipative

Colorex SD is a static dissipative homogeneous floor covering in tile format with permanent ESD properties. Because of the dense network of dissipative veins, static charges flow easily through the floor to earth. Colorex SD tiles can withstand the most demanding conditions and offer a perfect solution for highly sensitive areas such as cleanrooms, and for demanding production sites in the electronics, life sciences and manufacturing industry.
Go to the Colorex SD collection

Colorex SD 150201 cleanroom
Colorec EC 250201 Everest

Colorex EC - electrostatic conductive

Colorex EC is an electrostatic conductive floor covering in tile format with permanent ESD properties. With Colorex EC, static charges flow easily through the dense network of tiny conductive veins that run through the whole thickness of the tile. The charge is transmitted via the conductive adhesive and securely discharged to earth via the copper strip. It’s a completely natural system that needs no volatile chemical anti-static additives to aid conductivity. The conductivity is not affected by changes in temperature or humidity
Go to the Colorex EC collection

Colorex Plus

Colorex Plus is a high performance floor covering system consisting of adhesive free tiles for all application areas where expensive subfloor preparation or downtime is an issue. Colorex Plus can be installed without disruption of activities and it can be used immediately after installation, even by fork lift trucks. Colorex Plus is available as electrostatic conductive (EC) option, a basic option and a slip-resistant option (R10).
Go to the Colorex Plus collection

Colorex Plus
Sphera SD 550000 550049

Sphera SD - static dissipative

Sphera SD is a homogeneous vinyl floor covering with static dissipative properties. To ensure consistent, reliable performance, dissipative chips have been added. The clean sabbia embossing structure provides an easy to clean, mat surface.
Go to the Sphera SD collection

Sphera EC - electrostatic conductive

Sphera EC is a homogeneous vinyl flooring with electrostatic conductive properties. To ensure consistent, reliable performance, carbon black chips have been added. The marbled design chips soften the appearance and provide an authentic look.
Go to the Sphera EC collection

Sphera EC 45000
Marmoleum Ohmex

Marmoleum Ohmex - electrical conductivity

Marmoleum Ohmex is a conductive linoleum floor covering that combines excellent sustainability with enhanced electrical resistance (< 1-108 Ω (in accordance with EN1081).

This ensures personal safety and protects equipment that is sensitive to static electricity, such as computers and other electronic devices.

Marmoleum Ohmex is made of natural raw materials which makes it a very sustainable conductive flooring choice.
Go to the Marmoleum Ohmex collection

Step Safety Vinyl

Safety vinyl can be used wherever people work or go about their daily business as slip resistance is a key consideration in the creation of safe working and public environments. The new Forbo Step collection combines outstanding slip-resistant properties with differentiated aesthetics and, through the use of new ‘Step Crystals’, each colourway offers a clean, fresh look and improved cleaning and maintenance properties.
Go to the Step Safety Vinyl collection

Step safety vinyl
City office Venlo

Marmoleum – linoleum sheet and tile

Our Marmoleum floor coverings are natural floors associated with sustainability, durability, high quality and innovative design, which makes Marmoleum an ideal floor covering for Public buildings.

Marmoleum is made from natural raw materials and is the most sustainable flooring choice. It is a CO2 neutral produced floor covering, measured from cradle to gate. The more than 300 colours & designs allow for beautiful, colourful floor designs.

All Marmoleum floors have a Topshield pro finish, meaning they are scratch and scuff resistant. This makes Marmoleun an easy to maintain flooring with long-lasting appearance retention. Go to the Marmoleum collection

Flotex – flocked flooring

Flotex flocked flooring is the perfect solution for offices where foot traffic and movement of chairs requires a durable floor covering. It is slip resistant, comfortable and has an excellent sound absorbency up to 20dB. Flotex is available in a wide range of colours and stimulating designs and is offered in a sheet, tile and plank format. Flotex also holds the Allergy UK Seal of Approval and it contains up to 52% recycled content.
Go to the Flotex collection

Flotex Linear Cirrus
Tessera

Tessera – carpet tiles

Today's modern office environments with open office systems are designed for and associated with flexibility, to accomodate frequent layout changes. A modular flooring system such as carpet tiles can be quickly adapted to changing needs, reducing the costs of reorganisation and allowing for greater design flexibility

Tessera has a wide range of multi-construction carpet tiles. Various formats are available including planks and XL tiles enabling creative floor design. It reduces impact noise to up to 30dB. Random lay ranges are available, reducing installation waste to 2%.
Go to the Tessera collection

Allura – luxury vinyl tiles

Are you looking for the aesthetics of natural wood and stone floors with the advantages of strong and comfortable vinyl tiles? Explore our Allura LVT collections. Warm underfoot, excellent dimensional stability, easy installation and maintenance. We offer our LVT designs in several constructions to make sure there is always a suitable choice for your application.
Go to the Allura collection

The Gem
Nuway Grid Wellington Academy

Nuway & Coral - entrance systems

By keeping out dirt and moisture at the entrance, cleaning costs can be cut by up to 65%. Our Nuway collection is the recognized market leader in engineered entrance flooring systems. Nuway entrance systems provide an outstanding first line of defense against soil and moisture entering a building on the soles of shoes and the treads of wheeled traffic. It helps to keep your interior floor coverings dryer and cleaner whilst also preventing slips. Nuway Tuftigard HD is Forbo's entrance system designed to withstand intense traffic or high point loads up to 900kg/cm ².

Our Coral collection has been the market leading, textile entrance flooring brand for 50 years. It offers more choice than ever before with attractive and sustainable clean-off systems and is available in styles and constructions to suit all applications, budgets and aesthetic requirements. Coral entrance floors can prolong the life of your floor as well as greatly reduce cleaning costs and the risk of slipping.
Go to the entrance systems collection

What is ESD?

Electro Static Discharge

ESD is the abbreviation for Electro Static Discharge. It can be described as the sudden flow of electrons from one surface or human being to another surface or human being. This takes place when the materials return to their neutral or uncharged state. It can be seen as a miniature spark which passes from one electrostatically charged surface to another surface.

What most people don’t realize about electrostatic discharge (ESD) is that it can create damage without being noted. This invisible phenomenon can for example damage electronic devices or components, and can have crucial consequences. In order to be able to prevent or control Electro Static Discharge, it's important to understand how it occurs and what you can do to prevent or control it.

How does ESD occur?

The cause of ESD is static electricity. Static electricity can be generated through various phenomena. Electrostatic charge is the buildup of charge between two surfaces and is most commonly created by the contact and separation of two surfaces. This is known as tribo electric charging. It arises when two surfaces rub together. Neutral surfaces have as many negative as positive electrons. During contact, charged electrons (-) flow from one surface to the other.

When the surfaces are being separated, electrons will be extracted from one surface and remain on the other surface. The surfaces now have a potential difference: an opposite electrostatic charge. It depends on the place in the tribo-electric range which material or surface becomes positively charged and which becomes negatively charged. When two surfaces with potential difference come near each other, they can transfer charge to get back to their neutral state. This transfer of charge is also known as electrostatic discharge. Charged materials will by nature look for an electrostatic discharge to return to their neutral state, with an even amount of electrons (-) and protrons (+).

What is ESD?
Microchip

The risks of ESD

Even though a discharge might be imperceptible, it can cause large-scale damage. In the world of ESD, there are three risk areas defined:

Degradation of sensitive electronic components
The discharge can damage the electrical path in for example a chip. When a microscopically small wire is broken, the chip will not function anymore. For a manufacturer it means that production yields reduce. This damage by discharge is also known as a catastrophic failure.

Detoration of production or working conditions
Electrostatic charges can also cause problems in production processes and working environments by upsetting the normal operation of an electronic system, causing equipment malfunction or failure.

Trigger for explosions
In areas with inflammable gasses, ammunition or high concentrations of dust, ESD can be a trigger for an explosion. This is because an electrostatic discharge is accompanied by a miniature spark, which can trigger an explosion.

More information:

Under control

Keep the environment under control

Unwanted ESD events can be prevented by restoring the balance of negative (-) and positive (+) ions in a controlled way. One of the methods to return the charged surface to neutral state, is by using ESD protective equipment like ESD flooring. Specific ESD flooring limits the electrostatic charging of e.g. materials and people. It also ensures that when materials get charged, the charge is discharged and grounded from the people through the conductive shoes to the floor in a controlled way.

Forbo Flooring Systems offers a range of ESD and cleanroom flooring solutions which can serve the highest demands and requirements of controlled environments. For example in critical industrial environments where ESD can cause large scale damage, a flooring solution with permanent ESD properties can help to avoid costs from product failure, processing issues, equipment malfunction or hygienic problems. The floor can contribute to the prevention of unwanted electrostatic build-up and discharges. A floor can also help to keep a controlled environment clean by limiting the particle and TVOC emission from the floor covering.

ESD & cleanroom flooring solutions can also be part of ensuring a safe environment in sensitive healthcare facilities and areas. Static discharges can be unpleasant for patients and employees and sensitive medical devices can be negatively influenced by static charges. A solution that effectively protects the people and equipment against static events is required. A durable, stain resistant, highly stable and indentation-resistant flooring solution is needed.

All the collections from Forbo that offer a solution for most demanding controlled environments, are bundled in one portfolio, Forbo's "Under Control" portfolio, which refers to what is important to our customers: making sure that everything in the environment is controlled.
Go to the Under Control portfolio

Colorex SD | EC
Colorex SD 150201 cleanroom

What to use where

Choose the right solution

ESD flooring solutions are designed for the use in sectors such as electronics, pharmaceuticals, health, data centres and server rooms. In the table below you can find an overview of what collection to use to meet your project requirements.

Project requirements
Tile or sheetIntensity of loadsESD controlParticle control and cleanroom suitabilityChemical resistanceRepairable solutionSlip resistance
Colorex SDTileExtremePermanent static dissipativeISO class 4ExcellentCan be fully restored and repairedR9
Colorex ECTileExtremePermanent electrostatic conductiveISO class 2ExcellentCan be fully restored and repairedR9
Colorex Plus ECTileHeavyPermanent and consistent electrostatic conductiveISO cless 2ExcellentCan be fully restored and repairedR9
Colorex Plus basicTileHeavyAntistaticISO class 4ExcellentCan be fully restored and repairedR9
Colorex Plus R10TileHeavyAntistaticISO class 6ExcellentPartially restorableR10 - Textured surface for enhanced slip resistance
Sphera SDSheetModeratePermanent and consistent static dissipativeISO class 6Very good-R9
Sphera ECSheetModeratePermanent and consistent electrostatic conductiveISO class 5Very good-R9
Marmoleum OhmexSheetModerateStatic dissipative with relative humidity > 40%-Good-R9

Application areas

Colorex EC & Sphera EC
ESD facilities, ISO standard cleanrooms, pharmaceutical laboratories, production sites and operating theatres.

Colorex SD & Sphera SD
New build laboratories, ISO standard cleanrooms, pharmaceutical laboratories, production sites, server rooms, data centres and operating theatres.

Colorex Plus EC
Renovation of ESD facilities, ISO standard cleanrooms, pharmaceutical laboratories and production sites. Suitable when down time, damp floors or poor subfloors are an issue.

Colorex Plus R10
The textured surface gives enhanced slip restistance (R10) and is ideal for use in areas where there is a risk of contamination of the floor for example through powder and water spillage on production sites (electronics, manufacturing, life sciences)

Colorex Plus Basic
Shops, stores, warehouses. Areas with high traffic needing daily intensive cleaning. Suitable when down time, damp floors, or poor subfloors are an issue.

Marmoleum Ohmex
Suitable for use in areas with sensitive equipment like computer and server rooms.

Environment

Creating better environments

We constantly strive to produce sustainable flooring systems that create better environments everywhere. At the same time we help take care of the natural environment through our commitment to sustainable development, responsible raw material procurement and manufacturing processes. Our Colorex and Sphera collections are manufactured using 100% green electricity and are REACH compliant.

Go to the Colorex and Sphera collection

How it's made

• Of all the electricity we buy, 100% comes from renewable sources. This means all our vinyl production sites, including our Colorex & Sphera plants, are part of an effective environmental management system and achieve ISO14001 certification.

• Sphera SD | EC is phthalate free and produced in a zero-waste environment.

How it performs

• The low plasticiser content ensures low emissions and outgassing.

• The surface of Colorex can be fully repaired, extending the useful life of the product. Deep scratches, holes, burns or other surface damage can be easily and effectively repaired, without leaving any trace or affecting the original characteristics of the floor. This genuine, 100% repairable surface is unique to Colorex and something that no other flooring system can promise.

FloorVisualizer

FloorVisualizer

To create your floor and make up your mind what would fit best we have several tools and services. Our FloorVisualizer helps you to place our floors in any environment, and even combine them, so you can see how it looks.
Start playing with our FloorVisualizer

Forbo FloorVisualizer Office smartphone

Get inspired by our references

Many Industry environments worldwide are using Forbo floor coverings. Visit our reference section and get inspired by worldwide reference projects.
Explore our Industry references

renex

The projects we love: 5 Items

Colorex SD 150201 everest | cleanroom
Colorex SD150205 Adula SD150201 Everest SD150237 Amazonas
Colorex_SD150206_SD150231
Sphera EC 450000 & EC 450050
Sphera EC 450007 grey sky

Global player

Global partnerships

The responsibility for forging global partnerships with key clients is entrusted to our most experienced Key Account Managers. Dedicated to customer care, their only remit is to ensure that Forbo delivers a flooring solution that is ideally suited to your needs.

• We can supply international quotations and have experience with international order processes and local regulations
• We manage international logistics
• We have 20 years partnerships with worldwide customers

As a global partner we stand next to you on a local level. Our design team can offer guidance and assistance as required. Our technicians speak the language of the flooring installers and in this way everybody is aligned.

Leading global manufacturer

• Forbo Flooring Systems is part of the Swiss Forbo Group

• Key figures Forbo Group 2019:
> Net sales 1282.2 CHF Mio
> Employees 5.600

• A worldwide presence:
> 25 production facilities and distribution companies
> 6 assembly centers
> 48 pure sales organizations in a total of 38 countries across the globe

• European manufacturer with factories in The United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Russia.

• European logistics and responsiveness

Atalanta International School
Marmoleum human made

Leading in sustainability

We care about you and the environment

• We have received various labels and certification for your products and or production facilities.
• All of our manufacturing sites are ISO certified. Raw materials are used efficiently, waste is recycled whenever possible.
• We are committed to social responsibility, the Forbo sites are certified according to SA8000.

creating better environments

Reliable service

We offer you:
• A sole source of supply for all your flooring requirements
• Local advice, support and cross border project management
• Efficiencies of scale, certainty of supply and rapid delivery

Above all one single contract and one single point of contact to save you time and money.

Forbo Design service
Sales team

Think global, act local

Local teams working with local representatives

Throughout the duration of a project, your Forbo Key Account Manager serves as your single point of contact for any questions, from anywhere in the world.

We believe that this approach saves you time, eliminate hassle and uncertainty and ensures consistency and reliability, no matter how complex your project.