Underfloor cable trunking system

The Robert Bosch Australian headquarters in Clayton, Victoria, is an extensive campus of many buildings varying in age between 10 and 50 years that's seen considerable changes in size, function and technologies over the decades. Such a history emphasises the importance of flexibility within the buildings and this is apparent in Bosch's choice in wiring reticulation.

The complex was historically manufacturing-oriented, but as manufacturing progressively moved offshore, the complex transitioned to development and engineering activities. To service these transitions, many production buildings were converted to offices with infrastructure catering for their dynamics. Daniel Stalder, manager of technical building services at Bosch explains: "We have contractors onsite two-and-a-half days every week just moving staff around, sometimes moving entire departments at short notice. So we must have processes in place and flexibility in our building services to deal with it.

"One of the smartest things we did was install Crosstrack flooring in some buildings when converting them to offices. It's a low-profile wiring trunking system that can handle all our power, data and phone cabling. It goes straight onto the slab floor and then the cabling is quickly roughed in. The timber deck is strong enough to support the partitions — they're installed onto the flooring, speeding up the fitout. Because we can access it easily after staff move in, we can promptly facilitate any changes."

These transformations have historically been challenging and time consuming, but Crosstrack, which the Bosch building services staff discovered three years ago at a trade show, has simplified fitouts and made administration staff movement much easier.

"We used to run cabling above the ceiling and down service poles to desks," recalls Stalder. "But that was very inflexible. Staff are constantly being moved around, but we were restricted with desk layouts by the service pole locations, which in themselves were unsightly. It was also very disruptive because ceiling tiles were removed, tradespeople brought in ladders, office areas were cordoned off and workers couldn't use their desks while this happened. And of course, there was always the dust left behind in people's work space.

"Once we started using Crosstrack, these problems disappeared. The office dynamics didn't change, but we can now move furniture anywhere we need to, without service pole restrictions, without ceiling tile removal, without ladders and with minimal disruption to staff. Another advantage is that Crosstrack modules are 600 x 600 mm, whereas our carpet tiles are 500 x 500 mm, so there's no risk of combined edges accentuating any variances in floor height, so the overall flooring is smoother and safer. And because the flooring system is so shallow, transition ramps between common areas like entrances and stairs are negligible."

According to its designer Michael Boyd, Crosstrack is designed for optimal cable capacity, providing the greatest duct volume possible with the least intrusion into the floorspace envelope, keeping the trunking modules as shallow as possible. Areas like the Bosch call response centre have very high cable densities, but these were adequately catered for by Crosstrack, with sufficient capacity to route future cables via adjacent channels. The channels also support zone cabling, with provision for mounting MUTOs under the floor.

In the recent conversion of the 'Ceramics' production facility into an office, Crosstrack was glued to the floor of the cleared building. The adhesive also served to level the floor, so undulations in the slab didn't pose any problem in the fitout. The trunking modules were laid in just a couple of days, with the room ready for partition installation much faster than anticipated.

Stalder summarises the benefits of Crosstrack to Bosch: "We've been responding much quicker and more cost effectively to the constant requests for changes since we've been using Crosstrack. But the biggest advantage is that it can be installed virtually anywhere in our facility, since it only occupies 80 mm of height. We considered pedestal-style computer flooring, which would have provided the same flexibility, but its greater cost made it undesirable and its greater height would have made it impossible to use in most locations. We install Crosstrack as we set up more offices, but if I had my way, we'd install it right throughout the entire complex."

For further information visit www.crosstrack.com.au