The Boss is Coming! When a CEO only gives 48 hours notice of an inspection visit, how can a facility restore normal to damaged displays and fixtures before he arrives?
It’s normal that when someone plans a visit, we tidy up to make a favorable impression. When the person visiting is a CEO, additional effort to make everything sparkle happens PDQ! A retail client requested an emergency job to refresh the high gloss bamboo finish on all display fixtures and wall bays for a last minute CEO visit. The client had only 48 hours notice, and provided only 1 night to be onsite and finish the entire work scope.
Scope of Work
- Repair areas of veneer damage including scuffed and scratched baseboards, white lacquered shelves.
- Remove finish on stand alone display tables.
- Repair minor scratches and blemishes in the finish on numerous areas on all fixtures.
Challenges
The constraints of the project include:
- Gauges existed in the veneer down to the plywood.
- Burn in Epoxy repairs had to be performed on a vertical surface.
- Matching the color with both the epoxy stick and staining markers to match the fixture color.
- Repairing scuffs on shelfs with out repainting.
- Client gave less then 24 hours notice to be onsite and completely finish project in one night.
Solutions
- Damaged areas were filled with burn-in epoxy sticks, melted with the flat blade heating torch. Once the void was filled, stain markers were used to faux finish the grain appearance to match the veneer finish. The entire area was then sealed with waterborne lacquer matched to the sheen of the rest of the fixture.
- Burn-in epoxy repairs are traditionally performed on horizontal surfaces. However, in this situation the wall bays were mounted into the walls. The solution was to build a shelf below the damaged area, dripping epoxy onto it and the veneer surface. The dam was then removed and smoothed upwards into the voided area. After much finesse, the fill was leveled to its surroundings.
- To properly match the color with both the epoxy stick and staining markers required the proficiency of a technician with knowledge of color theory and matching techniques. A kit was provided to the technician containing a large variety of epoxy sticks and staining markers with which to work.
- The restricted project deadline prohibited painting of scuffed shelves. Therefore, an electrical buffing wheel with polishing compound as used, followed by the use of Magic Erasers and Armor-All to polish out blemishes.
- Project management scheduled technicians in rotating shifts to accommodate the rapid project turnaround.
It should be normal that you can depend on your vendor partners in a pinch. Resicom understood the importance of the impending visit and worked quickly to devise options for project solutions and to accommodate scheduling.