The Swiss company Conica, a specialist in the development of running tracks in stadiums as well as high-performance floors for buildings such as schools and hospitals for 40 years, has given some thought to the current situation. An interview with Wolfgang Motzer, Product Manager Industrial / Decorative / Parking at Conica AG.

Question:
How do you deal with the situation in your company?

Wolfgang Motzer:
We have moved parts of our administration to the home office and in production we are working with a reduced team. Our logistics continue to function, but supply chain restrictions are possible in the event of a longer pandemic. Our products will be installed globally, for example in large stadiums that are currently not used because of corona. This even offers a certain advantage in terms of installation, as we do not have to keep up with the tightly scheduled schedule of the sports facilities as we have done in the past.

Question:
What else can you do?

Wolfgang Motzer:
We have seriously considered producing disinfectants. Since we are a company that works a lot with chemicals – our floors are manufactured on the basis of polyurethanes and epoxy resins – this would not be a problem for us technically.

Question
So will you produce?

Wolfgang Motzer:
After weighing all the arguments, we decided against it. Ultimately, it’s a question of liability. For example, if a user develops a skin rash after using our disinfectant, he might get the idea of suing us. This risk is too big for us. This would only be possible if the state were to commission us with production in an emergency situation and we were somehow exempted from the liability conditions.

Question:
Do you see other approaches?

Wolfgang Motzer:
For the Conifloor 541 CW sealant of our elastic flooring series CONIFLOOR LPC, we had a test carried out to prove the long-term inhibition of bacterial growth for two reference bacterial strains. This was a requirement in our project in the Olympic Park in Munich.

Question:
But corona is viral, not bacterial.

Wolfgang Motzer:
Correct. First of all, we can continue to work on making our floorings – wherever sensible and feasible – “bacteriostatic” (inhibiting the growth of bacteria) or “antibacterial” (inhibiting the reproduction of bacteria or killing them off). This would have to be brought into line with the European Biocide Regulation and would be a major step. Moreover, our competitors would have the same challenges as we do.
Pneumococcal pneumonia, which also plays a role in the corona context, is bacterial. It is absolutely necessary to prevent patients from jumping from viral to bacterial pneumonia, otherwise their lives might be at risk. It is therefore important to better protect people against bacterial infections.
Legionella are also bacteria. For example, they play a role for the sick building syndrome in large buildings of companies, administration or hospitals equipped with air conditioning systems. We could help to minimize the health risk to the workforce by developing the flooring accordingly.
Our floors are not yet antiviral. This would be a completely new quality, but in view of Corona, we want to do more research into it in the future.

Question:
Does this mean that Corona is already having an impact on your business activities?

Wolfgang Motzer:
Absolutely. Corona will bring us and the entire economy out of it in an unprecedented way, and thus encourage us to draw the right conclusions for the time afterward. For us, this process has already begun.