Excellence in Galvanizing
South West Galvanizers has kicked off 2013 in style by completing a major facilities upgrade that will enable it to undertake larger projects as well as improving overall operational efficiency.
The Crediton company has invested over half a million pounds to install a longer galvanising bath at its Lords Meadow Industrial Estate plant. The state-of-the-art tank, which was fitted during the firm’s Christmas shutdown period to minimise disruption for its customers, measures 10.25m long by 1.2m wide by 2.7m deep, offering a significant increase in capacity compared to the previous galvanizing bath.
The enhanced bath will enable South West Galvanizers, which employs 60 staff, to galvanize larger pieces of metalwork, allowing them to provide an improved service to customers in sectors such as construction, steel fabrication, renewable energy, and agriculture. Galvanizing is a process where clean steel is dipped into molten zinc at temperatures of up to 450°C to form a long-lasting protective coating against rust and corrosion.
Tony Wonnacott, General Manager at South West Galvanizers, explained: “This upgrade forms part of our ongoing investment to improve our facilities, ensuring the galvanizing service we provide to our customers is of the highest possible quality. As well as giving us the capacity to handle larger loads, the installation of the new galvanizing bath also incorporated a number of enhancements to the layout of our plant and production line, which is already making a big difference to operational efficiency.
“I’d like to thank the efforts of the equipment manufacturers and our team here, who worked tirelessly to install the new tank over an extremely tight schedule during our Christmas shutdown period. This enabled us to minimise any impact on our customers throughout Devon and further afield, who are already reaping the rewards of the enhanced facilities and will continue to do so in the months to come.”