Celebrating long-time service

Many of our team members across Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing have recently hit amazing long-time-service milestones. Please join us in celebrating their anniversaries:

Danyal Akhtar – Joseph Ash Group, 15 years’ service

Dan joined us in 2015 just before the move to our new Head Office premises.  He has become an important valuable member of the IT team and always does his best in his role.  The company IT user base are very thankful for his calm and patient resolve when helping them resolve their IT issues.

Zoe Chapman – Joseph Ash Walsall, 10 years’ service

Zoe joined Joseph Ash in 2010 on a part time basis as a sales assistant and carried out prospecting for the MRS part of the business. Zoe has grown within her role over the past 10 years to become the team leader of internal sales for the division. Zoe carries out her role with the upmost enthusiasm daily and has become an integral part of the sales team at the Walsall division. Zoe has developed an excellent knowledge base and successfully leads the internal team with a passion to ensure the job is always done to the highest standard.

Paul Hudson – Joseph Ash Walsall, 25 years’ service

Paul joined Arkinstall Galvanising in March 1995 as a Production Manager before progressing into sales. With the acquisition of their MRS business by Joseph Ash in December 2013, Paul transferred over to the Walsall plant as our Sales Manager. Having worked within the industry for 25 years, bringing a wealth of experience with him, it’s no surprise that he now leads the sales team at Walsall – who have been absolutely instrumental in the success of the Walsall division over the past six years.

Paul is a well-liked and respected member of Joseph Ash Walsall and his naturally friendly personality has led to the development of many lasting relationships with key customers. We are hoping that Paul will be with us for a good few years yet, and able to continue to be a successful part of our team.

Maciej Gadzinowski – Joseph Ash Bridgend, 10 years’ service
Maciej is a key member of our team at Bridgend. His main role is jigging, where his knowledge is second to none. He has an impressive eye for detail which has enabled him to prevent countless accidents by identifying missed vent and drainage holes in steel before it is galvanized. Becuase of this, he often assists in the yard where possible, ensuring pre galvanizing items are adequately drilled and suitable for processing.  

John Moat – Premier Galvanizing Hull, 15 years’ service
Steve Moat – Premier Galvanizing Hull, 15 years’ service
The brothers celebrate 15 years loyal service with us and have seen the business change and evolve considerably. Both have represented hockey at international level and are now involved with coaching the next generation.

Mike Whitehurst – Premier Galvanizing Hull, 20 years’ service
Mike started with us in April 2000 and is the last remaining employee from the original team at Premier Galvanizing. He has a customer facing role within the yard team and has formed strong customer relations. He continues to be a highly regarded, loyal and reliable member of the team.

Anthony Payton – Joseph Ash Bilston, 15 years’ service

In the run-up to the COVID-19 lockdown, it was a tricky time for all businesses making decisions about whether or not to keep operating and having to drastically change ways of working. 

At Joseph Ash we made the decision early to maintain operations at all of our Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing plants as we have an important role to play in the supply chain of essential service companies – from infrastructure to food manufacturing, security and healthcare.

Some of the things we have been most proud to galvanize in the last month include steel products for the NHS. We’ve been galvanizing clinical waste bins and trucks, crash trolleys, steelwork for the temporary Nightingale Hospitals, and sadly a temporary morgue. 

The above pictures show some of the steel railings we galvanized for the Dragon Heart’s Hospital in Cardiff on behalf of fabricators W Hare Ltd, as well as steel for an emergency extension to an oxygen tank facility at St. Thomas’s Hospital in London on behalf of SWF Ltd. (More photos can be seen in our Photo Gallery.)

Whilst the safety of our team members and customers is always our top priority (see our news story), we’re glad to be continuing with operations, enabling us to support essential services, and hopefully do our bit to keep the economy going.

Epidemic health and safety policy provides safety for employees and customers at Joseph Ash Galvanizing.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic began to affect us in the UK, Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing plants have remained opened. This is because it’s critical to maintain operations for essential service companies who rely on us as part of their supply chain.

As we are open, we have written and implemented a new epidemic health and safety policy with the goal of keeping our employees – and any customers and suppliers who visit our site – safe and well. You can read the new policy here.

Health and safety has always been of paramount importance to Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing, and it’s something we’ve been recognised for year-on-year with many RoSPA awards. Therefore the epidemic policy is very important to us. If you are a customer or a supplier who needs to visit one of our plants, or meet with one of our operatives or delivery drivers, we hope you find this new policy useful and comforting as it demonstrates we are doing everything we can to keep our plants safe.

Please get in touch with our Health and Safety Manager – Chris Gibson – should you have any questions or concerns.

COVID-19 – An update from Steven Hopkins, Group MD.

Dear Friends, Colleagues and Partners,

On Monday evening the Government issued stringent guidelines about the need for everyone to stay at home, including a request for employees to work from home unless it’s impossible to do so. Following the broadcast, many businesses – who cannot operate from home – temporarily closed until such time as the rules are relaxed.

After the announcement, the Joseph Ash Group (including Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing) took the decision to keep our plants open. This is because it is critical to maintain operations for the companies carrying out essential services, who rely on us as part of their supply chain.

For example, in the last few days and over the next few weeks we have the following steelwork booked into our plants:

• Motorway barriers and road infrastructure components
• Food manufacturing walkways
• Steelwork for the temporary NHS Nightingale Hospital (Excel Centre), other medical buildings and sadly a temporary morgue
• Gas mains, sewage works and oil pumping components
• Clinical waste bins and trucks
• Security fencing and security bollards
• Works we are undertaking on Project Mensa which is critical to maintaining the country’s nuclear defence capability, as we are the UK’s only ‘Fit for Nuclear’ approved galvanizing company.

The safety of our team members and customers is our top priority, therefore please be assured that whilst we are operating, we are adhering to the Government’s strict and necessary guidelines about social distancing and hygiene.

To minimise the numbers of people at the plants, all team members who are able to work from home are doing so, and they have been equipped with the necessary IT and communications tools to allow them to work remotely.

If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch.

We hope you and your friends, families and colleagues keep safe and well during this difficult time.

Steven Hopkins
Managing Director
Joseph Ash Group

Dear Friends, Customers, Colleagues and Partners,

As the news about COVID-19 develops day-by-day and we’re having to adapt our work and home lives I thought I’d share an update about Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Premier Galvanizing.

The good news is… it’s business-as-usual (mostly).

So far our workforce of 570-odd people has been relatively unaffected, with no-one ill yet. This is great news, but maybe I should be touching wood, as realistically (and sadly), we’re likely to see some sickness soon.

Because everyone’s health and safety is our primary concern and we want to do our bit to limit the spread of the virus, we have made some changes to the way we work. These are outlined below:

• Under normal circumstances, we’re a company that likes to visit customers. It is not appropriate for us to do this right now however, so we’ll be keeping in touch with you via telephone and email. The only times we’ll visit is when we collect and deliver steel, or at your specific request – for example if you need some advice about venting. During these meetings our team members will respectfully not shake hands, they’ll decline drinks, they’ll maximise personal space, and they’ll minimise contact with surfaces and equipment, whilst getting the job done quickly and efficiently.
  
• We’re also following these procedures internally as well by keeping visits between our nine sites to a mimimum. We’re also conducting meetings by Skype and Facetime to avoid gatherings. And when we must gather, hand gel is used, maximum space between everyone is encouraged, we’re not touching each other’s possessions and we’re not sharing food. This applies in our mess rooms as much as our offices. Everyone has also stopped shaking hands.
  
• We have doubled our efforts on hygiene by deep cleaning the kitchens and toilets to prevent opportunities for germs/bacteria to settle and breed. All cloth towels and tea towels have been replaced by disposable paper ones and we’ve been lucky enough to secure a large amount of anti-bacterial wipes for all divisions. We’ve also distributed 62 wall-mounted automatic sanitiser units to all plants, and supplied all team members with individual pocket-sized hand sanitiser bottles. (Lovingly filled and distributed by some of our team members at Head Office.)

• In terms of travel and transport, all business flights have been banned, and car sharing is being avoided where possible. Procedures have also been put in place for receiving goods and dealing with visitors safely.
  
• To maintain smooth operations, we’ve ordered a tad more zinc in case of supply difficulties, we’ve arranged kettle maintenance back-up, and we’ve ordered a supply of laptops for those who have to self-isolate and work from home.
  
• Finally, and most importantly… we’ve sent our pregnant ladies home!

So, all in all, I think we are in a good place to ride out the storm, and continue to provide you with a great service and the best metal finishing quality available in the UK. We want to do our bit to keep the economy moving and we don’t believe that any plant closure will become necessary. No doubt we will have our share of temporary absences but, logically, our capacity is likely to flex similarly to that of our customers.

If you have any concerns – or if you fancy someone new to talk to during periods of self-isolation – please get in touch.

In the meantime, we wish you and your families a quick recovery from whatever Nature throws at you.

Kindest regards,

Steven Hopkins

Joseph Ash Group MD

Team members at head office doing their bit to help fight Covid-19.

It’s been all hands to the pump at Joseph Ash Galvanizing today as team members from Head Office have been racing to fill bottles with alcohol hand sanitiser. The pocket-sized bottles will be distributed to all members of staff in our offices and at the plants in a bid to try and keep everyone as safe as possible from the Coronavirus.

In the photo you can see Trish Facer (left) and Wilma Da Fonseca (right) from our accounts department filling and closing the bottles. We’re not quite sure how many they have bottled yet, but they are getting through a fair few!

Good job!

Meet Fin the Fish, a magnificent sculpture commissioned by Yorkshire Water and the University of Hull to showcase the growing problem of plastic pollution in our seas.

Built by Godbold Blacksmiths Ltd and hot dip galvanized by Premier Galvanizing Hull (part of the Joseph Ash Group), Fin the Fish acts as a receptacle for used plastic and is part of the ‘Do your bit’ campaign which encourages people to recycle plastic, reduce plastic use, and consequently make small efforts to look after the environment.

Originally installed at Scarborough’s South Bay last Summer to entice beach goers to clean up the beach, Fin is now spending his winter months at The Deep in Hull.

Fin’s Summer months proved successful. In just eight weeks, the public fed him over 6000 plastic bottles, which Scarborough Council recycled. The sheer number of bottles highlighted just how much plastic is used on a daily basis and encouraged people to think about how widespread plastic pollution is, and how much damage it causes to our marine ecosystem.

Yorkshire Water and the University of Hull are hoping Fin will have the same effect on the residents of Hull. To measure the success, local firm Biffa will record how much plastic is fed to Fin on a weekly basis, emphasising just how much plastic could have instead (possibly) entered the water courses.

As reported in an article by Yorkshirewater.com: “The University of Hull Energy and Environment Institute is researching solutions to some of the biggest environmental challenges facing the world today, from climate change and plastics to flooding and renewable energy.

Professor Dan Parsons, Director of the Institute, said: “The world has woken up to the critical issue of plastic pollution in our oceans, which is a growing challenge and is having devastating consequences for marine environments both globally and off our Yorkshire coastline.”

Fin the Fish was fabricated from steel, is 5m long and weighs 700kg.

To protect the sculpture from the elements and prevent it from rusting – especially in harsh coastal environments – it was sent to Premier Galvanizing Hull for a protective hot dip galvanized finish.

Andrew Tweddle, Commercial Manager at Premier Galvanizing said: “The environment and sustainability is important to Premier Galvanizing and we try to introduce more innovative and environmentally friendly processes at our plants on a daily basis. Because of this, it was an honour to be asked to protect the steel for Fin the Fish.”

Alex Camp, Divisional Manager at Premier Galvanizing Hull said: “We visited Fin when he was first installed at Scarborough in the Summer. It’s quite nice to see him back in Hull though for the Winter months. He has already proved popular with the locals and we’re keen to see what the final plastic count will be when he moves location in April. We hope Fin the Fish makes a difference – no matter how small – in changing the way people think about protecting the environment.”

Welcome to the January 2020 Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter. Hot off the press today!

To read a copy click here.

To receive a copy of the newsletter in your inbox each month, please subscribe. Simply scroll to the bottom of the page and look for the ‘Newsletter Sign-Up’ button.

We’re always looking for interesting articles in the steel industry too! Please feel free to get in touch with your news, and we’ll try to feature it.

In the burning heat of Abu Dhabi, in the shadows of the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, sits a new football training ground called ‘Soccer City’. It’s a facility opened by the Abu Dhabi Sport’s Council to provide world class football training for aspiring players.

Proving that distance should never be a problem, one of our UK customers fabricated fences for the facility. Before the steel made its way to the Middle East, the Company asked Joseph Ash Bilston to galvanise it.

CLD Fencing Systems has been in business since 1969 when it was set up by the Wells family. It is now the largest manufacturer and supplier of rigid mesh fencing systems and security gates in the UK. Still owned by the same family it produces fencing from its facility in Sandbach, Cheshire, and also has offices in London, Sydney and Dubai.

In conjunction with Wallbank Fencing who project managed the job on-site in Abu Dhabi, the Company was tasked with manufacturing different types of bespoke fencing for eight five-a-side pitches for the new state-of-the-art football facility. The requirements of the project needed to be:

• Adaptable.
• Strong and robust.
• Have the ability to separate the eight pitches and prevent balls entering play in other pitches.
• Integral goal mouths to help reduce space in the complex.
• Able to withstand the harsh environment of weather in such a hot location.

As part of the project CLD Fencing Systems manufactured fences ranging from:

• Dulok Sports: a double wire fencing system with twin 8mm horizontal wires offering a strong fencing panel to prevent damage from impact.
• Ball Stop Netting: which provides a low-cost solution to pitch demarcation that can be used to heights of 8m.
• Lockmaster Swing Gates: offering a secure entry and exit system to each pitch.

Protection from the elements

To protect the fences, CLD Fencing Systems asked Joseph Ash Galvanizing to provide them with a galvanised finish. Galvanizing is important because it provides a long-life, low-maintenance corrosion protection which safeguards steel from atmospheric attack, especially in such environmentally harsh locations as the Middle East. Our Bilston plant managed the job and, in total, galvanised about 25 tonnes worth of steel.

Rob Nelson, Divisional Manager at Joseph Ash Bilston said: “As a UK company, we’re regularly galvanising steel for motorways, infrastructure, railways, and buildings up and down the country and it’s great to see our work as we travel. It’s exciting to work on projects that also end up in distant locations too however, so it was great to assist CLD Fencing Systems on this job.”

Stewart Plant, Director of Marketing from CLD Fencing said: “As the fences would end up over 5,000 kilometres away, there was no room for manufacturing error. The project had to be perfect first time. We chose Joseph Ash Galvanizing to protect the steel because we knew they would be a reliable partner and deliver a first-class service.”

Dear Customers,

Happy January! What a year 2019 was! I thought 2018 was politically remarkable, but 2019 topped it by a country mile. The temptation to make caustic remarks about our politicians is irresistible, but in the spirit of a New Year I’m going to try to put all that nonsense behind me and move positively on.

The real surprise is that the economy has not bombed from the uncertainty – we certainly are a resilient nation. A few cracks have appeared, notably in construction where new project starts have slowed, but the galvanizing industry is about 1% up on last year and this must clearly reflect in fabrication too unless there’s been a move away from paint.

The December election outcome seemed to deliver a boost to share prices and Sterling and the optimist in me hopes that investors in construction projects will sound a huge collective sigh of relief and start pressing buttons in 2020. Oh, how we’ve all earned it. Apart from the stress caused by the politics, at Joseph Ash we’ve had two bouts of carrying extra zinc stocks to protect against potential problems at the ports in March and last October, soaking up large amounts of working capital for what turned out to be nothing.

I am pretty happy with Joseph Ash Group’s performance in 2019. We completed several important projects, notably a new roof in Sittingbourne and semi-automation of the production line at Hull and, more importantly, made much progress towards eliminating the risk of jigs being accidentally unhooked from cranes, a low-probability but high-impact hazard of our industry (and I guess many others). We have also strengthened our management team, especially in Safety, and largely stabilised our work forces following a wave of European workers losing confidence in the country in mid-late 2018.

About a year ago we set ourselves the target of becoming the absolute stand-out galvanizer for quality in the UK before the end of 2019, by tweaking our chemical and metallurgical formulae and strengthening our practises and procedures. I have been delighted by the results and I hope that you have noted the difference.

We undertook several interesting galvanizing projects in 2019 too, notably a project to rebuild a hurricane damaged school in Tortola, a new clubhouse for a garden community in Brent, a showcase of galvanizing and powder coating in a huge installation at Clerkenwell Design Week, and some beautiful sculptures for some amazing artists. The linked pictures illustrate some of that quality I am so proud of. We also continued to work hard on developing the skills of our people, eight of which gained qualifications at LMI 3 and 5 levels this year, and we were granted ‘Fit 4 Nuclear’ status (the first galvaniser in the UK to be accredited for the nuclear supply chain).

None of this progress is possible without the commitment of an excellent team and the support of you the customer. We are fortunate to have a very loyal base of customers that we are proud to consider partners and friends.

I wish you, your colleagues and your families a wonderful start to 2020 and happiness for this new decade!

Steven Hopkins, Managing Director