November 2015 newsletter
The latest issue of the Joseph Ash Galvanizing newsletter has just been issued. Have you received a copy?
If not, click here for a read.
The newsletter contains all the latest news from the past month from Joseph Ash Galvanizing, as well as handy hints and tips about avoiding wet storage stains on steelwork.
If you’d like to receive future newsletters, you can subscribe on the Joseph Ash Galvanizing website.
Remember the do’s and don’ts when storing galvanized steelwork in wet or humid conditions.
With the adverse weather upon us, it’s worth remembering the do’s and don’ts of how to store galvanized steelwork in wet or humid conditions. Whilst the primary function of hot dip galvanizing is to protect the underlying steel from corrosion, aesthetics are still important to Joseph Ash Galvanizing, and to our clients. With this in mind, we’re sharing a document produced by the Galvanizers Association which gives some very helpful tips and advice on avoiding wet storage staining. The document includes the following:
- How wet storage stains form
- The effects of wet storage stains
- Avoiding wet storage stains during storage and transport
- Wet storage stain removal.
You can read the document here.
If you have any questions on this topic, please contact the Joseph Ash Galvanizing Technical Department on 0121 504 2575. We’re always happy to help.
Rhino enclosures: there’s a first for everything at Joseph Ash Galvanizing!
Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo is based in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It was opened in 1988 after being converted from a former dairy farm, and now receives over 400,000 visitors a year.
The park is home to many different types of animals, from lions to penguins and giraffes, and in October 2015 it welcomed two black rhinos to its family.
The rhinos are very rare animals – with fewer than 650 left in the wild – and they have been made welcome at Folly Farm with a brand new rhino enclosure.
The rhino enclosure features a bespoke house that includes four indoor facilities and straw beds for the rhinos to sleep on. The house is called the Kifaru Reserve, and it has separate interlinking rooms for the rhinos, as they are quite solitary creatures, not often enjoying the company of other rhinos.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing and Folly Farm
The new enclosure is a flagship exhibit and an exciting chapter for Folly Farm. It has also been an exciting project for Joseph Ash Galvanizing who was tasked with the job of galvanizing the steel frames for the rhino enclosure.
Folly Farm fabricated the steel frames themselves at their in-house fabrication unit. And Joseph Ash Bridgend and Joseph Ash Telford galvanized the 14 tonnes of steel.
As the local plant to Folly Farm, Joseph Ash Bridgend collected all the steel and galvanized the smaller pieces. The Joseph Ash Telford plant then collected the steel from Bridgend before dipping the larger pieces into their larger galvanizing bath. Once this process was complete, the steel was delivered back to Wales, where the Joseph Ash Bridgend team placed everything onto Joseph Ash Galvanizing trucks and drove it back to Folly Farm.
Folly Farm chose to contract the work to Joseph Ash Galvanizing not only because Joseph Ash Bridgend was local, but also because Joseph Ash Galvanizing provides such a flexible service that not only gets the job done to a premium quality, but also takes all the hassle out of transport and supplier logistics.
Rhinos’ home protected for many years to come
Galvanizing improves the appearance, as well as protects and prolongs the life of steel, so we hope the rhinos will enjoy their new surroundings for many years.
You can find out more about Folly Farm on their website or their Facebook page.
Solihull School unveils a wonderful sculpture by Matthew Lane Sanderson in the grounds of its chapel. Sculpture hot dip galvanized by Joseph Ash Galvanizing.
Solihull School in the Midlands is an independent day school for boys and girls aged between seven and 18. The school moved to its present site in 1882, and has seen many improvements since, with recent developments including a new sports pavilion, PE facilities, additional teaching areas and a dedicated music school. One of the most recent developments at the school was the addition a new Matthew Lane Sanderson sculpture on the forecourt of the school chapel. The School has also just opened a new state of the art Sixth Form Building, complete with innovative teaching and private study areas and a panoramic top floor terrace. This new building will be the site of a second sculpture by Matthew.
The chapel and the sculpture
The school felt that the forecourt to the chapel needed redevelopment, as it was looking bland and tired. In addition, some of the paving had cracked and was a health and safety concern.
It was thought that the area needed a new central focus, and after seeing sculptures at other schools, coupled with a desire to promote art and design across the School, the decision was made to commission a sculptor to produce an eye-catching installation.
The brief that was given to various sculptors included a work of art that would:
- Foster a sense of community – an important part of the School’s ethos
- Celebrate the School’s choral successes and excellence
- Promote the School’s Christian foundation, without the need to have an overt religious figure
- Be a strong image, but not one that was too “abstract”.
Many sculptors expressed an interest in the work, but the School liked Matthew’s ideas and approach.
Matthew Lane Sanderson
Matthew is a renowned Midlands based sculptor who specialises in ‘Big Art’, sculpting large public installations, and smaller private pieces, out of industrial materials.
Matthew set to work on designing and creating the sculpture that now sits on the chapel forecourt. The sculpture is called ‘Conduct’.
‘Conduct’ is 5 metres tall and 3 metres wide, and is stunning.
Joseph Ash Galvanizing is pleased to have played a part in the sculpture’s history as the steel was hot dip galvanized at our Joseph Ash Walsall plant.
Richard Bate, Bursar and Clerk to the Governors at Solihull School said:
“The sculpture has helped transform the chapel forecourt, along with the significant repaving and installation of planters/benching in the area surrounding the sculpture.”
Matthew currently has 50 sculptures displayed permanently across the UK, and regularly uses steel to fabricate his art.
We look forward to following the developments at Solihull School and to seeing more of Matthew’s work at our plants.
Medway Galvanising Company changes its trading style to Joseph Ash Medway.
In May 2013 Joseph Ash Galvanizing acquired Medway Galvanising Company Ltd in Kent, in order to expand the customer base into the South East. Medway Galvanising Company Ltd (also known as MGC) was a natural fit for Joseph Ash Galvanizing’s acquisition plans due to the location, and the shared values of product quality and customer service.
For the last two years, Medway Galvanising Company Ltd has kept its trading style but we feel that the name is slightly inaccurate given the other services and products that it offers (Powder Coating, Shot Blasting and the much respected Mono Hinge playground gates), and that, given also the large number of former Joseph Ash London customers that it currently services, we might as well bring it into line with our other plants. It is now therefore trading as Joseph Ash Medway.*
This will allow a more joined-up approach to our marketing for both companies, but will not affect customers’ relationship with the company in any way. We hope customers approve of this minor change.
(*Please note this is purely a trading style change, not a legal change to the Medway Galvanising Company Ltd name.)
Ambitious improvement works almost complete!
In December 2014 we announced some exciting new plans and improvements for the Joseph Ash Chesterfield plant. The works included adding another large hardstanding bay to the plant – an area that can house up to 100 trailers – as well as an area where customers can trial erect their fabrications before taking them off-site and delivering them to the end user.
The plans also included the addition of an extra crane gantry area, providing customers with the ability to load their own containers or carry out pre-site assembly or other processes. The gantry area also provides us with the ability to load several customers’ vehicles or containers at a time.
As well as the above developments, we also planned the following:
- Extension of the fork-lift fleet
- Container loading facilities
- MPI crack detection (by prior arrangement)
- Local overnight facilities and changing facilities for truck drivers
- Factory space and offices (up to 1200m2 currently available) suitable for fabrication or assembly
- Offices and telecoms for customer use.
These were ambitious plans, but 10 months on and we are very pleased to report that we’re almost finished with our improvements!
Here are some photos to prove it!
To see the full photo album visit our Facebook or Flickr pages.
If you’d like to visit and see the facilities at Joseph Ash Chesterfield, or if you would like to know more please feel free to contact David Carling – the Chesterfield Divisional Manager on 01246 854650.
Look out for our new ‘Design for Galvanizing Guide’ and handy hints and tips in our upcoming newsletters.
As galvanizers, there are many hints and tips that we regularly share with fabricators, in order for hot dip galvanized steel to achieve the best quality zinc coating. For example, when we galvanize steel on behalf of our customers, it is important that the molten zinc can flow freely over all surfaces, external and internal, and sufficient vent and drain holes are included in the fabrication design.
This information is very useful when designing steel for galvanizing, and will ultimately save time and money in the fabricating and galvanizing process. As such, we’ll soon be launching some handy hints and tips in forthcoming newsletters, and a ‘Design for Galvanizing’ guide. Please look out for these!
We want the guide to be as useful as possible, so if you have any questions about steel design and the hot dip galvanizing process, please contact our Technical Support Team today. Not only will the team respond to your query, but we’ll also include your question and answer in the new guide.
We’ve taken delivery of seven new lorries to help us exceed expectations when it comes to customer collections and deliveries.
The ability to collect and deliver steel from our customers is very important to Joseph Ash Galvanizing. We like to make life as easy as possible for customers and it’s therefore one of the key services of the company. Because of this we are excited to announce that we recently took delivery of some new trucks at some of our plants – Walsall, Bridgend and Medway.
Joseph Ash Bridgend has received one new truck.
Joseph Ash Walsall has received two new trucks.
Joseph Ash Medway has received four new trucks: three new artics and one 7.5 tonne rigid.
These trucks are part of an extensive fleet of lorries that will not only help us to provide an even better collection and delivery service for customers, but should also please our Joseph Ash Galvanizing drivers too!
Contact us today if you have any transport needs for your steel.
Joseph Ash Walsall also receives health and safety certification.
In April 2015 Joseph Ash Bilston was awarded OHSAS 18001, the health and safety accreditation from the British Assessment Bureau. This was in recognition of hard work to continually improve health and safety at the Bilston plant.
In May 2015, Joseph Ash Chesterfield followed suit, and was also awarded OHSAS 18001.
Health and safety has always been of the upmost importance to Joseph Ash Galvanizing, and the aim is for all plants to receive OHSAS 18001.
OHSAS 18001 is important for the following reasons:
- It reduces workplace hazards and boosts employee morale
- It provides a safe environment in which to conduct operations and business
- It is a framework for an occupational health and safety management system
- It minimises the risk of production delays.
We’re pleased to say that the latest plant to receive this excellent accreditation is Joseph Ash Walsall.
Well done to the team at Walsall for this achievement!
Watch this space for OHSAS 18001 at the remaining Joseph Ash Galvanizing plants.
In January 1989, Mandy Filkins joined Medway Galvanising Company – now owned by Joseph Ash Galvanizing. At that time Mandy was part of a small team and was covering roles such as telesales, marketing and secretarial. Fast forward a quarter of a century later and we are happy to report that Mandy is still a valued employee.
In the 26 years Mandy has worked at the company she has had roles such as Galvanizing Sales Executive, and has helped to grow the company’s successful powder coating arm. Mandy also became the Mono Hinge Gate Manager, taking on responsibility for the entire business cycle of this unique product, from marketing through to sales, purchasing, manufacture, delivery and after-sales care.
To celebrate Mandy’s long-time service with the company, she was recently presented with some flowers and vouchers from Steven Hopkins, Joseph Ash Galvanizing’s Managing Director.
Congratulations Mandy! 26 years is a great achievement!