This year sees the 50th anniversary of Hereford Galvanizers and the 25th anniversary of its sister company Shropshire Galvanizers.
The family firm has come a long way since it was set-up by Archie Phillips and Eric Beasey in 1964 and today is one of the largest galvanizers in the UK, servicing local, national, and overseas customers in markets as diverse as construction and agriculture to blacksmiths and sculptors and even homeowners looking to smarten up their garden gate.
Hereford Galvanizers is one of the major employers in Hereford with 60 staff at its 1,100 sq. m. factory on its 4 acre site. The company prides itself on the loyalty of its staff with six members of the team having worked at the company for over 30 years.
Managing Director David Watkins is delighted with the progress made by the company, commenting “Last year we galvanized more steelwork at the Hereford plant than in any of our previous 49 years. As for the future, we are making a significant investment this year of over £300,000 at the site including the replacement of the galvanizing kettle, cranes and other improvements to the storage facilities as well as adding new vehicles and trailers to our transport fleet.” He continues, “Growth has been underway too at our Shropshire Galvanizers plant where we have introduced a night shift to increase our capacity to meet growing demand.”
Around 120 staff and customers recently celebrated the company’s anniversary at a dinner at the Left Bank venue on the River Wye in Hereford, where amongst others Fred Shallcross, the company’s previous Managing Director and now Chairman, was present.
Continual investment has seen Hereford Galvanizers’ facilities become amongst the most modern in the UK equipped with high-tech gas heating, filtration and computer systems and operating around the clock. The company provides a fast, efficient galvanizing service to fabricators, manufacturers and specialised customers. The quality of the galvanizing process is such that it protects steel for 30 to 40 years, never needing further protection from corrosion during its lifespan.
Amongst many large-scale industrial and commercial galvanizing applications, Hereford Galvanizers has recently completed some intriguing regional projects, these including galvanizing the support structure of the six bells of the Herefordshire church at Abbeydore built in 1633, and has recently coated extra strong fencing used to house the new adult African elephant at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm in Wraxall near Bristol.
Hereford Galvanizers’ 1,100sq .m. factory houses one of the largest galvanizing ‘kettles’ in the country, powered by high velocity gas burners. It is 10 metres long, 1.2 metres wide and 2.4 metres deep. This means that the company can process unusually long steel items up to around 15.5 metres long, yet there is still the capability to treat small complex pieces as well as the larger items. Although the name doesn’t suggest it, the company also offers a powder coating service which can be either directly applied to mild steel or onto galvanized steel.
Collection and delivery of items to be galvanized continues to be one of the key strengths for the company. With its close proximity to the M5 and M50 motorways, Hereford Galvanizers can easily service most parts of the UK with its own fleet of vehicles. However, a large trailer park on the company’s 4 acre site allows many companies to deliver and collect using their own transport and customers can leave their loaded trailers on site. All loads are checked on arrival to ensure effective processing of materials and overhead gantry cranes make for speedy loading and unloading. Computerised tracking systems ensure that all work is continually monitored at every stage from intake to despatch. The company also has technical sales engineers able to give advice on all aspects of galvanizing to ensure the best quality end product.
Further information on the company is available from Hereford Galvanizers Ltd., on 01432 267664, email: [email protected] or by visiting the company’s website at www.galvanizers.co.uk
Hereford Galvanizers is supported by Vantage PR.
