Employee visit to customer pays dividends

At Premier Galvanizing we know how important it is for our employees to understand the needs of our customers first hand. We have therefore made a commitment that all of our employees across our departments will visit a customer.

By making this commitment our employees get the opportunity to understand what the customer really requires from a galvanizer. It is also a great opportunity to put names to faces too. We have always been proud of the personal relationships that we forge with our clients – this is a great way to truly personalise our service even further.

An additional benefit for our customers is that the our employees gain association and ownership of the products we will be hot dip galvanizing. We have found that these visits also ensure our people feel responsible for the final product produced.

Blueline Trailers, near Boston Lincolnshire

Members of our team recently visited Blueline Trailers so as to gain a better understanding of their business and the products they produce. The visit lasted around half an hour with our team having the chance to understand why the trailers needed stacking in a certain way.

It’s only by visiting the customer that our employee got the chance to understand the potential problems that poor stacking could have in the assembly process.

Want to arrange a visit?

If you feel your company would benefit from a visit from one of our operatives please feel free to contact Bob Preston on bob@premiergalv.co.uk

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Due to the ongoing increase in demand for the reliable ‘on time’ service provided by Premier Galvanizing we are pleased to announce that we have expanded our production operation at our Corby site.

As of the 1 February 2015 our production department began operating on a 24 hour basis in order to continue providing our customers with the reliable service that they have become accustomed to.

Our aim is to ensure that the varied needs and requirements of our valued customers are maintained at all times, so therefore, to compliment our service, we have also invested in additional transport and recruitment.

We have increased our transport fleet and been successful in recruiting and training additional production personnel.

Our goal is to get it right first time, on time, every time! The development at our Corby site is instrumental to us delivering a great service that meets the demands of our customer base.

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Following on from the accreditation of our Quality Management System to ISO9001:2008 last summer, our first surveillance visit took place at the start of January.

We are delighted to say that there were no non-conformities raised. We moved forward with an annual review of the quality management system involving the senior managers from both sites. At the review, it was decided to improve the on-time delivery target from the current average of 95% to 97% for the coming year following the continued high level of achievement at both sites over the preceding 12 months.

Having the ISO9001 accreditation is a big help to our customers because it gives them the assurance they need when it comes to CE Marking for galvanized products. Our customers can take advantage of our market leading service and benefit from working with Premier Galvanizing’s multi-skilled workforce. Confident in the knowledge that we will put the customer first.

Watch this space for more news as things unfold!

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The Premier Galvanizing fleet continues to grow

Premier Galvanizing have conducted yet further investment as part of our long term strategy by taking delivery of five brand new DAF vehicles on 1 September 2014.

These vehicles are the latest on the market and have Euro six engines with reduced emissions which will benefit both the business and the environment inline with the companies environmental policy.

Transport is an essential part of the business and the investment has been made to ensure that customers benefit with enhanced reliability to provide the best possible service for our customers in line with our company aims and objectives.

The vehicles have been sourced locally and the bodies have been designed and purpose built by a local truck body builder so that investment has benefited other local suppliers.

The intention is that ‘new wagons roll in so that our customers work can continue to roll out’ in as efficient way as possible to the benefit of our loyal customers.

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Premier Galvanizing achieved ISO9001:2008 accreditation during 2014 at both plants as assessed by Lloyd’s Register LRQA.

As part of the continuous improvement process a surveillance assessment was conducted in Hull in early January 2015 by the LRQA team.

The assessment was very successful with lots of positives being identified during the visit.

LRQA were impressed with our system and especially by how everyone within the business had embraced the ISO process and the ‘buy-in’ to strive for improvement.

This was evident throughout the business including the management team, production, office staff, drivers with a real positive ‘can do’ approach which we hope our customers identify too.

The next surveillance assessment is scheduled for later in the year in Corby whereby we intend to display further improvements to the benefit of both the internal stakeholders of the business, its owners and employees but especially for its external customers, our customers!

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We did it! We’re ISO 9001 accredited!

We are delighted to tell you that our Quality Management System has been approved by Lloyds Quality Assurance.

We are now therefore an ISO 9001 Registered Company! For CE marking purposes this means that Premier Galvanizing fulfils the requirements of CE as one of your suppliers.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the whole team involved throughout the accreditation process. A real team effort!

Gary Hainsworth

Managing Director

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As training and development of our people is one of the areas which Premier Galvanizing lays great emphasis on, Steve Sylvester (Production Manager) recently completed a four year degree course in Business Management and Logistics at the University of Hull.

The course, alongside his demanding day job proved testing at times on his social life, however Steve really appreciated the knowledge and experience he has gained at Premier Galvanizing in helping him produce some excellent work in each of the modules which included Business law and ethics, finance, logistics, marketing and human resource management.

“The support the company gave me throughout the four years was invaluable. I am delighted that Premier Galvanizing encouraged me to continue my education as a mature student and thus gaining a business management degree. This will prove invaluable throughout my career.”

Here’s to a bright future for Steve and we look forward to a long and prosperous journey through life!

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Premier Galvanizing recently held a retirement party for loyal employee John Lyell, who set off to enjoy his retirement at the end of December 2013. John, who has worked for Premier Galvanizing at the Hull factory for 14 years was sad to be leaving stating:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working for Premier Galvanizing at both the Hull factory and training new employees at the Corby factory, I have worked alongside some great people, the owners and management team have always treated me fantastically well”.

John will be spending some quality time with his wife Denise, his 3 children and numerous grandchildren.

We wish John a long and happy retirement.

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A Premier Galvanizing Service really matters and so does exceptional customer support!

At Premier Galvanizing we believe a key part of being ‘Part of Your Team’ is that we provide as much support as possible to all of our customers across the vast range of hot dip galvanizing services that we offer.

Customer support is far from written documents, it is about direct customer contact and a two-way verbal exchange to find out customers requirements and expectations and to advise if these are achievable and what we both can do to make it happen.

Often customers choose to phone through and discuss their hot dip galvanizing projects, this can be for a range of reasons such as the item being an awkward shape.

Also, large jobs with specific deadlines is another reason clients call us as we make sure every step of the task is clearly explained and we always strive to give realistic timeframes with any project.

Our approach is very much ‘pro-active’ rather than reactive and we are always available and willing to come out and see customers at any time. Ideally, this happens prior to starting fabrication so that all potential issues can be discussed and resolved to ensure there are no nasty surprises for either party.

Often customers are surprised by our willingness to travel out to see them prior to carrying out and hot dip galvanizing for them. They are surprised as this is not seen as the norm in the current market, but we believe it is absolutely essential that customer support and visits in particular are a crucial part of our service and ultimately our success. We want customers to have the knowledge and understanding they require, and we have various types of literature available to advise on drilling and so on which are readily available on request.

All of our customers can be assured that if they need our support then it will be provided!

Find out how we could help you!

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What is hot dip galvanizing? 

Hot dip galvanizing is the process of protecting metals from corrosion, the main culprit being iron and steel. To make sense of just how important galvanizing is you have to imagine how often the metals it protects are used in everyday life.

For instance, steel is one of the most common metals used. Believe it or not, it completely surrounds us. Because it is such a strong and versatile metal it is used to manufacture a wide range of product such as structures and it can be used to construct buildings.

Although it is a versatile metal, with many advantages, it has one very distinct weakness which is corrosion.

When most metals are exposed to water or moisture, then rust is inevitable. Rust can seriously damage and weaken the surface of metals, especially steel. For example, if a bridge begins to rust, over time the structure will begin to fail and collapse.

Is zinc really that important?

The process of galvanizing provides outstanding corrosion performance in a wide variety of environments.

Galvanizing provides a durable, abrasion-resistant coating of metallic zinc and zinc-iron alloy layers which are bonded metallurgical to the steel.

Why is zinc used?

Although zinc is a metal it does not rust like iron or steel.

There are many advantages to using zinc. It provides toughness, resistance to mechanical damage and ultimately it slows corrosion and help structures last up to a hundred years.

Zinc is an impressive metal, as is the galvanizing process. Without it, buildings and structures would not be able to hold on as long as they do. One of the most common methods of galvanizing is hot-dip galvanizing.

Hot dip galvanizing – it’s all about the reaction

Hot Dip Galvanizing varies from plant to plant but here at Premier Galvanizing we specialise in this process. The hot dipping method results in the steel being coated with a thick layer of zinc. However, the steel has to pass through a molten bath of zinc, heated to about 450 degrees Celsius. When the steel is immersed in the bath the zinc reacts with the steel,
forming an iron-zinc alloy. The zinc also forms a zinc oxide when it comes into contact with the surface. This is what prevents corrosion.

So, what are the benefits of the hot dip galvanizing process?

There are many advantages to hot dip galvanizing, which is why is it one of the most popular galvanizing processes used.

Here are just a few of the advantages:

• It creates a tough, durable and permanently bonded coating. This is better than many other methods in protecting steel from damage.
• It is very reliable because there is coverage from the inside and out.
• Hot dip galvanized steel provides an easy to clean surface, making it more hygienic.

When left alone, hot dip galvanized steel will last decades. It will protect against the weather and substances such as, diesel oil and petrol.

About Premier Galvanizing

We are a modern, technically advanced and privately owned galvanizing company. We first opened our doors back in 2000. Our first galvanizing depot was in Hull and we provided galvanizing services to clients throughout Yorkshire and the North East. Due to our success, in 2002 we opened a second depot in Corby. This expanded our geographic reach further afield, to the Midlands and the South East region.

What makes us different?

Premier Galvanizing is not like any other galvanizing company. We only offer the highest quality service to our clients. But that is not all we have to offer. One of our best characteristics is that we are, essentially, a small company. This means we take extra time and energy to really care about our customers, yet we are still big enough to cater for the needs of our larger clients.

Our customers always come first at Premier Galvanizing and we like to listen to the different needs of our clients and take on board any suggestions they have for our improvement. We need the strength given to us from our customers to help our company grow and improve.

We are always investing into our business, meaning we are always finding ways to improve our company and service. Its processes and our people have been a crucial part of our growth.

At Premier Galvanizing we understand that consistently good performance from our team is relied upon. We discovered from listening to our clients that time saving and quality are the most important elements demanded by our customers and our systems are specifically designed to provide a high quality finish in the shortest time possible. This is proof that we consistently listen to our customers’ needs and deliver what they expect, daily.

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