The UK’s oldest hot dip galvanizer is bouncing back from Covid-19 disruption after it processed a record amount of steel from one plant in a single month.

Corbetts the Galvanizers used the downtime in the summer to improve productivity and modernise processes and this has paid off with nearly £1m of orders completed in October.

Celebrating 160 years in business in 2020, the Telford-based company processed 34% more volume than the same time last year for customers involved in street furniture, transport and construction.

With volumes continuing to rise and new contracts being secured, the recently strengthened management team are now planning to reopen the smaller Plant to increase capacity.

“This is a phenomenal achievement by our workforce and highlights growing optimism in our sector,” explained Sophie Williams, Finance Director and General Manager at Corbetts the Galvanizers.

It proves that the manufacturing best practice improvements we have undertaken over the last six months are working, including throughput, how we hang work, process speed and upgrading the pre-treatment process. There’s also been considerable investment in upskilling the workforce and bringing in new team leaders.

She went on add: “All this has led to a record month in terms of volume and sales, but, most importantly, we have done all of this whilst maintaining outstanding quality and 24 to 48 hour turnaround time for existing business and 5-10 days for new clients.”

Corbetts the Galvanizers has been supplying world class hot dip galvanizing to thousands of customers across the UK and Europe for 160 years.

This process is the most effective and environmentally friendly way to protect steel from the elements and provides a long-term solution to corrosion (rust) and maintenance free protection in excess of 100 years.

From its purpose-built facility in Telford, it operates a number of galvanizing baths that give it the opportunity to process in excess of 50,000 tonnes every year and the ability to double dip material up to a length of 14 metres.

Product is then loaded on to the company’s fleet of 13 vehicles that make up to 5000 different journeys every year, with the latest investment meaning that the oldest lorry is less than five-years-old.

Sophie, who recently oversaw the appointment of new managers for Sales and Marketing, Procurement and Operations, concluded: “2020 hasn’t been the year we were expecting to celebrate our big birthday, but what it has done is given us time to look at how move forward for the next 160 years.

This means we are now a more efficient operation and we have been looking at new ways in which we can grow the business. One big plan is currently in the final stages of negotiations and, if it comes off, could change the way the galvanizing sector operates forever.