EDITOR ’ S CHOICE A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
CORBETTS THE GALVANIZERS
Galvanizing ‘ world first ’ creates 40 new jobs
An exciting tie-up between two businesses in the Black Country and Shropshire is delivering a ‘ Galvanizing ’ world first .
Fastline Steel Services has signed a £ multimillion integrated manufacturing agreement with Corbetts the Galvanizers to exclusively use Plant A at its Telford site , guaranteeing over 15,000 tonnes of perimeter steel fencing will be galvanized there every year .
The decision , which creates up to 40 new jobs and safeguards a further 80 more across the two firms , marks a switch from dual sourcing to a more strategic partnership that will deliver increased capacity and reduced lead times , not to mention world class , repeatable quality .
“ This marks the next stage of a five-year relationship and a new way for galvanizers and manufacturers to work together ,” explained Sophie Williams , Finance Director and General Manager at Corbetts the Galvanizers .
“ The pandemic and subsequent lockdowns had cut our volumes in certain sectors and that meant we temporarily
This is a very exciting move for the business and will help support growth plans that will initially take turnover from £ 15m to £ 30m over the next eighteen months .
consolidated all business into our larger Plant B . Whilst this was not ideal , it did give us the opportunity to take a longerterm view of how we wanted to work with our customers to build more strategic partnerships .”
She continued : “ One of those was with Fastline Steel Services , who has been growing rapidly and was in need of guaranteed additional capacity to cope with consistent increases of work in construction , prisons , rail , utilities and with the Ministry of Defence ( MoD ).
“ We held several detailed discussions and eventually agreed to bring back Plant A to serve as a dedicated galvanizing facility . A further 10 jobs are to be created in the initial three months , with the installation of palisade lines directly on site supporting the manufacture of railings and high security steel perimeter systems .
“ Over £ 500,000 has been invested in creating the infrastructure so that the products can be manufactured and sent straight to be dipped in baths just a few metres away .”
Corbetts , which celebrated 160 years in business in 2020 , currently galvanizes over 100 tonnes of products every week for Fastline , with the second line providing the opportunity for exponential increases .
This , alongside the introduction of a Kanban system and a new approach to hanging work , will speed up throughput and allow both parties to meet growth expectations .
10 PECM Issue 50