At a Gala evening
held in August hosted by the Hot Dip Galvanizing
Association, DDL Equipment was the Award Winner in the
Mining And Industrial Category for Dock Levellers,
Galvanized by Barloworld Galvanizers.
This Start of the project was based on
information obtained from an overseas trip, Andrew Stewart
of DDL Equipment approached the Hot Dip Galvanizing
Association and Barloworld team. The Barloworld Galvanisers
team constituting of Walter Barnett and Riaan Louw and Mr
Terry Smith from the Hot Dip Galvanizers Association of
South Africa met with Mr Andrew Stewart at his premises to
discuss the possibility of galvanizing a Dock Leveller
without them distorting at all. The credibility of the Hot
Dip Galvanizes Association of South Africa and the
galvanizing industry were given a boost when technical
information and design proposals were offered for the
benefit of DDL Equipment.
Dock Levellers are mainly used in the
meat and abattoir sectors where there is a lot of liquid
being used, such as water and soap to remove blood from
various items and the levellers itself. Vehicles ride up and
down these products and when the paint surface is damaged,
corrosion will take place in and surrounding the damaged
areas. The galvanizing of these products will prevent the
problem of corrosion and the cost of repairing the coating
of the levellers.
DDL Equipment was informed of the changes
that needed to be made to the design to help minimize the
possibility of distortion, which was encountered in the
past. All technical information and galvanizing procedures
were put into place to assist DDL Equipment to offer
Galvanizing as an alternative to painting.
On completion of galvanizing this
product, which consists of various steel thickness and
various types of steel, used to manufacture this product
such as ‘chemical iron’, ‘vastrap plates’ and ‘angle
iron’ no distortion took place. This was due to certain
factors, such as design and in the way these items were
galvanized. Procedures were put in place for the handling
and galvanizing of these products. One example is the way,
which these items were jigged to prevent distortion and make
them aesthetically pleasing.
This has given DDL customers a superior
product and by doing this, achieved credibility to the end
user and building a bigger market for this product with
regards to having piece of mind, that it will not rust and
will have a longer lifespan than a painted product.
The market for galvanized dock levellers
will broaden especially on the coastal areas, as well as the
export market. The end user will also have to benefit of
cost savings due to a lesser amount of maintenance being
done on the galvanized dock leveller on comparison to the
painted option and therefore adding increased value to
these.
Summary
This innovative project at the end was a
great and successful team effort. The main reasons can be
summarized as follows:
-
Changing from painting to
galvanizing
-
Less maintenance, aesthetically
pleasing, no rusting, cost effective
-
Export market and coastal areas
being supplied
-
Other customers who have the
existing products will be informed of the success,
therefore growing the market place for galvanizing.
-
HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Point) Compliant.
What makes DDL Equipment’s project
different from others is that it has been attempted in the
past without success, and now that it was done successfully
it opens the market to more customers with the same products
for local and export market.
Our customers have already benefited from
the Galvanized units installed, reports Andrew Stewart and
at this point we have orders for 18 more galvanized Dock
Levellers to be delivered and installed within the next 6
months.
For more information please download
the overview and also visit the Hot
Dip Galvanizers Association of Southern Africa website
