AGA Awards: Grainland Cooperative

AGA Awards: Grainland Cooperative

Galvanizing

Growmark and various fabricators (Lemar Industries, GSI, Bushnell Illinois tank) quickly helped reconstruct the facility to have it up and running for the 2019 harvest. This complete facility replacement recently won the “Newly Completed” award from the American Galvanizers Association (AGA) for its innovative use of hot-dip galvanizing steel.

AZZ Galvanizing – Peoria was critical in executing on the facility’s renewal, leveraging AZZ’s extensive experience in hot-dip galvanizing to ensure an expectation-exceeding result was achieved.

About

The food and agricultural industry accounts for roughly 5.4% of the United States’ GDP. Grainland and facilities like it play a critical role in the logistics of buying and selling corn and soybeans – a vital industry of the Midwest and beyond. Galvanizing steel is the premier material for agricultural architecture and was essential when building the new corn dryer. The product is perfect for coating durability, corrosion performance, ease of specifying and life-cycle cost.

Why the Designer Chose Hot-Dip Galvanizing

The designers chose hot-dip galvanizing because of its sustainability and ability to meet the requirement of a 50-year life with a low maintenance cost. The farms can face harsh natural elements that erode materials. Many of Grainland’s structures (all of the structural steel components, including the tower structures, conveyors, catwalks and railing) use the hot-dip galvanizing process because it is cost effective and enduring. This project used more than 1,200 tons of galvanized steel, which supports the growing demand for crops. Hot-dip galvanized steel addresses the economic and cultural factors that will make the Grainland facility successful for years to come.

Project Recap

Grainland Cooperative rallied after a massive corn dryer explosion. With the help of Growmark and various fabricators (Lemar Industries, GSI, Bushnell Illinois tank), Grainland Cooperative was quickly reconstructed with the use of galvanized steel. This complete facility replacement recently won an American Galvanizers Association (AGA) award for its quick action and innovative design.

AZZ focuses on creating a stronger, safer world, evidenced by our focus on protecting infrastructure from corrosion. This project was an innovative way to show the possibilities of galvanizing. Learn more about AZZ’s capabilities by exploring our hot dip galvanizing capabilities.

Meet the Facility: AZZ Surface Technologies – Terrell

Meet the Facility: AZZ Surface Technologies – Terrell

Surface Technologies

In this series, we are highlighting some of those facilities, showcasing how they fit into the AZZ ecosystem and help us provide you with industry-leading services and capabilities.

Next up is our Terrell, Texas facility, which provides powder coating, e-coating, wet spray, mil-spec and coating removal services.

Let’s take a closer look.

Opened:

The Terrell facility was added in September 2019 through the acquisition of Preferred Industries, Ltd.

Services Provided:

Working closely with customers to ensure the application of high-quality, uniform paint film to every project, AZZ Terrell offers a one-stop-shop experience with services in powder coating, e-coating, spray painting/masking, sandblasting, mil-spec, and coating removal, along with pickup and delivery services that guarantee fast turnaround every time

Focuses:

Constantly striving for continuous improvement to achieve the highest quality standards, the 155,000 square foot AZZ Terrell facility brings environmentally sound, cost-effective protective coating applications to a wide variety of industries.

The facility’s Powder Coating uses three conveyor lines, augmented by two batch lines, ensuring uniform quality of either clean, plain, color, metallic or textured finishing options.

Consisting of four sub-phases (pretreatment cleaning, electrocoat bath, rinsing, bake oven curing), AZZ Terrell’s automated e-coat process provides a precise, evenly deposited film and finish. Ideal for heat resistant products such as military CARC coatings, substrate plastic, fiberglass, woodmasking, hydraulic pumps, and fiberglass, the facility’s wet coating process is the cost-effective, thin finish solution for uniform paint coverage, while mil spec coatings are formulated and rigorously tested to provide the required resistance to the harsh, corrosive decontaminating chemicals that are used to wash down military equipment.

The facility’s coating removal sandblasting capabilities smooth rough edges and repair surface blemishes to ensure a quality finish while fluidized sand stripping scrubs, burning off and vaporizing organic material without damaging work pieces.

Industries Served:

AZZ Terrell serves the military, automotive, HVAC, marine, transportation, medical, industrial, commercial and plastics industries.

Quotable:

“We are pleased with the acquisition (of Preferred Industries) as we continue to execute on our strategic plan to broaden our service offerings and expand our network of Surface Technology plants.” – Michael Doucet, AZZ Surface Technologies Senior Vice President

Contact Info:

AZZ Surface Technologies – Terrell:

100 FM 148

Terrell, TX 75160

United States

972.563.0883

Stay tuned for future entries in our “Meet the Plant” series to see highlights from more of the AZZ facilities helping us provide state-of-the-art metal finishing solutions and more.

To learn more or find other AZZ facilities, visit azz.com/locator.

Hot Dip Galvanized ‘Bloom’ Art Piece Wins American Galvanizers Association Award

Hot Dip Galvanized ‘Bloom’ Art Piece Wins American Galvanizers Association Award

Galvanizing

Modern art has long been a discipline where materials and substrates are innovative. While galvanized metal is best known for how it’s applied in infrastructure and construction, it’s also known for its ability to serve that innovative purpose with the introduction of “Bloom,” a hot dip galvanized art piece in downtown Reno, Nev.

This glowing bloom of shoots and bulbs recently won the American Galvanizers Association (AGA) Artistic award, and AZZ Galvanizing – Reno played a critical role in the finished project by fabricator Michael Christian of Xian Productions.

About the Piece

The “Bloom” piece consists of four parts, including a bottom base, shoots, stalks and blooms. Oblong pieces of plasma welded together comprise the bottom vase, creating a coarse and bark-like texture.

The shoots in the next part were created using bent quarter-inch wires welded together with a steel ring.

Next, the stalks are round tubes in a variety of lengths to illustrate “growth.” At the top, fabricated wires form the blooms, which have lights inside that can dim and glow throughout the night.

Why the Fabricator Chose Hot-Dip Galvanizing

Christian, the fabricator, selected hot dip galvanizing because of the environment. Reno is a desert city that has its share of extreme weather, including intense heat, heavy rains, and severe cold and snowstorms. The zinc coating from the galvanizing is robust enough to protect the piece from those elements. Zinc actually corrodes 30 times slower than steel!

Christian knew the value of the extended corrosion protection offered by galvanizing, but also wanted a uniform coating. AZZ advised him regarding how the coating would look on different steel surfaces, and, after thorough discussions, he decided to sandblast the entire piece for more consistency in its final coat. In the end, this last step helped deliver the most uniform appearance.

Beyond the aesthetics and erosion protection, galvanizing the installation ensured sustainability and provided a quick turnaround time. The investment in galvanizing was both cost-effective and will reduce the need for expensive maintenance. 

The GalvXtra Process

AZZ has a world-class, proprietary hot dip galvanizing process known as GalvXtra. The hot dip process includes prepping and cleaning the surface to ensure it’s a smooth as possible, then submerging the steel parts in a bath of molten zinc, where it remains until it reaches 840° F.

At this temperature, the zinc and steel react, developing a zinc/iron intermetallic layer on all surfaces. After dipping, every piece goes through a thorough inspection.

Project Recap

AZZ focuses on creating a stronger, safer world, evidenced by our focus on protecting infrastructure from corrosion. This project was a unique, artistic way to show the possibilities of galvanizing. 

Learn more about AZZ’s capabilities by exploring our hot dip galvanizing capabilities. 

AZZ Surface Technologies: Unmatched Capabilities

AZZ Surface Technologies: Unmatched Capabilities

Surface Technologies

It’s a simple concept – when you choose AZZ, you’re choosing highly automated operations that leverage large-scale production, fast turnaround times, reduced logistical burdens and costs, and a finished product that protects and extends the life of application-critical components.

AZZ is proud to offer unmatched powder coating, plating, e-coating, wet coating, duplex coating, military specification coating, coating removal and surface preparation, ensuring that you have the right solution that not only supports your vision and unique goals, but exceeds expectations.

We function as an extension of your facility, engaging with you as a collaborative supply chain partner to bring you unparalleled efficiency.

As a division of AZZ, North America’s largest hot dip galvanizer of fabricated metals, we have an extensive operational footprint and bring the highest level of expertise to your metal coatings

We also boast many critical certifications, such as AS9100 (aerospace quality management), Caterpillar (heavy equipment), General Dynamics (aerospace and defense), ISO (quality management), NADCAP Quality (aerospace and defense) and PACCAR (automotive).

From enormous part sizes up to 60 feet in length to light and fast applications, we have a solution that will fit your needs and meet your unique challenges head on in industries from aviation and agriculture to construction, OEMs, transportation and more.

To learn more, watch the video above or contact us today at azz.com/request-more-information.

A Message to Our Customers: An Update on COVID-19

A Message to Our Customers: An Update on COVID-19

Corporate

At AZZ, our first priority is maintaining the health and safety of customers, suppliers and more than 3,700 employees worldwide. Designated as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “Essential Infrastructure Business”, we are mindful of the broad impacts the industry is facing during the COVID-19 crisis yet remain committed to maintaining our high level of customer service throughout this challenging situation.

Accordingly, we are closely coordinating with our network of facilities to assess risks and implement contingency plans should the need arise.  To comply with CDC guidelines, we have taken measures to increase cleaning and sterilization at our facilities, maintain physical distance between employees at our worksites, restricted non-essential travel and have limited face-to-face meetings. Despite travel limitations, our sales and project management teams are always available to assist you via email, telecommunications and video conferencing.

With the above measures in place, we are pleased that all of our Metal Coatings and Energy locations are currently operational and able to serve customers with  minimal disruption. Additionally, our numerous facilities and redundant processing capabilities across various locations help ensure AZZ is well-positioned to respond to rapidly changing conditions.

We will continue to diligently monitor the situation and advise our customers, suppliers, and employees as important updates become available. As always, thank you for being a customer, supplier, or one of our 3,700 employees and for your continued trust as we manage through this time together.