FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2022
Last week, Valmont Coatings hosted a grand opening event to launch its new steel coatings facility, Pittsburgh Galvanizing, located in Midland, Pennsylvania. The facility will provide hot-dip galvanizing services to steel fabricators throughout the region.
Valmont Coatings is based in Omaha, Nebraska, with 35 coating facilities in seven countries. It is a subsidiary of Valmont Industries, Inc., which does business with more than 100 countries and operates 85 manufacturing facilities to produce engineered support structures, coatings, irrigation and utility support structures.
According to the company, the new facility’s proximity to the “Steel City” brings galvanizing operations close to the “heart of the action.” Pittsburgh Galvanizing is also located near I-376, which provides easy access for trucks and barges, via the Ohio River, for delivery operations.
The location is equipped with a 54-foot-long by 8-foot, 3-inch-wide and 10-foot, 6-inch-deep galvanizing kettle, lifting equipment with load capacities up to 40,000 pounds and processing capabilities for materials up to 90 feet long. Additionally, it reportedly features several improvements over traditional galvanizing facilities such as:
Valmont Coatings is celebrating the opening of their newest #galvanizing facility in Pittsburgh with a tour on July 21 from 10 am to 2 pm EDT. Learn more & register to attend at https://t.co/wFvbe6fb91 #countyengineer #steelbridge @aisisteel @AGAgalvanizeit pic.twitter.com/8rWTQfUTVA
— Short Span Steel (@ShortSpanSteel) June 23, 2022
The grand opening event was held on Thursday, July 21, including an open house, food trucks, giveaways, tours, networking and more.
According to the Beaver County Times, the 11-acre site was purchased by Valmont in 2019 but faced COVID-19 related setbacks during construction. About 40 people are currently working at the site.
“It was an old steel building, so it had a lot of height, which a galvanizing plant always needs,” said Kevin Halstead, Valmont’s Vice President of North American Galvanizing Operations. “It’s close enough to highways, interstates … and Pittsburgh, overall, has gone through a lot of transformation – from being the old steel to what it is today – but there’s a lot of fabrication in the Pittsburgh area. It was a good fit.”
In terms of sustainability, the facility uses a fully enclosed kettle with a baghouse for fume collection and filtration during galvanizing operations, as well as save electricity using an automatic LED lighting system. The company’s Valprep and Valpass replace hazardous materials such as hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and hexavalent chrome.
It also utilizes rooftop rainwater runoff collection systems that divert to process tanks to reduce the need for city water, in addition to recycling and reusing zinc skims and dross to reduce raw material requirements.
“It is one of the most environmentally friendly facilities we operate at Valmont,” said Henry Kramer, General Manager of Pittsburgh Galvanizing.
“We’re using a proprietary pickling solution, which is both lower emissions but also better for the environment of the workers,” Halstead said. “It’s also better for our infrastructure and assets at the site.”
Tagged categories: Business management; Business operations; Coating Application; Coating Business; Coating Materials; Coatings; Galvanized steel; Galvanized/thermal spray coatings; Hot-dip galvanizing; Program/Project Management; Steel; Valmont
