By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Agritek Industries, a metal fabricator in Holland, not only created eight manufacturing jobs with its new zinc galvanizing process. The company also ramped up profitiablity, kept jobs ripe for outsourcing in West Michigan, and dramatically improved the environmental affects of its product. Now Agritek is setting new standards in its industry.
In July 2006, Agritek was the first company to bring the DiSTeK thermo-diffusion galvanizing process to the US from Israel.
The previous galvanizing method couldn't be done in-house. So Agritek shipped parts to Detroit or Chicago, had them "hot dipped" in a highly toxic and energy-consuming process, and then shipped the pieces back to Holland where the rough coating was ground smooth. Then the company distributed the parts to the customer.
But DiSTeK's so-called 'triple play' has changed all that.
First, a new coating process is free of pollutants like cadmium and chrome. Second, it doesn’t require acids and produces almost no waste because the process reuses leftover materials such zinc powder and the rinsing and treating liquids. Third, the coated components have a 50 percent longer lifespan, so ewer products go to landfill.
"By bringing DiSTeK on board, we not only kept our axle business from going to China," says Bill Maddox, Agritek spokesperson, "we opened a whole new coatings business that brought in $500,000 in revenue last year."
The company added four employees for the coating line, and plans to add four more next spring after the plant installs new equipment, doubling the line's capacity.
Source: Bill Maddox, Agritek Industries Inc. Galvanizing Process
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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