Friday, October 1, 2010

National Steel Day

Local company opens its doors for National Steel Day

By CAROLINE GABLE

YORKVILLE, N.Y. (WKTV) - Steel is an important metal found everywhere you look from buildings, to cars, to guardrails.

One plant in Yorkville works day in and out to treat steel through a process called galvanizing that keeps metal from rusting.

Hubbell Galvanizing opened up their doors on Friday, September 24 to give tours to the public and let them in on what goes on at the facility.

The President of Hubbell Galvanizing, Daniel Hubbell, is the third generation to run the business that opened in 1925. The facility on Commercial Drive East is the largest of five galvanizing plants in the state, and it operates 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

Through a series of chemical baths metals are brought together in a melting pot to create a product that doesn't rust, the process is called galvanizing.
The company also has a power coating facility to give the material color, if the client requests it.

Around 80 people are employed at the site, among them the largest number of master galvanizers on the continent. While 65 percent of their business comes from New York State, it is the out of state orders that help keep the business profitable.

Hubbell says three generations ago, Utica was a great place to do business and 85 years later still consider it to be, because the cost of living is low and the labor pool is strong.

"We are dealing with 10,000 pound loads of steel and the men work with molten metal, acid that is battery strength, and it is a very tough place to work," Hubbell said. "My men move somewhere between 500 and 800 pounds an hours, and that's more than you're going to get at a gym."

The company wants the Central New York community to know that their industry is here to stay, and they take every precaution to work safely.

Friday, September 3, 2010

STEEL DAY SEPTEMBER 24TH


September 24th is National Steel Day 2010. Hubbell Galvanizing and Fortress Fusion Coatings are recognizing it with an Open House at our location at 5124 Commercial Dr. East, Yorkville. It will start at 10 am and finish around 4 pm. Educational tours and a picnic lunch will be offered.

We hope you can join us to see our facility and learn about hot dip galvanizing and powder coating.

New Powder Coating Manager


John DelMonte recently joined Fortress Fusion as powder coating manager. Call John for all your powder coating needs.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Associates Meeting


The Associates of Fortress Fusion and Hubbell Galvanizing are brought together for a meetings monthly. At these meetings we discuss issues facing the company as well as bringing programs to them to help them in their daily lives.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame




Baseball season has started. If you are thinking of taking a trip to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, check out the railings in front. They were hot dip galvanized by Hubbell Galvanizing and powder coated by Fortress Fusion Coatings

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

Upcoming Seminars and Tours

On March 31st the Genesis Group from the Utica Area will be touring our plant from 5 - 7 pm. It should be very interesting and educational. Catering by Danielle's

Seminars and Tours

On March 11th 15 engineers from Central New York toured our hot dip galvanizing and powder coating facility. After the tour they listen to the GalvanizeIt! Presentation. They earned 1 professional development credit for attending the seminar. A catered dinner from Piggy Pats followed.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Fortress Fusion Coatings Inc Process

New oven expands Fortress Fusion capacity

We just went operational on a new oven that will greatly improve our efficiency and productivity, allowing us to reduce turnaround times and lead to quicker deliveries of our products.

The second oven arrived on Dec. 10, and we turned it on just in time for the new year. Both ovens are nearly 45 feet long and 9 feet high, so we can fit any piece that would fit on a tractor trailer.

The powder coating process - if done right - requires two stints in an oven. One to bring the metal up to temperature so the powder adheres correctly, and one to actually bake the powder onto the metal.

Previously, we had to put pieces in the oven to warm them up, move them to the spray chamber to coat them, then return them to the oven to bake the powder on. Because the processes are for different durations and different temperatures, we could start a new batch unless the old batch was finished.

Now we can. We're not sure how much faster will be able to produce projects, but it's going to be a big improvement.

And a safer one, too. One of the advantages of a second oven is that product will always move in one direction through our shop, so our employees never need to worry about getting blind-sided by a piece of metal coming from a direction they didn't expect.

Greek Peak ski resort opens year-round water park

Cascades Indoor Water Park opened in December in Cortland County, N.Y., bringing something new to Central New York – year-round water fun, without the ice. At a ski resort.

And we’re pleased not only with the quality of our work, but with what our work made possible.

Fortress Fusion provided most of the exterior for the all-steel building, and some of the interior metal pieces. It looks good, sure, and it will last for generations, but we suspect the facility was able to open in December specifically because of the choice to go with powder coat instead of paint.

Upstate New York has a short construction season – maybe four months. And the 2009 season was shortened incredibly because of a record number of rainy days.

You can’t paint an exterior building on a rainy day. And even after the rain stops, you have to wait for the surfaces to dry.

But with powder coating, we prepared each piece in our own indoor facility. We can do that rain or shine, day or night.

And once they were ready, we shipped them to Cortland County, where they could be assembled immediately in any condition short of a lightning storm.
They didn’t have to wait for us, that’s for sure.