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.
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.
