amd specialist coatings ltd
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Welcome to amd's latest newsletter... Sorry it has been a while! (Less than 2 mins to read)
I am pleased to say that amd has been a hive of activity over the past 4 months or so with work continuing to increase and changes and developments happening all of the time. I am still doing my best, along with my team, to keep pushing amd forward and to keep the momentum of the year going, right through to Christmas.
We can only do this with help from our customers and I will never stop appreciating your business. Continue supporting amd for the rest of 2010 and beyond!
I hope you enjoy keeping in touch with what's been going on at amd.
Regards,
Steve
P.S. Sorry no photos in this newsletter, my camera is broken! |
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Cranking up the heat...
I am proud to announce that a couple of months ago I was able to install a secondary oven in the amd factory. I saw this as a vital step for amd to take as business continued to increase throughout the year and it has proven to be a wise investment, helping amd to continue to provide the very best coatings service. Looking back now I wonder how we managed with only one!
The ovens are, of course, a crucial aspect of the amd production process as the vast majority of work needs to be stoved off. With more work going through the factory it had become apparent that we simply did not have enough stoving capabilities and that work was becoming bottlenecked. Therefore, in order to continue offering the best lead times to our customers, it was necessary to invest in a second oven.
As well as keeping the lads warmer through the cold winter days, the second oven saves us money on gas and helps us do our bit for the environment by reducing our gas : part ratio. The second oven is smaller than our primary oven (7m long and one of the biggest in the North East) and therefore is great for the smaller jobs, as less gas is needed to heat it.
Spending in the still difficult economic climate is always hard but I have always pushed myself to plan ahead and invest for now and the future. I am hopeful that amd is only going to get busier and in the long term, the investment should save us money. Regardless, at the end of the day amd's reputation is staked on keeping its customers happy and I am determined to keep this reputation. If that means investing in new equipment then I am more than happy to do so!
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amd goes green
I am turning into a bit of an environmentalist! You may remember last year that we invested in an environmentally friendly variable speed compressor for the factory to power all of our drills and machine sanders. This year, with the help of the Carbon Trust and North Energy amd has gone several steps further. All of the lights in the factory and throughout the office space have been changed to accommodate environmentally friendly bulbs which are far more efficient than standard bulbs using much less electricity. To go even greener, they have all been hooked up to activity sensors and are on timers so that they are not on unnecessarily when there is no-one in the room. So simple, yet so effective! What's more, it is helping to keep the lads happier as I am not shouting at them to "turn the bloody lights off!" all the time.
Our multi-metal phosphate pre-treating line has also gone green, having been fitted with variable speed drives. A 20% reduction in motor speed results in a 50% reduction in energy consumption, and when you consider that our pre-treatment line is up and running for over fifty hours per week, ensuring that all our customers work is completely grease free, the energy savings soon mount up - about 8 tonnes of carbon dioxide saved per year I believe!
These changes, along with the more efficient oven set up which we now have, which is the big saver in the equation, means that amd is saving just short of 80 tonnes of carbon a year! I am delighted to be able to say that amd is doing its bit for the environment, and also that amd's bank balance is a little better as a result!
If any of you fancy saving a bit of money and helping out the environment at the same time then by all means give me a call to have a chat about how amd have gone about going green.
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More additions to the team
A position which has created itself over the past year as goods-in has become busier and busier is what we have called the 'Gatekeeper'. Although sounding like something from Lord of the Rings, with more work, powder, paint and consumables coming in through the front door we needed someone there full time to track it all. The position was filled by Dave Pine who yourselves or your drivers will most likely have met and probably know pretty well by now.
Dave began work in September and has settled in very well at amd, I am pleased to say that he has taken full control of goods-in and goods-out and also organised all of our powder stock.
I have also added another excellent wet sprayer to the amd team who incidentally is another Dave meaning we now have three of them. Dave Vallely has proven himself to be a quality painter and I am sure he will only improve over his time with amd.
Hiring the Dave's was not only to keep amd organised and stay on top of our work but, again, to try and do that little bit more to provide the best service for my customers. Please let me know how you think they are doing!
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Shift structure & the amd team
Most of you will know that for most of 2010 we have been running with increased production hours. We have progressed from putting on hours of overtime, to running a full night shift and then a very successful split shift system.
The aim of all of these was to be able to provide you with the fastest lead times possible and I feel that the shift system in particular was a great achievement.
Although the shifts have recently been taken off due to many staff being on holiday over the past few weeks (believe it or not I am actually having to force my staff to take their holidays!) and as we are now nearing Christmas they will almost certainly be back on again in the New Year.
I must admit, "force" may be a bit of a strong a word, but the morale at amd at the moment is excellent and I feel that I have never had such a good team around me. Many thanks to all the lads and ladies at amd for all your hard work. As I'm sure you will agree, the business would be lost without them.
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Contact us
AMD Specialist Coatings
6 Derwent Court
Earlsway
Team Valley
Gatseshead
NE11 0TF
tel: 0191 487 57 58
fax: 0191 487 77 27
Services Powder coating Wet paint coatingSpecialist heavy duty coating systems for the oil & gas/ marine sectors Indoor shot blasting facilitiesStove enameling Two pack polyurethane coating Certificate of conformity available on request Phosphate coatingsTextured coatings An expert team with over fifty years combined experience    |
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