Page 8 - Norgalv - Helping North Bay Achieve ‘Land of Opportunity’ Status

Autonomous cranes moving material through the automated pre-treatment process. Crane operator about to quench freshly galvanized plates.

Key to the advanced safety provisions of the facility and then the crane moves the galvanized steel to a
is limiting human contact with the products in buffer area for manual unrigging.

the process. Materials are manually rigged on a

lifting/lowering station and moved onto a manual Norgalv will focus on serving Northern Ontario-
shuttle that moves it to the pre-treatment area. At based manufacturers; however, the facility expects

the pre-treatment station, an operator assigning a to work with customers beyond the region. The

recipe (a sequence that includes immersion times City of North Bay is partnering with the company
and dipping routines) and the automated process to leverage the plant in attracting new investment

begins. From this ‘pickling’ stage on, no human that would not have been possible before Norgalv’s
handling occurs. arrival.

After pickling, a crane puts the jig on a chain According to van Soelen, “The crucial point is that
conveyor in the dryer, then transfers it to the a galvanizing plant makes businesses viable that

furnace area for drying and into the zinc bath. The previously would not have been. For instance, if
galvanizing process itself is manually controlled, a company wanted to manufacture any mass-

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