A BRIEF HISTORY OF GALVAN INDUSTRIES

For more than 60 years, Galvan Industries has provided the ultimate in corrosion control to steel fabricators and manufacturers throughout the Southeast. Founded in 1958, Galvan was the first hot dip galvanizing operation in the Carolinas.

Keeping pace with increasing customer demand has meant regular investments in facilities and equipment, but at Galvan, we’ve taken the necessary steps to become – and remain – the largest capacity contract galvanizer in the Southeast.

Originally founded in 1958, Galvan was acquired by Charles and Clarence Willard as a subsidiary of Willard Industries in 1960. Willard Industries was a lead smelter and specialty fabricator located in Charlotte and the acquisition made good business sense due to the demand for zinc coatings and lead fabrications. The original plant was equipped with a 10′ x 3′ x 4′ kettle and was suitable only for relatively small parts.

In the early 60’s the kettle capacity was expanded to 27′ in length to facilitate larger fabrications and structural steel. As demand for galvanized products increased the kettle was again lengthened in the early 70’s to 32′.

In 1988 the pickle capacity was increased by 70%. Two tanks were increased to three and size increased from 40’x 6’x 7′ to 45’x 6’x 7′. In 1991 the galvanizing kettle size was increased from 32′ to 42′ x 4’6″ x 8’6″ giving us the largest galvanizing kettle in the Southeast. In 1996 we took down the old concrete galvanizing building and replaced it with steel. During these recent changes the height over the kettle increased from 15′ to 40′ and the square footage under roof increased by 30%. The number of hoists increased from 4 to 6 and hoist capacity and crane capacity over the galvanizing kettle increased from 6 to 15 tons. The bridge crane rails system was also extended to run the full length of the building.

These recent changes have allowed Galvan Industries to remain the largest capacity job shop galvanizer in the Southeast. Our objective is to provide steel fabricators and manufacturers with high quality, fast delivery and personal service for their galvanizing requirements.