News Items
Vacancy - Skilled Welder/Fabricator
Skilled Welder/Fabricator
Full Time
Competitive rates of pay (based on experience)
We are looking to recruit a skilled welder/fabricator to join our team. The ideal candidate will be proficient in both Mig and Tig welding and be able to understand and work from engineering drawings.
If you feel that your skills would be of benefit to our company, we would really like to hear from you. Please email your CV to info@bridmet.co.uk or call us on 01308 426444.
Posted: 24th June 2011
Why Steel Prices Are Increasing
As we saw in 2010 steel prices are again increasing in 2011. At the end of last year we had seen price increases announced for most product groups (Carbon Steels) of around £50 per tonne. These increases are currently finding their way into the market. This year we are seeing further indications for increases of around £50 per tonne in January / early February with a strong likelihood that this scale of increase will be replicated in March / April. These price increases over the first quarter of 2011 will therefore be in the region of £150 per tonne.
Iron Ore
Since April 2010, iron ore prices have been negotiated on a quarterly basis, as opposed to an annual cycle in the past. The new quarterly prices are generally based on the previous quarter’s average spot iron ore price. This has lead to a greater volatility in the market price as outside circumstances, such as natural disasters, are taken into price setting more frequently. The contract iron ore price has increased from a low of £64+ per tonne to around £85 in Q1 2011. However current spot iron ore prices are currently in the region of £114 per tonne. This increase in the spot price will almost certainly be reflected in Q2 contract iron ore prices. To put this in perspective of steel pricing, each tonne of steel uses 1.6 tonnes of iron ore.
Coking Coal
The floods in Eastern Australia, a region that supplies 60% of the worlds coking coal, has seen 80% of it’s mines closed whilst others are operating at 60% capacity. This has made the threat of a shortage of coking coal in the next few quarters highly probable. This will push coking coal prices up further. Q1 prices were fixed at £142 (up from £123 in the previous quarter) and the latest estimates of the spot price are nearer £190 per tonne. Again in the context of steel pricing, each tonne of steel produced requires 600Kg of coking coal in the manufacturing process. The flood damage is expected to impact production of coking coal in eastern Australia for at least 6 months.
Scrap
Following the severe winter in Northern Europe and with low arisings, scrap prices have quickly increased over the last 2 months and are now standing at over £316 per tonne. This is an increase of over £101 since the beginning of November 2010. This increase is reflected in the 3 month billet price that has risen to £380 per tonne which was £286 in October 2010.
Freight
These increases in commodities have been off set slightly by recent reductions in freight rates, though the net effect is in the region of £7 per tonne of steel.
Mills / Imports
The European markets for Cold Reduced Coil, Pickled & Oiled and Hot Dipped Galvanised are tighter following the fire at the IJmuiden facility forcing Tata Steel to declare force majeure of its supply contracts, Prices are reacting accordingly as the current market prices in Europe are not high enough to attract significant imports, a factor amplified by the weakness of the Euro.
Demand
Whilst demand in the UK is expect to be similar to 2010. That said worldwide demand, especially in China and India is expected to be strong, putting further upward pressure on raw material costs and therefore the price of steel. World steel production is expected to reach an all time high in 2011. This reflects the current UK’s position as a steel price taker rather than maker.
Vacancy - Experienced CNC Press Brake Operator
Skilled CNC Press Brake Operator
Bridmet has enjoyed a steady growth over the past year and is now looking to recruit an experienced press brake operator to strengthen the team. The Ideal candidate will be a time served engineer with 5 years experience in folding fine limit sheet metalwork.
Bridmet Invests in New Machinery
Bridmet has recently invested in the latest Amada technology to bolster their folding department. The Amada HFP offers 100 tonnes of folding force across a 3mtr bed. In addition this machine has two special features:
- Long stroke. This enables the folding of deep profiles by doubling up the clamps, so instead of having to fabricate these jobs, Bridmet can now fold them and deliver a more cost effective engineered solution.
- Built in hemming pneumatic hemming die. This enables Bridmet to dutch fold or crush fold without a tool change, which means expensive tool changes have been eliminated.
With the above cost benefits alongside the improved accuracy, customers can be assured that Bridmet are fully equipped to meet their sheet-metal requirements.
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New Director Joins Bridmet
Hylton Jackson, to date a silent partner in the business, has now joined Bridmet Ltd full time. Hylton has over 25 years experience in the engineering industry and joins Gary Hedges (Managing Director) in taking the business forward. You can contact him on 01308 426444.
Bridmet's Finishing Service
Bridmet delivers high specification finishes that meet the most demanding requirements. We serve a wide range of customers and offer an exhaustive range of colours and finishes.
Pretreatment - All metal is prepared thoroughly before painting to give the highest possible quality finish, this includes shotblasting where required.
Powder-coating - Our powder-coating facility can accommodate applications up to 2.8mtrs wide and 5.5mtrs long.
Wet spray - From a single coat finish to a 2 pac four coat system, our skilled painters can handle all wet spray requirements. Our wet spray oven/booth offers premium levels of quality for spray painting and low-bake curing and can accommodate applications up to 8mtrs long.
Inspection & packing - Before items are dispatched they undergo thorough inspection by our paint shop manager who personally addresses any quality issues without delay before items are signed off and carefully packaged.
Delivery - We have our own transport offering a local delivery and collection service and for items going further afield we use a trusted delivery company. This way we can keep costs down whilst providing a fast and efficient service.
For a competitive quotation, please contact Gary on 01308 426444.
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Paint Shop Opening 1st June 2009
Further to our last news entry we can now confirm that our paint shop will be opening on the 1st June 2009.
We have installed powder coating and wet spraying facilities capable of handling items up to 5.5mtrs long for powder coating and 8mtrs for wet spraying (cured in low bake oven).
We are also pleased to announce that we have recruited a paint shop manager who has over 20 years experience in metal finishing and who we believe will be a great addition to our team.
For free paint quotations and advice, please call Gary on 01308 426444.
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New Finishing Service
At Bridmet we are constantly investing in new ways to offer a more cost effective and efficient service to our customers. We are therefore proud to announce that we will be adding paint facilities to our already comprehensive list of metal fabrication services, including both wet spraying and powder coating.
We will be installing a spray bake oven capable of handling large steel items up to 8 x 4 meters wide and 3 meters in height. The powder coating oven also has large internal measurements of 5.5 x 2.8 meters.
The new paint facilities are expected to be fully operational shortly and will offer cost savings to in-house fabrication jobs aswell as a standalone sub contract finishing service. Call us on 01308 426444 to discuss your painting needs and receive a competitive quotation.
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New premises
Due to our continued growth over the last year, we have taken on another unit in Bridport to increase our capacity and meet the demands of our larger contracts. The unit provides an additional 12,000 sq ft of production and assembly space and gives us that extra room we need to grow. Gary Hedges, Managing Director says "with the additional capacity, we can now offer a larger range of services and for many of our customers we are now manufacturing complete assembled items including electrical assemblies, which we are packaging and delivering direct to our customer's customer".
Smaller welding and fabrication jobs will continue to be undertaken at our unit on Dreadnought Trading Estate, where our main office is based
Bridmet wins USA contract
BridMet is proud to announce that they have won a contract to manufacture and install a recycling plant in Pennsylvania, USA. This will involve them building a series of large steel structures linked together with conveyors and elevators which, once constructed will be equivalent to the size of a football pitch.
BridMet won the contract from a UK based company whose patented design is fast gaining a reputation internationally as one of the world's leading authorities in recycling equipment. Gary Hedges, BridMets managing director says 'it is a testament to our skilled workforce and our ongoing commitment to producing quality products which has enabled us to expand our business'.
All of the steelwork will be manufactured over the next couple of months in house by BridMe'ts team of engineers and will be installed later this year.