An open day hosted at the North West – Astley Depot celebrated the improvements made at MGF’s first operational yard. Customers and colleagues explored the new facilities and enjoyed food, cake and football darts to mark the milestone occasion.
Every week the Astley Depot processes over 100 deliveries and collections and facilitates 600-800 tonnes of kit, making it MGF’s busiest depot in the country.
Brendan O’Hara, Commercial Director said, “I’m delighted to reveal the developments that have been made as part of our commitment to continuously improve our service to customers. The event was also a fantastic opportunity for customers to meet the team.”
“The increased size and improved operational capabilities of the safety division located at Astley now mean they not only act as a service centre but are also able to provide the highest levels of service, calibration and technical backup for safety equipment.” Neil Price, Regional Sales Manager.
The refurbishment has provided a covered jet wash area and two modern workshops housing high-tech support functions. These include hydraulic testing and inspection, LOLER testing and inspection, a state-of-the-art spray shop, welding and fabrication workshop and trench sheet press and refurbishment facility. The site has more than doubled in size and is able to supply the rest of the country with a selection of MGFs much larger and specialised equipment which includes 406 UC Modular Tank Brace, 600mm and 1000mm Series Tubular Props.
For shoring solutions, the research and development team revealed a glimpse of the T700 – the strongest modular bracing system in the UK – coming soon to the fleet. The team also exhibited the new and improved Culvert Puller, Piling Hammer and the award-winning MGF Pipe Lifter (Water Industry’s Health and Safety Initiative of the Year Award 2012).
The Design and Engineering department demonstrated the revolutionary platform MiDesign® – Standard Solutions, a new service allowing customers to obtain pre-engineered solutions for low risk designs.
“There’s been a huge amount of interest in Standard Solutions. Historically, customers would need to submit a request, which would then need to be designed and checked before this could be released back to the client, which could take a couple of hours to turn around. That is no longer the case. Now with Standard Solutions we can issue a design in minutes once a design brief is submitted.” explained Lee Womersley, Design Manager.
Customers also had the opportunity to jump into a major temporary works site with Virtual Reality technology, where MGF supplied the design and support for the construction of a new building at the University of Ulster, Belfast.
Colleagues, family and friends of MGF – some who have worked at the facility since the 1980s – reminisced about the early days and celebrated over 35 years of trading out of Greater Manchester with chairman Michael O’Hara.
