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Design & Manufacture

Sustainable Design

Sustainability is at the core of every product designed by Gaelite, we build this in to our designs by following the philosophy of Eco Design. With Eco Design we look at all stages of the signs life such as Sourcing, Manufacture, Distribution, Use and Recovery.

The benefits of Eco Design

  • Higher Quality Products: Eco Design products are more versatile and are manufactured with longer lasting materials.

  • More Efficient Production: We save energy and require fewer natural resources and raw materials.

  • Fewer Emissions: They consume less energy during manufacture for lower CO2 Emissions.

  • More Sustainable Industries: Suppliers benefit from our innovation and become more committed to the environment.

  • Happier Customers: Our partners needs are met with more attractive products that satisfy an increasingly demanding public.

  • Market Differentiation: Sustainable products have added value that gives them a competitive edge.

Manufacturing for Life

Strategically signage is pivotal in representing your brand’s identity and connecting with consumers. We design our signage to last for the maximum possible duration in order to ensure your brand is presented with consistency over the expected life of the sign.

We design and manufacture our signage using a myriad of techniques to achieve a sustainable product life, for example within large signs such as Totems we galvanise the steel frame used in the sign. Galvanising is a corrosion protection process for steel, in which the steel is coated with zinc to prevent it from rusting.

What’s more, it can also be recycled with steel scrap. Galvanising protects against corrosion and prolongs the life of steel, greatly lowering the environmental and economic cost.

The initial investment of using galvanised steel for long-term protection in construction can provide cost benefits for decades.

Unlike a paint coating, the metallurgical bond that is formed through galvanising becomes part of the steel itself and is not merely a chemical or mechanical bond. Lack of attention to optimal corrosion protection can leave a damaging environmental and safety legacy.

Galvanising Process

The galvanising process uses natural resources considerately to ensure a relatively low environmental burden. Whether it’s re-galvanising, removal or reuse, galvanised steel is easily recycled.

Gaelite uses hot-dip galvanisation to protect all of its steel components from corrosion and wear. 

During the hot-dip galvanising process, a clean iron or steel component is submerged in molten zinc at a temperature of 450°C. This creates a series of zinc-iron alloy layers through a metallurgical reaction between the two materials. When the component is removed from the bath, a layer of molten zinc remains on top of the alloy layer. As it cools, it takes on the bright and shiny appearance that is characteristic of hot-dip galvanised products. Hot-dip galvanising is a highly effective method of protecting metal surfaces from corrosion and wear, and is widely used in a variety of applications.

Self Healing Sink

In the event that the surface of a hot-dip galvanised product is damaged, it has the ability to repair itself through a process known as cathodic protection. This involves the contraction of the zinc on the damaged area, which creates a new coating and helps to prevent further damage. Hot-dip galvanised products are able to self-heal in this way, making them highly resistant to corrosion and wear.

Powder-coated steel

If the surface of a powder-coated steel product is damaged, the exposed steel may rust and the rust may spread under the lacquer, eventually resulting in visible bubbles on the surface. These bubbles are commonly seen on older cars and are caused by the rust breaking through the lacquer and becoming visible.

Powder Coating Process

Gaelite’s products go through a thorough cleaning and processing procedure before being powder coated. This process occurs in a series of immersion tanks and involves degreasing, purified water, and activators.

The powder coating applied to the products does not contain any solvents and is applied using specialised nozzles that work electro-statically. After the powder is applied, it is melted in an automatic curing oven to give the product its final appearance.

Offices, Plant & Warehouse

Gaelite are placing a premium on sustainability and, as a result, are beginning to see a number of benefits, including the establishment of a healthier work environment and better overall energy efficiency and higher cost savings.

Our design scope is to create spaces that are efficient and flexible. The space is designed to be a source of employee pride. The goal was to create an environment that encouraged employees and visitors to stay and linger and inspire tenants to come out of their offices to collaborate, meet and socialize.

Over the last number of years we have implemented a large number of sustainability initiatives within our offices, plants and warehouse such as:

Waste Management

As the push for sustainable business practices continues to grow stronger, our warehouses are adopting “green” initiatives.

Gaelite has been practicing sustainable business practices, led by the guiding rules of Lean. The benefits range from positive environmental impacts to substantial cost savings.

Here are a few of the ways we have brought green warehousing practices to our facilities…

We ‘Waste Mapped’ all our processes and identified all the waste streams associated with our products and how these wastes were being managed. For all our waste streams we identified companies to assist us in the recycling of the waste particularly for some of our specialist materials which did not have readily identifiable means of recycling.

We have introduced dedicated recycling areas in all our facilities to provide our employees with clear methods of managing our waste outputs.

We engaged with and then trained all our employees on the management of the waste streams to ensure they was clear understanding why we are following this path and how it needs to be done to ensure we don’t cross contaminate our waste.

  • We ‘Waste Mapped’ all our processes and identified all the waste streams associated with our products and how these wastes were being managed. For all our waste streams we identified companies to assist us in the recycling of the waste particularly for some of our specialist materials which did not have readily identifiable means of recycling.
  • We have introduced dedicated recycling areas in all our facilities to provide our employees with clear methods of managing our waste outputs.
  • We engaged with and then trained all our employees on the management of the waste streams to ensure they was clear understanding why we are following this path and how it needs to be done to ensure we don’t cross contaminate our waste.

Office Space

Within our offices we have introduced a number of schemes to reduce our carbon footprint and promote sustainability.

  • We will be fully paperless by 2022 having already reduced our consumption by 80%.
  • A hybrid working model to reduce unnecessary travel by our team has been introduced.
  • We have introduced more plants across all our sites in order to help to recycle the air, brighten up the office, and reduce stress and other workplace nasties.
  • We have put in place a sustainable purchasing policy to ensure all office products from sustainable sources.
  • All our cleaning products and toiletries are now eco-friendly.
  • Moved offices to areas of the building with natural light.

Lighting

We have Converted our plant to LED lighting which has had a very positive sustainable impact on our environmental performance. By reducing electricity consumption we reduce our carbon footprint in the process. We made this decision for a number of reasons:

  • Halogen bulbs typically dim over time and fail after about two years.
  • LEDs last up to ten times longer. LEDs use approximately a fifth of the energy of halogen bulbs.
  • Unlike CFLs, LEDs are mercury free which is better for the environment.