Gloria, Gloria, Gloria in excelsis

It has long been the tradition to give ships names, Amarjit Binji – or rather his children – went further and named his Ranheat boiler system Gloria.

Chris Franklin MD at Ranheat Engineering, a leading UK manufacturer of wood combustion equipment-continues his series of articles exclusively for Furniture and Joinery Production This issue he looks at one of his most successful customers, and their boiler system Gloria.

Amarjit Binji is a time-served carpenter and joiner/wood machinist – he is now CEO of AJB Woodworking Ltd T/A AJB Group based in Corby.

From humble beginnings in Oadby Leicestershire the AJB Group has continued its growth driven by its founder Amarjit Binji. Last year Amarjit was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the very competitive Midlands Business Awards 2022.

Chris Franklin writes: “I first met Amarjit in 2004 when I sold him a 150kW warm air heater, this was for his site in Oadby. As AJB Group continued to grow and expand, it wasn’t that long before that this needed changing to a 300kW warm air system and a much bigger storage silo.

When they expanded again to another site in Corby, a much bigger boiler system was needed. This time it was a Ranheat 980 kW system, that being boiler based, it was able to receive support under the Government’s Renewable Heat Incentive.”

Amarjit has always led from the front, never asking anyone to do something he wasn’t prepared to do himself, so initially he looked after the new boiler system. He continues to monitor Gloria personally.

Gloria was named by Amarjit’s children, Jai and Aaron, and ‘she’ is fitted with the latest Ranheat ceramic flue gas filter system and automated tube cleaning. The filter and boiler tubes are cleaned using compressed air released by fast acting solenoid valves. When a valve triggers it expels a sharp pulse of air that creates a shockwave down the filter element or boiler tube. This gives a loud hiss that Amarjit’s’ children, Jai and Aaron, described as ‘Gloria sneezing!’

With a boiler now close on 1mW there was plenty of capacity, so as well as heating the entire factory and extensive canteen facility, the boiler was to provide heating and replacement air to an extensive spray facility in the new factory.

Ranheat designed and installed the entire pipework distribution system for AJB Group, which includes, amongst other features, a circulated system for the hot water coming from the taps, this was not to save on energy but on water use, so you don’t waste water waiting for the water to come through hot. There is only a short pipe from the ring main to the tap.

Amarjit believes to get the best from colleagues you give them the best comfort, welfare and working conditions that are possible, then you get the best results – and the knock-on being that you can attract the best people in your area. Once you have them, train them and look after them, they are an investment for life.

Ranheat Engineering 01604 750005 sales@ranheat.com www.ranheat.com

AJB Group 01536 267 139 www.ajb-group.co.uk

A joinery and shopfitting business based in Kent has purchased a wood waste heater from Wood Waste Technology.

Sublime Retail Display in Sittingbourne has been established 11 years and primarily manufactures furniture and shopfitting items for retail.

Aware of the rising cost of energy, Director at Sublime Retail Display, Steve Baker, realised that the business would benefit from burning the waste wood and offcuts from the manufacturing processes to generate free heating for the business – so contacted Wood Waste Technology.

“We recognised that purchasing a wood waste heater could reduce our wood waste disposal bills, whilst also eliminating heating bills,” Steve explains. “To keep the area warm in the winter months we were using gas heaters, but realised a wood waste heater could make the gas heaters redundant, as we’d generate free heat from burning our waste wood!”

After speaking with Kurt Cockroft at Wood Waste Technology, the business ordered a WT15 heater that was installed by Wood Waste Technology’s experienced engineers.

Rather than being situated within Sublime Retail Display’s workshop, the wood waste heater was installed on a pre-developed site just outside the building. As a result, the heat was able to be pumped into a couple of other neighbouring businesses who share the site, helping them to save money on heating bills too!

“We’re delighted with our purchase,” says Steve. “The wood waste heater keeps the workshop warm, even on really chilly days, and it’s very easy to use. I’d estimate we’re saving around £800 a month on skip hire, as we need as least two fewer skips than we used to. We’re also no longer paying for gas to heat the workshop, which in the current climate is a huge blessing! We’d definitely recommend Wood Waste Technology to others, as the product is robust and customer service impressive. Any businesses that are similar to ours and generate a significant amount of waste wood should definitely consider investing in one, as it’s a nobrainer!”

Managing Director of Wood Waste Technology, Kurt Cockroft, adds: “Some businesses can pay back their investment on a wood waste heater in less than 12 months, especially with the current energy prices. It just makes sense for a business to run the numbers, to see how much they could save by investing in a wood waste heater to reduce waste disposal costs and generate free heating.”

Wood Waste Technology’s years of expertise in wood waste solutions have helped many companies reduce their waste disposal and heating costs. As well as offering site survey, design, manufacture, installation and on-going maintenance for new units, the company also services all types of wood waste heaters and supplies genuine spares which, it is proud to claim, are up to 60% cheaper than other suppliers. www.woodwastetechnology.com www.grossuk.co.uk

In addition, Wood Waste Technology is the UK official distributor for Gross Apparatebau GmbH, a German manufacturer of dependable, precision engineered shredders and briquetters, available in various size and specifications to suit all business applications.

Call Wood Waste Technology on 01785 250400 or visit the company website for more information.

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