We manufacture products for wood, masonry and concrete construction. These different manufacturing processes present unique challenges. Teams from our manufacturing facilities continually work to implement cost-effective, sustainable solutions. Read more a bout our manufacturing process, and what our different manufacturing facilities do to increase efficiencies and reduce our impact on the environment.
Manufacturing Process
Manufacturing for Timber Construction
R&D engineers focus on material efficiencies and innovative features to minimise waste in our steel connector, anchor and fastener designs.
- Lean processes at our manufacturing plants help to reduce waste and improve production efficiencies.
- Energy-efficient lighting, heating and cooling systems further reduce our impact on the environment.
Manufacturing for Concrete Construction
- Some of our concrete construction products are used to rehabilitate and reinforce projects. This strengthening provided by these products reduces the need for complete demolition and removal of deteriorated materials to landfills.
- These concrete products contribute to the longevity and sustainability of the projects on which they are used.
- Some of the raw materials used in these products contain chemicals that are hazardous. After fabrication, these chemicals are inert and are no longer reactive.
Quality Programs
Our Quality Management System utilises the requirements of the ISO 9001 Standard, the most recognised and implemented quality management system standard in the world.
We achieved ISO 9001 registration in 1996, and believe that ISO registration is a valuable tool for maintaining our high quality standards. We integrate all of our new business locations into our quality system and most achieve ISO 9001 registration.
- ISO 9001-2015
Simpson Strong-Tie is an ISO 9001-2015 registered company. ISO 9001-2015 is an internationally recognised quality assurance system which lets our domestic and international customers know that they can count on the consistent quality of our products and services. - ISO 14001
Our French (St. Gemme la Plaine) and UK facilities are ISO 14001 certified. This standard states the requirements for an environmental management system, and applies to the environmental aspects over which our company has control and can be expected to have an influence. - OHSAS 18001
Our Tamworth, UK facility is OHSAS 18001 certified. This certification reflects an internationally applied British Standard for occupational health and safety management systems.
Use of Non-Toxic Materials
Connector products that require painting are processed using either water-based paints or powder coating. Powder paint has no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), poses no fire hazard and does not produce toxic fumes while drying. Water-based paint has a minimal amount of VOCs. Submerging our products in water-based paint rather than spraying eliminates risk of the paint being atomized into the air, further reducing the effect on air quality. We use non-toxic powder for powder-coated products, and filter and recirculate the water used in this process in powder-coated wash tanks. This eliminates wastewater entering groundwater. Both methods eliminate the volatile organic emissions associated with solvent-based paints.
Steel Recycling
In 2017, Simpson Strong-Tie recycled more than 13 million kilograms of scrap steel.
Simpson Strong-Tie evaluates two different steel recycling data points:
- Before we manufacture: what percentage of mill-certified steel that we purchase is recycled?
Our connectors are produced from mill-certified steel. It is difficult to ascertain the exact amount of recycled content in our products. We rely on the information published by the steel industry. - After we manufacture: what amount of steel do we generate as waste, and send for recycling?
In addition to using recycled steel, our metal stamping production dies and factory tooling are designed to help minimise steel waste. We recycle the scrap steel resulting from our manufacturing process at all facilities around the world.