One of the things we have wanted to do at AkzoNobel since before the factory even opened is name the production lines at our new site in Ashington.
In a nod to the site’s industrial past, we have finally decided to name the lines in our filling hall after some of the North East’s famous collieries.
As part of our Employee Works Forum’, AkzoNobel staff identified the nine coal mines that were geographically closest to our new £100 million manufacturing unit in order to come up with the most appropriate names for the lines.
“From the very early commissioning stages, we wanted the site to become embedded in the culture of Ashington and the area’s mining heritage is a key part of this,” said Jeff Hope, head of manufacturing unit at AkzoNobel Ashington.
“We have several AkzoNobel employees that used to work in the local collieries so naming the lines after the pits at Ellington, Lynemouth, Linton, Bates, Newbiggin, Woodhorn, Bedlington, Ashington and North Seaton seemed like a fitting tribute to what was once a huge part of people’s lives in the North East.”
The Ashington site was built right next to the site of the old North Seaton colliery. Operational for 102 years until 1961, during its lifetime, North Seaton colliery employed over 11,000 miners and produced up to 6,000 tonnes of coal per week.
By stark comparison, we employ a workforce of 150 people, however, when in full production, the facility will be capable of producing up to 100 million litres of paint per year.
David Chapman is an ex-colliery worker who now works at AkzoNobel Ashington as a process operator. He said: “Ashington has a strong industrial heritage and to this day, there is a strong sense of unity between those who worked in the collieries in and around the area.
“Despite the intensity of the work and the effect that the pits closing had on the town and its people, there are still many ex-pitmen who remember their time working in the mines with great fondness because of the comradery among the workers and the sense of belonging this gave them.
“I think it is a fitting tribute to name our new production lines after the local collieries because it is like a coming together of Ashington’s manufacturing past with its present and future.”
