REINVENTING TANK ANCHORS TO REDUCE EARTHQUAKE RISK [OUR STORY]
WHEN TRAGEDY STRUCK
Will Lomax watched as thousands of gallons of hard-earned, world-acclaimed Sauvignon Blanc disappeared down the drain. He was standing alongside a winery owner and they could do nothing to make it stop.
The two men had just realized the effects of the 2013 Magnitude 6.6 Marlborough earthquakes, and it was devastating.
In wineries throughout the region, wine tank walls cracked and buckled, and their stands folded. Stainless steel crumpled and valuable wine sprayed from tanks, leaking ankle-deep onto the ground.
Pinot Noir spilling out of a wine tank damaged by the 2013 Marlborough earthquake
THE DAMAGE WEIGHED HEAVILY
Will worked with winery owners to assess the damage to their wineries. While delivering news on expensive repairs, he couldn’t hide from the pain and frustration he saw.
Losses from the catastrophe were not just the immediate loss of wine. Without fully-functional tanks, wineries lost their means of production. Many lost their market share as retailers and distributors moved quickly to replace lost suppliers.
It was obvious to him that the failure of traditional tank anchoring systems demanded a better engineering response.
ONGUARD WAS BORN
Will responded to the tragedy by founding Team ONGUARD that year. Together they designed an innovative, multiple award-winning seismic anchoring system capable of withstanding an entire earthquake and its aftershocks.
ONGUARD systems were soon installed throughout New Zealand, and they successfully protected 15 million gallons of wine in over 300 wine tanks, with a 100% success rate, when the 2016 Magnitude 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake struck three years later.
Today ONGUARD is firmly rooted in both New Zealand and the West Coast of the USA, In addition, it is expanding its reach to Texas, Chile, Italy, and other global locations.
ONGUARD doesn’t stop at wine tanks; ONGUARD’s patented energy-dissipating systems are capable of protecting all kinds of liquid storage tanks. Food and beverage tanks, oil and gas tanks, and dairy tanks are just a few on the list now sporting ONGUARD anchors.
Meet our team and find out why we keep growing.
