AMANDA Wood of A Class Metal Finishers has provided some insight into the electroplating industry.
According to Wood, the electroplating is had to understand because of the complexity of the processes involved in plating. This has resulted in some bad press in the past because some plating companies had trouble conveying the essence of the problem, resulting in them seeming incompetent.
The process involves dozens of tanks, a variety of chemicals, water, electricity, environment, temperature, people, and a narrow band of control in some processes.
Wood says the industry must control more variables than many other manufacturing processes, even before the supply chain, economy, customer and product are added to the equation.
Although the technical plating competence across the industry is at a high level, businesses are challenged to support their skills with sound business practices. Only by doing so can companies build a strong resources base to gain significant leverage and manage complexity.
Woods claims once a strong resources base is established, electroplaters can then go the extra mile for customers, look for innovative approaches to challenging jobs, and pay closer attention to product quality.
A sustainable presence in the industry can only be guaranteed by being quality certified, having good customer relations, and properly managing health, safety and environmental factors.
The company is also focused on building skills in electroplating and metal polishing, which it says are “rare skills” and in danger of being lost.
A Class Metal Finishers has a workforce of 25-30 staff dedicated to delivery of decorative and functional electroplating services as well as metal polishing, metal parts restoration and other treatments.

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