ChromeWright Inc., Lee's Summit, MO: Hard chrome, electroless nickel plating

Mid-America Commerce & Industry, Jan 1994

ChromeWright Inc., 97 East Oldham Parkway, Lee's Summit, Missouri, offers hard chrome plating and electroless nickel plating services to manufacturers and machining companies.

"We opened this plant in March, 1988," said Jay Young, general manager. "We've developed some 250 customers across the country and even have some items sent overseas. Most of our work is for injection molders, and the aircraft and medical industries."

ChromeWright operates in a 10,000-square-foot plant just off highway 50 and highway 291 in Lee's Summit. It has the largest electroless nickel tank in Kansas, according to Jay.

"The electroless nickel plating, as the name implies, does not work from electrical charges, but is a chemical process," he said. This plating is not a bright coating, but affords the needed protection for parts used in various industries where appearance is not a prime factor.

One of the major tasks in plating is the preparation process. When only a portion of the part or assembly is to be plated, the non-plated areas must be sealed off with plastic tape. And with great accuracy. In a production run, the operator can develop a system for covering the various parts. However, since ChromeWright also handles all kinds of damaged parts and tools that need protection and perhaps a buildup, the person doing the tape work needs ingenuity, too.

One of the major financial factors in the plating business has been the EPA regulations, Jay said. ChromeWright is a fully approved plant, but the job of staying current with new requirements is never ending.

"We have a closed loop plating process. That means we never release any of our plating fluids or materials outside the plant. Our system is set up for re-cycling or reclaiming our materials. We have the equipment to rinse all areas and to reclaim any materials that might get into the air. We use 80 percent less chromium with this particular system."

"When we accumulate any residue that we can not recycle, we inform our approved hauler and it's sent to a plant in Minnesota."

Discussing injection molding dies, Jay said they can add a chrome plating from .0001 to .100. Electroless nickel plating can be done on new mold bases or rebuilds at a thickness from .0001. to .010. ChromeWright uses Niklad'" medium phos. electroless nickel in its processes.

Time is a major factor in the plating industry. Since this operation is generally near the end for any customer, they want their parts now! Jay said they work hard to accommodate any requests and are generally able to offer one-day plating. They do have pickup and delivery in the local area.

Jay has been involved in the plating business for 16 years. Steve Schmidt, foreman and production manager, has 21 years experience.