Precision Industries Inc., McPherson, Kansas, specializes in hard chrome and plasma coatings; plus machining, grinding, and complete finishing

Mid-America Commerce & Industry, Jan 01, 1999

Precision Industries, Inc. (PII), McPherson, Kansas, specializes in wear coatings, offering precision hard chrome plating and plasma coatings.

Established in 1966 by Larry Catton and the late Russell Frisinger, Precision Industries has developed a reputation as a leader in the plating industry.

Larry Catton, president of PII, said the company began by providing precision plating and coating services to the plastics industry. Over the years it also began serving the aerospace, military, commercial aircraft, rubber, oil and gas, pneumatics, hydraulics, roll forming, forestry and textile industries.

"Our hard chrome, and quality control programs are military and FAA approved and meet the required specifications of many manufacturers."

In regard to the plastics industry, Catton pointed out that the integral plating required on a variety of tooling demanded that new innovations be developed. "The countless hours spent researching better surface preparation, jigging procedures, and electrode design allow us to process jobs that the average plating and coating companies can't handle."

PII offers a wide variety of coatings including: O.D. and I.D. hard chrome plating; plasma transfer arc (PTA); plasma flame spray, and HVOF coating (tungsten carbide, ceramics. chromium alloys and stainless).

"Our plasma flame spray system allows us to spray special metallic or ceramic coatings on a surface to improve resistance to wear, heat or corrosion," Catton said. "This highly technical equipment offers a broad range of coating materials which can be applied to new or worn parts to increase service life and reduce production costs."

"We back up our plating and coating department with the necessary equipment to finish the customer's tooling to meet his specifications. For extrusion and injection molding tooling, we have special polishing capabilities including diamond polish. We also have full grinding and machining capabilities enabling us to properly finish any plating or coating that we apply."

PII coats all kinds of tools such as extrusion dies, injection and blow molds, single and twin screws, barrel caps, sizing and calibration tooling, shafting, rolls and turbines.

Customer Service Representative Kevin Johnson, (who started in the plating department 19 years ago) said Precision Industries is always concerned about quality control and on-time deliveries. "We understand the seriousness of down-time to all of our customers. Right now we have pick-up and delivery services in 25 states.

"In the earlier years, we handled customers in the southeast from McPherson. However, as business from these companies increased, we decided we needed to be closer to them for faster deliveries. In 1986, we opened a chrome plating plant in Valdosta, Georgia. This allows our customers to pick the location that can best serve their needs," Johnson said. PII works with companies all over the United States, plus Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

The Valdosta operation has around 50 employees and there are normally 55 to 60 people working in the McPherson plant. Larry Catton said they are very proud of their experienced employees and noted that PII has never laid off a single person since its beginning. (As with other pioneering companies, Precision Industries provided some excellent training for several people who later formed their own plating companies in the area.)

Dean Catton serves as general manager of the McPherson, Kansas plant with Debbie Catton-Gray in human resources. Brad Ratzlaff heads up the sales department as sales manager, while Kevin Johnson is the company's customer service manager. Danny Koehn is the plant manager and Jim Gasper is the production manager. Larry Smith is manager of the entire Valdosta. Georgia operation. As with the McPherson plant, he is assisted by a complete administrative staff.

Precision Industries, which is making plans for a new plant on some nearby property, is located in a 25,000-square-foot building at 533 North Baer, McPherson, KS 67460. 316-241-5010. Fax 316-241-8237.