Metal parts that are highly visible on commercial products need to look nice and shiny—that’s where Reliable Plating Works in Milwaukee comes in.
The company uses electroplating, a multi-step chemical process, to coat steel and stainless steel parts with decorative nickel and chrome.
Reliable’s work covers a wide range of products, from a brushed satin finish on a Harley-Davidson Night Rod exhaust pipe to highly polished chrome finish on a music stand, said Jaime Maliszweski, president and chief executive officer.
The company serves the motorcycle, furniture, display, bicycle, barbecue, lawn and garden, appliance, hardware, hand tool and medical equipment markets, among others. Major local customers include Master Lock in Oak Creek, InSinkErator in Racine and Kohler Co. in Kohler.
Reliable was founded in 1929 by Julian Maliszewski, Jaime Maliszewski’s grandfather. Jaime’s father, John, took over in 1977 and then Jaime and his brothers, Jack and Jeff, bought their father out in 1998.
Plating is an electrochemical reaction that bonds atoms of nickel or chrome to a piece of steel. The coating is thickened atom by atom through an extensive process, Jaime said.
Before putting parts through the plating reaction, Reliable Plating polishes, buffs, deburrs and vibrates until they are as receptive as possible.
The parts are put on a rack, any internal parts are shielded from the reaction, and then a computer “recipe” is entered and the rack is dipped into a series of 26 tanks, he said. They include, cleaners, rinses, caustics and mixes that create barrier layers and then adhere multiple nickel or chrome layers on the part.
“You keep building thicknesses to protect that substrate so it can keep moving through,” Jaime said.
Reliable plates about 2,500 square feet of steel per hour. The automated process runs 24 hours per day, five days per week.
The company has safety precautions in place to protect workers from fumes and caustic liquids, and the waste from its processes is treated before disposal, Jaime said.
Since each part is different, Reliable Plating works with each customer to design and engineer the plating. It also offers classes for customers about cost drivers, how the process works and strategies for improving the process.
“Our customer is also our supplier of raw material,” Jaime said. “We try to explain to our customers how we can help them get a better overall product.”
Reliable and sister company Elite Finishing have taken a different approach to cutting costs, which helped them through the recession. The companies teamed up with other area platers to form Brilliance LLC in 2000, a holding company used for purchasing bulk supplies, leasing equipment and forming a larger insurance pool.
In addition, the partners direct customers to each other based on abilities and specialties.
“Milwaukee really has come together and worked well together in the plating industry,” Jaime said. “We work as a team to make sure our customers get better deals.”
Reliable has about $11 million in annual revenue, and 2012 sales should exceed 2007 sales for the first time since the recession, he said.
Molly Newman covers manufacturing for BizTimes Milwaukee. Send news to her at molly.newman@biztimes.com or call her at (414) 336-7144.
