David Vaughn doesn’t just want to know that his customers are happy with the services that his company, Ace Anodizing and Impregnating, are providing them; instead, the president of the shop wants to know if his customer’s customers are happy.
“It’s all about providing solutions for our clients,” says Vaughn, the second of three generations of owners of the Hillside, Illinois shop, just west of downtown Chicago.
From left, Systems Director Eva Vaughn Curto, President and Owner David Vaughn, and General Manager Paul Jahnke.“Our team takes pride in seeing the end use of the products we coat,” he says. “When we get feedback from a client — whether large or small — that they appreciate what we did for them and how much they and their customer appreciate it, then it is a good day.”
Aside from anodizing and chromate conversion services, Ace Anodizing also provides powder coating on parts up to 24 feet, resin impregnating, and precision cutback sawing capabilities. All aluminum parts go through a chromate conversion pretreatment prior to powder coating.
Mike Battaglia, Ace’s vice president of sales and marketing, says the shop offers a full range of anodizing finishes, including Type II and III clear and colors, bright dip anodizing and 2-step architectural anodizing with electrolytic coloring on parts up to 282 inches in length.
Expanding Services to Almost 80,000 SF
In 2018, the shop added more space to bring total plant square footage to approximately 80,000 sq. ft. This allowed for a relocation and reconfiguration of shipping and receiving, addition of a precision cutback sawing department and expansion of their 24-foot architectural anodizing line to accommodate the addition of Hard Coat anodize on parts up to 282”. They also added warehouse space and streamlined their material handling processes.
Ace Anodizing noticed an increased volume of RFQ’s for large parts for Type III. After doing a market analysis, surveying our customers, and looking at our competitor’s capabilities, Battaglia says they concluded that there is a tremendous need for this in the marketplace.
“With the addition of the Type III hard coat anodizing capabilities to our large anodizing line, a new extrusion cutting department and a more efficient plant layout, we can better serve our existing clients and fill yet another need in the marketplace,” Battaglia says. “It allows us to increase our throughput and increase the flexibility of some process tanks on the existing hard coat line,” he says. “It dovetails well with our other capabilities, so we decided to launch the effort to incorporate it into our offerings. Some of the applicable markets are extruders, fabricators, marine, aerospace, recreational, and structural/architectural.”
Founded in 1959
Ace Anodizing and Impregnating was purchased by the father of the current owners in 1959 as a garage shop in Lyons, Illinois, and moved to Hillside in 1961. Processes were added and expanded in 1992, and a 35,000 square foot expansion with the addition of a 24-foot architectural 2-step anodize line was completed in 2009. The 2018 expansion brought another 15,000 square feet to the facility.
Vaughn is president and owner, and Nanci Vaughn serves as vice president and is an owner too. Aside from Battaglia, other managers include Paul Jahnke as General Manager and Eva Vaughn Curto as Systems Director.
Ace Anodizing serves a broad range of industries, including recreational, RV, marine, medical, ordnance, hydraulic components, cookware, machine shops, architectural, tanks, and die castings, to name a few.
The expansion of the powder coating operation now allows them to coat parts up to 24-feet wide by 10-feet high by 8 feet. They recently completed a powder coating job of large tanks to be used in industrial parts washing. These 500-pound formed and welded tanks measured 14 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet high.
Vaughn says that when the customer approached Ace about the job, they were searching for a solution to their problem: they needed eight very large tanks, all powder coated with an architectural fluro-polymer custom color.
“These tanks needed to withstand high heat, high pressure, humidity, and have good chemical resistance as these were to be used in the parts washing industry,” Vaughn says.
Powder Coat Up to 24 Feet Long and 3,000 Pounds
Since Ace had the capacity to powder coat large objects, up to 24 feet long and up to 4500 pounds, the client was able to fabricate their tanks prior to powder coating. This ability improved the client’s efficiency and lead time.
“This customer came to Ace looking for a solution,” Battaglia says. “They had a contract for a large parts washer system that needed powder coating. Full coverage was critical, making post finishing assembly questionable. Due to the size of our oven and crane capacity, they not only could ship us the tanks fully fabricated before finishing, but we were also able to run several of them in succession and allowed them to meet the project deadline.”
Ace was able to turn these tanks around on time, in five days. Battaglia says Ace is one of the few companies in the US that can accommodate such large items for powder coating. The facility has 75 employees working on two shifts.
“Everyone is focused on the customer,” Vaughn says. “We have been around for over 60 years, and that has always been the case. We provide a safe, clean working environment for our employees and are always focused on continuous improvement.”
Seeking New Ways to Address Needs
Battaglia says Ace is always looking for new ways to address needs in the marketplace.
“That has been the genesis of the last two expansions and process additions,” he says. “We also have increased our electronic marketing presence to expand our business outside of the physical geography we cover.”
Ace Anodizing also added new and increased cutting capabilities with a Precision Cutback Saw System designed for production cutting of bars or extrusions to close tolerances. The system uses a computer-controlled back–gauge for accurate sawing performance and improved throughput.
Ace can now cut material 8-inches high, 24-inches wide, and up to 24-feet long, which provides more turn-key services for their customers.
“We continue to focus on the needs of its clients,” Battaglia says. “It is part of our strategic, customer-driven focus.”
Vaughn says there has been a tremendous amount of investment into the business, which has been driven by customer needs and bringing solutions to the marketplace.
“As the sophistication of our customers and markets grow, we will continue to need to get better in everything we do,” he says. “Just because we don’t offer it today doesn’t mean we won’t offer it down the road. As the markets change, we have the ability to respond quickly.”
