Hope for the California "Black Knights"

Lately, the finishing industry in California has resembled the Black Knight character in Monty Python and the Holy Grail movie.

After the knight's arm was cut off, he simply stated, "'Tis but a scratch," and fights on. When his other arm is severed, he continues his battle as if nothing is out of the ordinary.

When regulators in 2023 started dismantling the electroplaters and anodizers who use hex chrome, the industry carried on, but didn't get much help from its national trade association. And let's be very clear: they got no help whatsoever as the local environmental agencies cut off their right arm, and their left arm was severed by the California air quality board, who set sunset rules to rid the state of these finishers, even though their local — and lack of real science — was deeply flawed.

As you will read in our article about this ongoing battle on the West Coast, a new group—the California Metals Coalition—has stepped in to help the finishers when their national trade association couldn't or wouldn't.

The CMC comprises manufacturers who rely heavily on metal finishing to complete their processes and bring their products to market. They quickly saw that a manufacturing circle that did not contain surface finishing—or, in reality, was a severely scaled-back version of what would be the metal finishing sector—was not good business for them.

As you will see in the article, the CMC stepped up with a boatload of cash — almost $1,000,000, to be exact — and helped support a study that showed that workers exposed to low levels of hex chrome in finishing operations were not harmed. Of course, this was something that most people had thought all along — especially since, in the past 40 years, you have not seen stories or studies showing massive amounts of people working in finishing operations dying from the low exposure. If that were anywhere remotely true, you would hear about lawsuit after lawsuit as potential plaintiffs would be looking to line their pockets.

But it never happened, and that is because most finishing operations operate very safely and don't want to harm their workers. However, there was a lack of scientific evidence on both sides—studies that showed there was a danger and studies that showed there was no danger—until CMC backed a study by experts who said the low exposure doesn't pose a risk.

Hats off to the few California metal finishers who connected with the CMC and helped get this study done and published in a national research magazine. They may have had an arm and a leg chopped off over the last few years, but they never gave up the fight. 

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We thank the 400+ finishing operations participating in our annual industry survey, which we have included in our issue.

The survey has only a few questions and provides a snapshot of finishers' previous year and their outlook for 2025. Finishers are optimistic about the coming year for various reasons, and we hope their optimism comes true. Operating a business in these times is not for the faint of heart, and I appreciate those who shared their insight.