For more than three decades, Great Lakes Metal Finishing’s management team has always expected the best and braced for the worst when it comes to keeping their high-volume zinc and zinc-nickel plating operations in production.
Editor's Note: Few individuals have influenced the exchange of technical knowledge within the metal finishing industry as profoundly as Ted Mooney, P.E. Engineer, consultant, educator, author, and co-founder of Finishing.com, Mooney has spent nearly six decades helping platers and surface finishers solve problems and advance the industry. In this first-person reflection, he shares highlights from a remarkable career that began in 1967 and continues to inspire finishing professionals worldwide.
Plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) has emerged as a leading surface engineering technology for improving the tribological and corrosion performance of lightweight structural alloys, including aluminum, magnesium, titanium, and zirconium.
The Korea Institute of Materials Science says it has developed a technology that makes silver-plated layers on repeatedly contacting electrical components harder and more wear-resistant.
How quickly will AI be able to help those in the finishing and coating industry?
Every Sunday, the arrival of the Los Angeles Times was more than a routine; it became my anchor during a time of deep uncertainty and transition in a new country.
Solstice Advanced Materials will acquire MacDermid Enthone’s parent, Element Solutions, for approximately $14.5 billion, including the assumption of net debt.
This is the follow-up to the article I wrote in November 2025, titled “AI – Amplified Intelligence or Alienating Intelligence?”
A finishing operation includes an electroforming step that uses a sulfamate nickel plating solution about which they know very little.
For more than six decades, Electro-Spec has quietly built a reputation as one of the most technically advanced and innovative high-reliability plating companies in North America.
The Minnesota Association of Metal Finishers will host its annual golf tournament on Friday, August 7, at Majestic Oaks Golf Club in Ham Lake, Minnesota.
Brass components are widely used in heat dissipation and thermal emission devices due to their high thermal conductivity and ease of processing.
When representatives from Boeing arrived at 3P Processing in Wichita, Kansas, several years ago, they delivered a message that left Terry Karst both surprised and humbled.
Thinking about succession can be overwhelming for many owners, and the pressure to get it right can make it easier to put off than to face.
For many finishers, electrical consumption is one of the largest expenses in a facility, and older rectifier systems can consume significantly more power while also taking up valuable production space.
A paradigm is a standard model or framework for how something should be done. It’s a focus or a set of shared assumptions that shapes how you perceive things and solve problems.
Plating on Plastics (PoP) requires specific surface pre-treatment steps to enable metallization.
The Metal Finishing Association of Southern California’s annual golf outing on May 11 brought together the region’s surface finishing community for a day focused on networking, advocacy, and industry support — while also generating a record amount of fundraising revenue for the association.
A shop manager wrote to me about an issue with their electroless nickel plating process, in which a localized stain occurred.
To achieve superior interfacial bonding between carbon fibers and an Al matrix, this study employed a simplified electroplating system to deposit Ni coatings on carbon fibers using an additive-free electrolyte.
Finishers will be seeing more than a 40% rise in the cost of hexavalent chromium chemicals after the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a preliminary affirmative ruling in its antidumping investigation.
