If you are going big in the plating industry, you might as well do like Gatto Industrial Platers and go King Kong big.
George Gatto Jr.The Chicago finishing company several years ago installed what it calls its King Kong zinc plating line, which has 27-foot long tanks and cranes that can lift up to 8,000 pounds.
At 27-feet long, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet deep, company president George Gatto Jr. says it makes it one of the largest zinc electroplating lines in the U.S., if not the largest.
“It gives us the capability to zinc plate extra-long or heavy parts that nobody else can while maintaining our same high level of quality and service with quick turnaround times,” says Gatto.
Plating Larger Sections or Entire Assemblies
The "King Kong" zinc plating line, which has 27-foot long tanks and cranes that can lift up to 8,000 pounds.Gatto’s father, George Sr., is chairman of Gatto Industrial Platers and the one who gave the line its King Kong nickname. The benefits of installing such a heavy-duty line were obvious then and are enjoyed by the facilities customers today.
- Plating larger sections or entire assemblies — rather than multiple small components — can reduce assembly and manufacturing costs.
- Providing a more consistent finish and better aesthetics since there is no “double-dipping” required for oversized parts.
- Lead time reduction is realized through improved processing efficiency due to larger tanks.
Gatto says the line is great for long parts such as hex shafts, bar stock, tubing, and threaded rods; large frames like electronic enclosures, cabinets, and server racks; large plates such as machine bases and robotics components; large weldments like material handling pallets, safety cages, and conveyor systems; and large machined parts such as hydraulic blocks, hinge pins and bridge anchor blocks.
“It really gives us an advantage over a lot of other plating operations,” says Gatto, who adds that the line also allows large parts that previously had to be galvanized or painted to protect them against corrosion can now be plated with a high-performance clear trivalent chromate zinc finish that offers superior protection and is RoHS compliant.
Focused on Zinc and Zinc-Nickel
Founded in 1974, Gatto Industrial Platers focuses on zinc and zinc-nickel electroplating out of their 210,000-square-foot facility on a 9.5-acre site on Chicago’s southwest side. Not all parts need to be huge: their system is designed to handle any requirement-from a 1/16 inch rivet or from a small prototype run to a large volume stamping job. Gatto says they process over 300 tons of material each day and pride themselves on short lead times for big orders.
Gatto Industrial Platers also has an extensive barrel plating operation that is a cost-effective solution for mass finishing of fasteners, small-machined parts, and small stampings. Their 31-station barrel line is also one of the largest in the Midwest, as well as a high capacity 15-station rack plating line with oversized tanks to accommodate large and heavy parts up to 15 feet in length and 1,800 pounds.
“We are really set up to do just about everything anyone needs from us, size-wise,” Gatto says. About 80% of the materials used to build the line were repurposed, thereby preventing more than 1 million pounds of material from cycling back into the scrap yards.
The company is about 25%-30% in the automotive sector, with building and structural products, electronics, heavy equipment, oil and gas, and telecommunications rounding out the other industries the plater serves.
“We have a lot of heavy-duty and agricultural work with John Deere, Caterpillar, and those types of companies,” Gatto says. “A lot of it has to do with the area we serve being in Chicago, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa area; it has really been a good chunk of business for us.”
Wide Breadth of Capabilities
Gatto Industrial Platers has landed some most interesting projects, including the framing system at the $5 billion SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles which just recently hosted the NFL Super Bowl.But having such a wide breadth of capabilities — and its King Kong size capacities — is one reason Gatto Industrial Platers has landed some most interesting projects, including the framing system at the $5 billion SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles which just recently hosted the NFL Super Bowl.
SoFi Stadium was designed by HKS Architects in Los Angeles, and the space frame of the stadium was designed and engineered by DSI Spaceframes in collaboration with Crown Corr. It was manufactured by DSI, the nation’s leader in such systems and the only space frame manufacturer in the U.S. using all American-made steel components.
“Designing the space frame structure to support the outer perforated panel skin of this stadium was anything but a simple project,” says Josh Chambers, DSI president. “Each surface panel was unique in shape and pattern, playing its own strategic part in the structure’s final appearance.”
According to Metal Architecture.com magazine, “experience has taught DSI that zinc plating serves as a good corrosion-resistant undercoat and protects the frame if the powder coat becomes damaged. After years of experience with multiple platers, DSI now relies exclusively on Gatto Industrial Platers for this critical work.”
Gatto says the nodes were a challenge due to both their spherical shape and holes on all sides of the parts, which following plating were then powder coated in the custom colors specified in the architect’s design.
“We used a variety of plating techniques to prevent solution accumulation, air pockets, and insufficient coating in the holes themselves,” he says. “The space frame components were not easily replaceable if lost or mixed with the wrong batch, which made order identification and tracking a critical part of the process.”
From Tool-and-Die Maker to Plater
Gatto Industrial Platers has a 210,000-square-foot facility on a 9.5-acre site on Chicago’s southwest side.Gatto’s father, George Sr., was a tool-and-die maker before launching his own business at the age of 27. A motorcycle enthusiast, he started out manufacturing and plating springer front ends for Harley-Davidsons. When that fad faded, he switched to plating parts, mainly for the furniture industry.
In 1976, George Sr. joined forces with his father and brother to buy a metal plating company from his brother’s father-in-law, and Gatto Industrial Plating was born. He and his father bought out his brother a year later. With his dad running the office while George Sr. was building the business, the company blossomed into one of the largest metal platers in the nation.
Gatto Industrial Plating employs over 150 people, including company president George Jr., and his sister Maria Pearson, who handles marketing and special projects.
The company’s top suppliers are Dipsol of America, MacDermid Enthone Industrial Solutions, Acculabs, and American Chemical in Chicago. Gatto says going forward, he is committing his management team and employees to offer improved service to its customers through better communication and status updates.
“When I first came in, we were a bit understaffed, and that led to some problems with responsiveness and customer service,” he says. “It’s an area that I am really working with our team very hard on to get better at, and we have made some major improvements, but I still think we can get better at it.”
Incorporating ERP into Customer Service Initiatives
Incorporating their existing ERP software into customer service initiatives is a key to making their processes flow more efficiently, Gatto says, and should help improve communication between their staff and customers.
That includes allowing customers the opportunity to sign in to the Gatto Industrial Plating website someday to check on the status of their orders and to know when to expect deliveries.
Gatto says his motivation is something that one of their top customers told him a while back that has been the driving force in improving their customer service efforts without needing to add more staff or duties.
“One of my customers gave me some great advice a while back,” Gatto says. “He told me, “I love talking to you, but my best suppliers are the ones that I never have to contact.’”
The message was clear to Gatto and his team: join up their outstanding finishing process with timely communication and keep their customers up-to-date.
“Beyond growth, we want to improve efficiencies where we can,” he says. “We want to add business, but we also want to make sure we are doing it right when we add it.”
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