An electroplater by job title, Joe Tekuelve has always looked at himself as a wastewater treatment kind of person.
The Plant Manager at Cincinnati’s Plating Solutions — a subsidiary of electrical manufacturer Monti — is in heaven after his company spent nearly $700,000 on a new wastewater treatment system at their facility.
“It is a jewel,” Tekuelve says as he admires the new tanks, plumbing lines, and system essentials that have taken over nearly half of a vacant warehouse attached to Plating Solutions’ expansion facility.
Adding Silver Lines to Handle Growth
Plant Manager Joe Tekuelve checks on the new system's operation.Five years ago, Monti, a company specializing in manufacturing and fabricating conductors, insulators, and steel parts for the electrical industry, hired Tekuelve to run the electroplating operations at its in-house facility, Plating Solutions.
The company focuses on plating silver, tin, and zinc on components and assemblies for the electrical industry. Plating Solutions had two silver plating lines when Tekuelve started and added another line in 2023. They are planning another silver line to be added later in 2025.
Tekuelve noticed right away in 2020 that the facility would need an updated wastewater treatment system if it wanted to grow.
“ I brought it to their attention when they hired me,” he says. “I told them the problem was that this thing is so old and not big enough. What happens if that system dies or something happens? We didn't have a lot of redundancies, and there were no controls on it, and it was all manual.”
The parent company listened, and shortly after Tekuelve started, they began discussing plans to expand the operations to handle additional work and upgrade the wastewater treatment system.
Mapping Out Upgrades and New Waste Treatment
Tekuelve says that Plating Solutions has been using the new system for seven months, and things have been running smoothly.That planning picked up in the middle of 2023 when Plating Solutions began mapping out an upgrade of new lines and waste treatment, culminating in the new treatment system installed by MacDermid Envio a few months ago.
Where they used to treat about 20 gallons of wastewater per minute—and were fairly close to maxing that out—the new system will handle 40 gallons per minute and include a cyanide treatment with a filter and press system.
“I could probably get 50 or 60 gallons out of it with a couple of modifications,” Tekuelve says. “But it could also go to 80 gallons five years later if needed.”
It is a large and in-charge system, with enough controls to run itself if needed. However, Tekuelve likes to stay active in all aspects of the plating process, from the finishing lines to wastewater.
“We've got alarms for the pH if it is not working, and for low level on tanks,” he says. “We have controls on the pump drives to start, stop, and get a high level on tanks. We've got controls out on the sumps and the plating line.”
Old System Out to Make Way for New Line
The old line in the middle of the plating operations is being torn down and removed to make way for a new silver line. The massive structure was outdated and took up prime real estate in the finishing facility.
Tekuelve adds that the biggest difference between the old and the new system is the ease of operation.
“It's very operator-friendly,” he says. “We're not spending near as much time operating this. We get it dialed in every day, and we do some checks. So now my wastewater operator —a lab guy too —is doing the lab.”
Ease of manpower is crucial, especially for Plating Solutions. Last year, the person who operated the older waste system is now the second shift supervisor, so an easier-to-operate treatment system that requires less attention can free up staff to focus on other aspects of the operation.
When the final plans for the new treatment system were approved and the components were built, MacDermid Envio had installed all the parts and had the system ready to be tested, which took about a month.
Mike Quandahl“It was a pleasure working with Joe and the Plating Solutions and Monti team to design and install the system,” says Mike Quandahl, Global Strategic Account Manager at MacDermid Envio. “The experience that Joe has had at numerous facilities with MacDermid WWT systems helped him know what options he wanted in the system and be very easy to work with. This led to a successful outcome.”
Tekuelve says that Plating Solutions has been using the new system for seven months, and things have been running smoothly.
”It’s truly been great and working very good for us,” he says. “It's a lot better than what we had.”
New Silver Line to Add to Capacity
Plating Solutions is next installing a new silver plating line to improve the capacity of its finishing production now that the new wastewater treatment plant has been installed.
The company is working with Ohio-based Corrotec to help them design and install the system. The system will offer improved throughput and be able to handle larger pieces.
“ We'll be able to handle a rack or a piece frame of six foot in front to back,” Tekuelve says. “That will work well with our six-foot bus bar or our six-foot rack of parts.”
Tekuelve had six employees when he started in 2020, and that number has grown to 14 as the workflow has increased and the demand on the plating lines and wastewater treatment has grown.
Monti used to be about 66% of the business that Plating Solutions processed, but increased work from outside manufacturers has risen that state to about a 50%-50% rate now.
Plating Solutions hopes to have its new silver line installed and running by the fourth quarter of 2025. This will give the company four lines to handle the additional work.
Investing in New Work Possibilities
Tekuelve says growth has been a plan for Plating Solutions since Monti hired him to run the operation. He says having the equipment in place now will set them up for success, as he anticipates more electrical business coming in the next few years.
”There is a lot of work out there, and we go after a lot of different work,” Tekuelve says. “If something happens in the future where we start picking up even more work, then we're already invested and ready to go.”
Tekuelve’s son is also working at Plating Solutions. He is fresh out of college and attending night school for engineering. Still, he is already following his father’s career path as he learns the ins and outs of the finishing industry, including the new treatment system.
”He'll probably have a wastewater license next six months,” Tekuelve says.
