Vegas Anodizing Facility on the Rise

Jessica Famiglietti always supported her husband’s ideas for business ventures, but she never expected she’d find herself building an anodizing company from the ground up. Famiglietti became president of Vegas Metal Finishing (Las Vegas, Nev.) and its sister business New Frontier Armory, a firearms dealer, distributor and manufacturer, when her husband Dave passed away last year.

Vegas Metal Finishing, which had just barely gotten started, was based on an idea sparked out of Dave Famiglietti’s sense of perfectionism. He had grown New Frontier Armory from a retail store into a manufacturer when he wasn’t satisfied with the quality of some of the firearm lower receivers, or lowers, he was seeing. He acquired a couple of CNC machines and started making lowers and various other components himself. As the company grew in the manufacturing space, he started toying with the idea of finishing his own parts.

“My husband had the intention of starting an anodizing line,” recalls Famiglietti. “But then unfortunately, in January 2019, he ended up sick. We found out February 5^th that he had melanoma and it was stage four, and he passed on March 5^th.”

At the time, Famiglietti was a real estate agent with no background in finishing. She set about picking up the pieces with the help of Kent Willis who had 30 years of experience in the industry and who had been working with Dave to get the fledgling anodizing company started. Famiglietti got things lined up and figured out as much as she could and then put Willis on the payroll as general manager.

“At some point I had a conversation with Kent and I was like ‘ok, this is going to go a lot smoother if you just get out here,’” she says.

The pair found themselves with a company to build.

“We went from a berm in the ground to getting the tanks delivered and the racks that the tanks needed to fit on, and getting the ductwork done, then getting the boiler hooked up and the rectifiers in there — all of the stuff that makes an anodizing line come together,” says  Famiglietti.

Willis recalls digging through the equipment Dave had ordered. “Tanks were on palates…  everything was on pallets. We didn’t really know anybody out here other than Dave — and he was gone. We just started piecing things together.”

“It was like a scavenger hunt,” laughs Famiglietti. “I was like, ‘What is this? He must have ordered it for something. But what does it go to?’ What is it for?”

Fortunately, the pair had also help from James Wetherald of Ronatec C2C Inc., who much of the equipment had been ordered through. The anodizing process Dave had been working on with Wetherald was a fully closed loop recycling system. All of the system’s rinse waters are recycled through a deionization (DI) water treatment feeding back into its tanks. The treatment tanks are hooded and vented through custom fabricated ventilation hoods, eliminating fumes throughout the facility.

According to Famiglietti, when it came time for inspection by environmental services and waste treatment, the city and state inspectors were pleased with the environmentally friendly approach. In addition, because Vegas Metal Finishing is the only anodizing line in Nevada, the new facility has been welcomed by the chamber of commerce. A ribbon cutting ceremony for the facility was foiled by COVID-19

Today, Vegas Metal Finishing is fully up and running, offering Type II and Type III anodizing for a wide variety of parts. As a Federal Firearm Licensed (FFL) facility, the company specializes in firearms and military hard coat plating. Of course, the company is open for other business as well and is currently anodizing racing parts (business driven by the nearby Las Vegas Motor Speedway), as well as go cart components, sunglasses and various other products.

Despite sad beginnings, Famiglietti was determined to carry her late husband’s new venture forward. Together, she and Willis have assembled a staff with more than 40 years of collective industry experience in all aspects of anodizing and a team that is ready to move Vegas Metal Finishing forward.