ENGINEERED PAINT BOOTHS & FINISHING SOLUTIONS
Published

Guys Like Ray Lucas Make A Shining Example

Having the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show up at your front door on a Monday morning is never a good sign—kind of like Mike Wallace and a 60 Minutes crew, or maybe even your in-laws. But Ray Lucas and his employees at Valley Chrome Plating in Clovis, Calif., just didn’t see it that way.

Share

Having the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show up at your front door on a Monday morning is never a good sign—kind of like Mike Wallace and a 60 Minutes crew, or maybe even your in-laws. But Ray Lucas and his employees at Valley Chrome Plating in Clovis, Calif., just didn’t see it that way.
 
There stood EPA Regional Administrator Jared Blumenfeld and a delegation of EPA and environmental folk with their hands extended and smiles on their faces, ready to give Ray and his crew a major award and a slap on the back.
 
Blumenfeld rewarded Valley Chrome Plating for its accomplishments under its National Partnership for Environmental Priorities (NPEP) program, which focuses on reducing the use of potentially hazardous chemicals in products and processes. By forming partnerships with the EPA, NPEP partners representing industry, business, municipalities, federal facilities and tribes are successfully reducing the use of toxic chemicals.
 
“NPEP success stories illustrate partner commitment to environmental stewardship and show why NPEP has adopted the slogan ‘Better Environment, Better Neighbor, Better Business,’” Blumenfeld says.
 
It’s been a long time since someone called a plater a “better neighbor,” even though 99 percent of shops abide by all the rules and regulations the government—specifically the EPA and OSHA—throw at them. It only makes the 6 o’clock news when a chemical spill occurs or some level of chromium is found in soil, and immediately the media points to plating shops as the culprit, although most often they never are.
 
So what did Valley Chrome Plating—a major plater of bumpers and truck parts—do to deserve camera crews and Blumenfeld’s smiling face at its door so early in the morning?
 
First, the company took its lead anodes at the facility and switched them for graphite ones. It replaced the hexavalent chromium bath with more environmentally friendly trivalent chromium. The EPA says the changes have resulted in the reduction of these chemicals by 9,000 lbs per year.
 
In addition to altering the materials used, Valley Chrome made changes so that it now discharges zero wastewater to the public sewers through recycling, and installed underground plumbing that captures roof run-off from the facility for re-use. This system collects up to 100,000 gal of rain water, which is then used by the facility as part of its cleaning and finishing processes.
 
Valley Chrome also installed ion exchange waste reduction systems in its manufacturing and plating operations, further reducing pollution associated with trivalent chromium as well as nickel plating.
 
But Lucas and Valley Chrome didn’t need the EPA to tell them they were doing a great—and responsible—job with their business and the environment.
 
“We get a lot of wows ... a lot of people that are just really amazed that we have an external automotive part and we’ve been successful in running a tri-chrome system,” says James Galvan, Valley Chrome’s plating supervisor.
 
Lucas, who has been a leader in the plating industry for years, says he embraced the changes.
 
“We spent about two years researching it and decided to switch to trivalent chrome,” he says. “The trivalent chromium process is more expensive than hexavalent, but some of the labor issues with employees are less.”
 
Says Galvan, “To make the change out, we actually worked two shifts, basically around the clock. I think we completed it in five days. It was kind of an ‘Extreme Makeover: Plating Edition.’”
 
Lucas doesn’t need EPA administrators to give him awards to feel good about how he runs his shop, but it sure is nice when they do notice.
ENGINEERED PAINT BOOTHS & FINISHING SOLUTIONS
Your Best Finish Starts With Us!
Precision gear pumps
OptiCenter All-in-One OC11
PF Podcast
The Finishing Industry’s Education and Networking Resource
New Acid-Free Bright Nickel Process
Filtration Systems
Heatmax Heaters ad with immersion heaters
plating and surface finishing additives
Pretreatment Washer and Finishing Equipment
Heatmax Heaters ad with immersion heaters

Related Content

Electroplating

Nanotechnology Start-up Develops Gold Plating Replacement

Ag-Nano System LLC introduces a new method of electroplating based on golden silver nanoparticles aimed at replacing gold plating used in electrical circuits.

Read More
Electroplating

Possibilities From Electroplating 3D Printed Plastic Parts

Adding layers of nickel or copper to 3D printed polymer can impart desired properties such as electrical conductivity, EMI shielding, abrasion resistance and improved strength — approaching and even exceeding 3D printed metal, according to RePliForm.

Read More
economics

Successful South African Plater Beating the Odds

Remaining focused on quality and reliability, Team Plating Works stays profitable in a volatile and challenging economy.  

Read More
Electroplating

3 Tests to Ensure Parts are Clean Prior to Plating

Making sure that all of the pre-processing fluids are removed prior to plating is not as simple as it seems. Rich Held of Haviland Products outlines three tests that can help verify that your parts are clean.

Read More

Read Next

Parts Cleaning

Education Bringing Cleaning to Machining

Debuting new speakers and cleaning technology content during this half-day workshop co-located with IMTS 2024.

Read More
Parts Cleaning

A ‘Clean’ Agenda Offers Unique Presentations in Chicago

The 2024 Parts Cleaning Conference, co-located with the International Manufacturing Technology Show, includes presentations by several speakers who are new to the conference and topics that have not been covered in past editions of this event.   

Read More
Sponsored

Masking Solutions for Medical Applications

According to Custom Fabricating and Supplies, a cleanroom is ideal for converting, die cutting, laminating, slitting, packaging and assembly of medical-grade products.

Read More
Precision gear pumps