Val-Kro hopes new service will spur job growth
Anodizing facility aims to create 6 jobs
Val-Kro, a North Tonawanda metal finishing company, hopes a new investment will spur an increase in its work force after a vital source of business went offshore a year and a half ago.
The company has just completed a $500,000 project that added an anodizing facility, a process that strengthens aluminum. Val-Kro hopes to add at least six jobs over the next three years to its current staff of 12, said Michael Deakin, president.
A sister company in the same River Road complex, called Tonawanda Valve, used to chrome plate as many as 100,000 automotive engine valves a day for the auto industry. The two sister companies at one point had a combined work force of nearly 50 people.
But in 2007, its customer TRW Automotive, decided to take the engine valve work offshore, forcing Tonawanda Valve to close.
Val-Kro has more recently focused on electroless nickel coatings, micro finishing and atmospheric heat treating. It was looking for other ways to apply its metal finishing, metallurgical and chemistry experience.
Customers suggested anodizing as a good fit, given the expanded use of aluminum in many manufacturing processes, including for the aerospace, auto and defense industries, Deakin said.
Anodized aluminium, he said, “is just about the hardest metal you can get.”
Deakin said he doesn’t see the anodizing work at risk of going offshore, since it involves smaller-volume work on components.
To support the project, Val-Kro received assistance from the New York Power Authority, the Niagara County Industrial Development Agency, the City of North Tonawanda, as well as cooperation from the United Auto Workers, Deakin said.
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