You might think that quality assurance (QA) is a final step in the metal finishing process — but at Erie Plating, quality assurance is “baked-in” to how we handle and finish your parts.
- We develop a special plan for your job. First, when your parts arrive, our expert team will review your specifications, examine the as-received surface condition of your parts, and timeline, including any quick-turnaround requirements. If our metal finishing team believes that your finishing requirements need modifications, we'll will reach out and make sure to connect with you to assure your finishing requirements can be achieved. After this review, our finishing team will finalize the pre-plating, plating, and post-plating procedures. We'll determine how many parts should be run through the entire process the first time, to ensure we meet your finishing expectations. This is called “first article process.” Our internal finishing team examines these initial parts and either approves them internally or, if we believe necessary, we may send these initially finished parts to you for your approval before the rest of the purchase order is processed. Then we process the rest of your job. Our internal review or contract review process includes a full review of your finishing requirements, including your requirements for how the parts are safely packaged, avoiding part-to-part contact and properly shipped back to you.
- We are Nadcap-Certified for many of our finish processes. Nadcap stands for “National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program.” As explained by the Nadcap program managers, “Nadcap audits are a rigorous technical assessment of compliance to customer requirements and industry standards, conducted by industry experts.” These periodic external audits ensure we are meeting the detailed specifications for these finishes.
- We constantly monitor our tanks and equipment. Our on-site chemistry laboratory takes frequent samples of our plant and department solutions and chemistries in all our tanks, and uses a sophisticated monitoring program to record all sample dates and results, and all add or solution rotation dates. The line operators can at any time look at these results as they process your job. We continually monitor our equipment using separate software that records routine maintenance and any repairs to our equipment.
- We conduct training for all our associates. In addition to initial and routine training, every line operator must complete in-depth training and be signed-off to be able to operate a specific finishing lines and related metal finishing processes.
Our commitment to quality assurance from job start to job finish is how we provide you with right-the-first-time parts and your satisfaction with our work.