What Chem Processing does

Chem Processing, Inc. (CPI) is a privately held specialty metal finishing service provider founded in 1970 and headquartered in Rockford, Illinois. The company operates a single 50,000+ square foot campus and offers approximately 20 distinct surface treatment processes under one roof, including electroplating (cadmium, zinc, zinc-nickel, copper, silver, hard chrome, thin-dense chrome), electroless nickel plating (high/medium/low phosphorus and nickel-PTFE), aluminum anodizing (Type I chromic, Type II sulfuric, Type III hardcoat, hardcoat/PTFE), chemical conversion coatings (chemfilm/alodine), phosphate coatings (manganese and zinc), fluoropolymer coatings (Teflon, Xylan, Kynar, Maxcoat), CARC paint, dry film lubricants, stainless steel passivation, and vibratory deburring. A fully automated, software-controlled four-hoist anodizing line was commissioned in 2021/2022 through a partnership with Koch Price Walgren, enabling recipe-driven processing across multiple anodize and chemfilm variants simultaneously.

The business is B2B, serving aerospace, defense, aircraft MRO, heavy machinery, firearms, food processing, medical, oil & gas, and green energy customers. Named enterprise customers include Boeing, GE Aviation, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce, United Technologies Aerospace Systems, Rockwell Collins, L3 Communications, Honeywell Aerospace, Eaton Aerospace, GKN Aerospace, Woodward, Moog, Parker Aerospace, FMC Energy Systems, and Acciona Energy. The company is NADCAP-accredited for chemical processing across ten process categories, AS9100-certified for aerospace quality, ISO 9001-certified (Bureau Veritas), ITAR-compliant and JCP-registered (CAGE Code 7T931), making it a qualified supplier for mission-critical and export-controlled defense work.

CPI generates revenue through job-shop, project-based metal finishing services quoted per part specification, material, finish type, quantity, and certification requirements, with no public pricing. Sales are driven through direct enterprise field engagement, an in-house quoting team reachable by phone, fax, and online forms, and trade show presence at MRO Americas, NDIA conferences, Space & Missile Defense Symposium, and similar events. With 101-250 employees, an average operator tenure exceeding 15 years, and a leadership team led by President Matthew Smazik, the company is structured as a stable, mature, family-style operator rather than a venture-backed growth platform.

Name

Chem Processing

Legal name

Chem Processing, Inc.

Website

https://chemprocessing.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1970

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Chem Processing is a privately held, NADCAP- and AS9100-certified specialty metal finishing service provider founded in 1970 in Rockford, Illinois, offering electroplating, anodizing, and coating services to aerospace, defense, and industrial OEM customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Metal Finishing Services

NAICS

Coating, Engraving, Heat Treating, and Allied Activities (3328), Chemical Manufacturing (325)

SIC

Coating, Engraving & Allied Services (3470), Industrial Inorganic Chemicals (2810)

akta.pro primary industry

Electroplating & Metallization Chemicals (Cu/Ni/Au plating, additives) (IMAEAKAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Electronic & High-Purity Specialty Chemicals (IMAEABAD)

Keywords

• Specialty metal finishing
• Electroplating services
• Aluminum anodizing
• Cadmium plating
• Fluoropolymer coatings

Headquarters

HQ city

Rockford

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Metal Finishing Services (Electroplating, Anodizing, Coatings): Chem Processing generates revenue through providing specialized metal finishing services including electroplating, anodizing, chemical conversion coatings, phosphating, fluoropolymer coatings, CARC paint, and dry film lubricants to aerospace, defense, and industrial customers. Services are project-based, quoted per job or contract, and billed per specification and part complexity. The company serves as a specialty chemical processing job shop with AS9100/NADCAP-certified processes for mission-critical aerospace and defense components.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Chem Processing, Inc. is a specialty metal finishing job shop providing electroplating, electroless plating, aluminum anodizing, chemical conversion coatings, phosphate coatings, fluoropolymer coatings, CARC paint, dry film lubricants, and stainless steel passivation services. It operates as an NADCAP- and AS9100-certified processing house serving aerospace, defense, and industrial OEM customers with mission-critical surface engineering requirements, executing jobs to military and OEM specifications under quote-based, project-by-project engagements.

Product overview

Chem Processing is a metal finishing service provider offering a comprehensive portfolio of plating, anodizing, and coating processes. The core offerings include metal plating services (cadmium, copper, electroless nickel, hard chrome, silver, zinc, zinc-nickel, thin dense chrome), aluminum anodizing (Type I, II, IIB, III including hardcoat with PTFE), and specialized coatings (fluoropolymers like Teflon/Xylan/Kynar, dry film lubricants, Doerken Delta coatings, CARC paint, Chemfilm). Additional processes include phosphate coatings (manganese and zinc), stainless steel passivation, and vibratory deburring. Services serve aerospace, defense, medical, oil & gas, firearms, food processing, and heavy machinery industries with NADCAP accreditation and AS9100/ISO 9001 certifications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Aluminum Anodizing

Quantifiable outcome

• Salt spray corrosion resistance: Zinc w/ Olive Drab Hexavalent Chromate exceeds 400 hours until red rust (ASTM B117)
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Koch Price WalgrencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021CPI partnered with Koch Price Walgren to design and build the state-of-the-art automated four-hoist anodizing line completed in 2021/2022. The system incorporates quality and environment-focused inputs including conductivity-controlled rinses and algorithm-driven anodizing — reflecting a collaborative engineering partnership for proprietary process capability development.
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2010A team of three senior UIUC engineering students collaborated with CPI's engineering team on a continuous improvement project — the application of automated chemistry controls to the electroless nickel process. Students spent three months studying the process, explored existing and emerging automation technologies, and presented solutions at the UIUC campus.
• DoerkencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCPI is a licensed Doerken applicator for Delta MKS metal flake coatings (Delta-Protekt, Delta-Tone, Delta-Seal, Delta-Coll). Doerken subjects suppliers to a rigorous review process and only allows finishers with the highest-quality methods and standards to be licensed applicators. CPI is part of an exclusive number of licensed applicators serving the Midwest region. This partnership enables CPI to offer RoHS-compliant zinc and aluminum flake coatings for superior corrosion protection without hydrogen embrittlement risk.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Anoplate Corporation: NADCAP-accredited specialty metal plating and anodizing job shop in Syracuse, NY serving aerospace, defense, and medical markets with electroless nickel, hardcoat anodizing, cadmium plating, and RoHS-compliant finishes - directly comparable process catalog and customer base to CPI.
• Pioneer Metal Finishing: One of the largest independent metal finishers in North America, providing plating, anodizing, and coating services to aerospace, defense, and industrial OEM customers with multiple U.S. facilities and overlapping process depth to CPI.
• Techmetals Inc: Dayton, Ohio-based metal finishing job shop offering anodizing, plating, and conversion coatings with NADCAP and AS9100 certifications - directly competing in the Midwest aerospace supply base alongside CPI.
• Bales Metal Surface Solutions: Downers Grove, Illinois metal finishing job shop providing plating, anodizing, and passivation with NADCAP certification and overlapping aerospace/defense customer segments - nearby geographic competitor with comparable capability set.
• KC Jones Plating: Midwest metal finishing job shop (Michigan) offering plating, anodizing, and black oxide for aerospace, defense, automotive, and industrial customers - similar size and certification profile to CPI.
• Harper Surface Finishing: Midwest metal finishing services provider (Indiana/Illinois) offering anodizing, plating, and specialty coatings to aerospace and industrial markets - overlapping capabilities and target customer base with CPI.
• Master Finish Company: Wisconsin-based metal finishing job shop specializing in anodizing, plating, and specialty coatings serving aerospace and defense customers - geographic Midwest competitor with similar capability profile.

Emerging players

• Uyemura International Corporation: U.S. subsidiary of a Japanese specialty chemical manufacturer offering both plating chemicals and applied metal finishing services for electronics and industrial markets - emerging player with both chemicals supply and applicator services overlapping CPI's electroplating business.

Others

• Pavco Inc: Supplier of specialty plating chemicals, processes, and technical service to metal finishing job shops including aerospace applicators - enabler/supplier to the same industrial finishing ecosystem that CPI operates within.

Broad incumbents

• Precision Castparts Corp: Berkshire Hathaway-owned global aerospace components manufacturer (forgings, castings, machined parts) - a massive incumbent in the aerospace supply chain whose internal surface finishing capabilities and vertical integration represent both customer and competitive overhang for niche job shops like CPI.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/chemprocessing
• Facebookfacebook.com/ChemProcessing
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chem-processing-inc-

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Chem Processing