What Empire Hard Chrome does

Empire Hard Chrome is a Chicago-based industrial hard chrome plating and surface treatment company founded in 1946. The company operates the largest hard chrome job shop on the North American continent from a 125,000 square foot facility equipped with 18 plating tanks, capable of processing industrial components up to 45 feet in length and 30 tons in weight. Its proprietary technology portfolio includes the 1997 R&D Award-winning Nitrogen Ion Chrome process and branded coating lines marketed as Wearalon, Wearaseal, and EHC Hard Chrome, with manufacturing processes deliberately protected as trade secrets rather than patented to preserve confidentiality.

The company serves a diversified industrial customer base spanning automotive, rubber and tire manufacturing, paper mills, food processing, and other heavy-industry verticals, with customer relationships ranging from Fortune 500 manufacturers to smaller industrial accounts. The business model is B2B industrial contract manufacturing — revenue is generated through hard chrome plating services, component reconditioning and salvage, and specialty coating applications, supported by the Empire Partners Group ecosystem of machining and finishing partners that extends the company's scope beyond in-house plating.

Empire Hard Chrome currently operates from two Chicago plants and employs between 101 and 250 people. Its core competency is large-format, heavy-tonnage hard chrome plating combined with proprietary chemistry that competitors cannot easily replicate without decades of accumulated process knowledge. The business is a mature, family-established industrial operation with a stable but largely undifferentiated growth profile in a traditional metal finishing market.

Name

Empire Hard Chrome

Legal name

Empire Hard Chrome, Inc.

Website

https://empirehardchrome.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1946

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Empire Hard Chrome is a Chicago-based industrial hard chrome plating company founded in 1946 that plates components up to 45 feet long for automotive, tire, paper, and food-processing manufacturers, operating the largest job-shop facility on the North American continent.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Industrial Chrome Plating Services: Job shop fee-for-service model providing hard chrome plating, surface treatments, and related metal finishing services. Services include new part plating, salvage/reconditioning plating, and custom treatments. Revenue generated through per-job pricing based on part size, complexity, and treatment type. No subscription or recurring revenue model - each order is a one-time transaction.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Empire Hard Chrome is a job shop that provides proprietary hard chrome plating and surface treatment services to extend wear life and prevent corrosion on metal components. It plates new manufactured parts, reconditions worn parts through salvage plating, and offers related secondary services such as polishing, grinding, blasting, weld repair, honing, and machining across two Chicago plants serving customers from Fortune 500 companies to small shops throughout North America.

Product overview

Empire Hard Chrome is an industrial hard chrome plating service company offering a portfolio of proprietary wear treatment processes and plating services. The core product is EHC Hard Chrome, a proprietary hard chrome process (72-74 Rc hardness). This is enhanced with add-on treatments including Wearalon (PTFE infused for release), Wearaseal (moly disulfide infused for lubricity), EHC Tin Plating (corrosion protection), and Nitrogen Ion Chrome (high-hardness ion implantation). The company also provides application-specific plating services for dies, molds (rubber and standard), rolls, hydraulic components, production parts, salvage/reconditioning, and aluminum parts. Related secondary services include mold polishing, sandblasting, grinding, machining, weld repair, honing, and polishing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EHC Hard Chrome: Empire's original proprietary Hard Chrome process providing excellent surface properties without degrading base material. Yields dramatically increased wear life and corrosion protection.
• Wearalon
• Wearaseal
• Nitrogen Ion Chrome
• EHC Tin Plating

Products and services

• EHC Hard Chrome Plating Empire's original proprietary hard chrome plating process at 72-74 Rc hardness with lower coefficient of friction and low temperature (130°F) processing that does not degrade base material. Used for process tooling (molds, dies, rolls, hydraulics) and production parts across agricultural, aerospace, automotive, food processing, and textile industries.
• Wearalon (PTFE Infused Hard Chrome) Proprietary hard chrome impregnated with PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) for wear-release treatment. Locks in micron-sized PTFE for easiest release without degrading base material, usable to 550°F, effective for silicone rubber release and multiple release cycles without transfer to molded parts.
• Wearaseal (Moly Disulfide Infused Hard Chrome) Proprietary hard chrome combined with moly disulfide for wear-release treatment. Locks in micron-sized moly disulfide for longer lasting lubricity and release, with low temperature 130°F process and superior bonding through micro-penetration and high thermal conductivity.
• EHC Acid Tin Plating Environmentally-friendly proprietary acid tin plating process with superior salt-spray test results. Room temperature process with bright finish that withstands high operating temperatures, offering excellent adhesion for food processing and marine applications.
• Nitrogen Ion Chrome (PSII) Proprietary Nitrogen Ion Chrome 98 Rc technology using Plasma Source Ion Implantation (PSII). Provides omni-directional and simultaneous ion implantation with unmatched hardness, low temperature processing that does not affect surface finish, and micro-stitching of nitrogen ion chrome to base metal for unparalleled bond strength. Empire is one of only companies in the world providing this treatment.
• Die Wear Treatment Services Chrome plating services for small, intricate, close-tolerance dies as well as dies of unlimited size and weight. Reduces die wear, provides smooth hard thin lubricious surface coating, increases lubricity, reduces galling, and improves throughput and press uptime.
• Mold Treatment Services Chrome plating for compression molds, injection molds, and rubber molds of unlimited size and weight. Increases tool life, adds release qualities, reduces downtime for mold cleaning, and eliminates tool erosion.
• Rubber Mold Plating Services Specialized chrome plating for rubber molds including compression molds, injection molds, and gas mask/tire molds. Increases mold productivity up to twofold per man hour, reduces tooling downtime, eliminates parts sticking in molds, and reduces repetitive tool maintenance costs.
• Roll Plating Services Chrome plating for rolls of unlimited size and weight for any industry including steel, aluminum, stainless, and copper base metals. Uses rotational treatment method for superior deposit uniformity, providing extended wear, faster release, and reduced galling.
• Hydraulic Rod & Tube Plating Services Chrome plating for new manufactured hydraulic rods and tubes as well as reclamation of used hydraulic components. Handles parts up to 50 feet long and 30 tons in weight, with greatly extended wear protection and corrosion resistance. Includes the Seal Plus process applied on finished rod surfaces to virtually eliminate potential corrosion attack.
• Production Component Plating Services Chrome plating for all types of manufactured components, from small and intricate to very large items, plated to virtually all base metals to precision close tolerance specifications. Increases wear life and provides corrosion protection for gears, starwheels, agricultural and other production parts.
• Salvage Plating / Reconditioning Services Heavy deposit salvage plating for restoration and reconditioning of worn components for many different industries. Handles parts up to 50 feet long or 30 tons in weight, with related services including weld repair, honing, grinding, polishing, and machining. Extends wear life and saves the cost of buying new components.
• Aluminum Parts Plating Services Chrome plating services for aluminum parts across many industries, including aluminum engine cylinders. Extends wear life of aluminum parts, increases lubricity, and reduces galling.

Quantifiable outcome

• EHC Hard Chrome achieves 72-74 Rc hardness compared to conventional hard chrome at 60-62 Rc
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Empire Partners GroupminorOthersTrusted machining partners used for virtually unlimited machining opportunities. Empire refers customers to these partners for machining services beyond Empire's in-house capabilities, providing comprehensive solutions for customers needing machining alongside plating services.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Atotech (Element Solutions): Global supplier of chemistry and process technology for hard chrome, decorative plating and surface finishing — an upstream incumbent whose process licensing and chemistry roadmap shape the competitive environment Empire operates in.
• Pioneer Metal Finishing: Larger US metal finishing platform offering hard chrome, electroless nickel, anodizing and passivation across multiple plants; overlaps directly with Empire in industrial hard chrome but at greater scale and with broader service breadth.

Direct peers

• Master Finish Company: Wisconsin-based industrial plating job shop offering hard chrome, electroless nickel and specialty finishes to Midwest OEMs, competing in the same regional industrial customer pool as Empire.
• General Magnaplate Corporation: New Jersey-based provider of proprietary surface enhancement and coating technologies for industrial components, including dry-film lubricants and wear-resistant coatings analogous to Empire's Wearalon/Wearaseal line.
• Tiodize Co. California-based specialty coatings and surface treatments provider with proprietary anti-friction and release coatings for aerospace and industrial applications — comparable technology positioning to Empire's PTFE and moly-disulfide infused processes.
• KC Jones Plating Company: Michigan-based industrial hard chrome and metal finishing job shop serving automotive, heavy equipment and hydraulics — directly comparable to Empire in customer mix and service scope.
• Arlington Plating Company: Midwest-based (Palatine, IL) industrial plater offering hard chrome, electroless nickel, tin and specialty coatings, competing head-to-head with Empire for regional Midwest industrial accounts.
• Hohman Plating & Metal Finishing: Dayton, Ohio-based industrial hard chrome and metal finishing job shop serving aerospace, defense, heavy equipment and industrial OEMs — a near-direct competitive match for Empire's service mix and customer verticals.
• Industrial Hard Chrome (IHC): Specialty hard chrome plating job shop focused on industrial rollers, hydraulic cylinders and large-dimension parts — directly overlapping Empire's hydraulic and roll plating service lines.
• Bales Mold Service: Specialty mold polishing and chrome plating provider for plastic injection, rubber and compression molds — directly comparable to Empire's mold plating and rubber mold service lines.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

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 Empire Hard Chrome