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PRODUCTS FINISHING — pfonline.com 17 MAKING PLATING LINES NEW AGAIN the Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo and all of upstate New York and Pennsylvania for 50 years. Roots to 1964 The company traces its roots back to 1964 when Frank McAlpin and Ralph Derleth cofounded McAlpin-Derleth Tool and Die in Rochester. After adding a stamping opera- tion in 1965, the company grew to start Monroe Plating as an in-house finishing operation for zinc and electroless nickel plating. McAlpin changed the company name in 1981 to McAlpin Industries after Derleth left the company. It is now a diversi- fied precision metalworking company that provides sheet metal products, assemblies and services to the telecommu- nications, computer, business machine, office equipment, medical, transportation, voting equipment, electronic, ware- house management and automotive sectors. When McAlpin retired in 1992, his sons Ken and Mike became president and vice president, respectively. The company has been one of Rochester's most successful privately-owned companies for several decades. Part of that success comes from knowing when to expand, and when to add services for customers, a challenge Rowe was tasked with solving when he needed to add capacity to Monroe Plating. "I spent about a year looking at what alternatives we had to add capacity," Rowe says. "And at the same time, I needed to show to my company management that we actually had work lined up if we spent money on a new line." Once Rowe received the go-ahead to start the project late in 2014, he worked with PKG Equipment in Rochester, a manufacturer and service provider of plating and process equip- ment. PKG has the capa- bilities to design, fabricate and install the equipment, while also servicing and rebuilding plating lines internationally. PKG Experts When Rowe met with Stephen Pontarelli, CEO of the family-owned PKG, they discussed both new and used equipment that would serve Monroe's needs. Two fully automatic hoists each have 180-pound maximum load capacity per barrel. Once Monroe purchased the line, they moved it to PKG's facility to begin refurbishing it, as well as getting its own shop ready for its installation.