Industrial Electroplating Company, Inc. (IEP) was founded in 1971 by Walter C. Prescott . With only two employees, he set out with a mission: to be the best. He had a strategy: to deliver top quality plating with quick delivery. Mr. Prescott also wanted to establish a reputation of being very dependable and professional - a reputation that he knew would take hard work to earn.
IEP began in a 4,000 square feet building with a small zinc line capable of doing both barrel and rack plating. A line for black oxide plating was operated 2-3 days per week. In those early days, Walter and another IEP employee would make early morning pickups at area companies. All orders picked up in the morning would be delivered back early the next morning. That meant many late nights to ensure delivery would be made on time. That same practice of next day delivery is still being performed for many customers, some of whom were on that original delivery route.
IEP has grown steadily over the years, encompassing almost an entire city block, and has several buildings totaling 70,000 square feet. A 15,000 square foot warehouse for shipping and receiving is located three blocks from the main office at 1401 Gaston Avenue. The company currently has 68 employees and 10 processing lines. Seven of these plating lines are automated and can process large volumes of material in a short period of time. The three other lines are manual lines for processing small orders. No job or customer is too large or too small.
From the beginning, IEP’s founder made a commitment to quality. With that in mind, IEP attained
ISO 9001:2000 registration in 2003. ISO 9001:2000 ensures our customers that IEP meets international quality requirements.
On December 31, 2000, IEP experienced a fire which resulted in four plating lines and the waste water treatment system being destroyed. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but it was an extremely tough time for all the employees of IEP. Remarkably, with much hard work and help from suppliers, IEP was able to start processing plating lines just two weeks after the fire. Company officers also worked to find alternative plating sources for customers whose needs we were temporarily unable to meet. Now, with the recovery plan in motion and all employees working together, IEP became fully operational again in December 2001, with all lines operating and a new waste water system that can process 150 gallons per minute. The fire was a set back, but Mr. Prescott and his employees are as determined as ever to achieve IEP’s goal of being the best.
