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Original Date: 06/02/1997
Revision Date: 01/18/2007
Survey Summary
Sharretts Plating Company, Inc., a privately owned company, has been in business in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania area since 1925. Currently located in Emigsville, Pennsylvania, Sharretts employs 45 personnel, and encompasses 68,000 square feet. Maintaining its operations in the 95th percentile of U.S. platers, the company performs diversified, functional industrial electroplating (e.g., zinc, tin, palladium-nickel, gold) and some decorative plating. In 1993, Sharretts won the Pennsylvania Industrial Excellence Award for Environmental Achievements.
Sharretts represents the first plating company to be surveyed by the Best Manufacturing Practices program. The facility is run by a Plant Manger and an Environmental, Waste Minimization, and Safety Manger who support one another, perform diverse functions, and interact with employees. Committed to continuous and ongoing improvement, Sharretts promotes a proactive approach to environmental and safety issues; maintains open communications with its employees; and strives for customer satisfaction by providing high-quality, prompt service at a competitive price. Among the best examples were Sharretts’ source reduction and water reuse; plant task team; and ISO-9002 certification.
Committed to reducing waste in all aspects of its business, Sharretts’ primary goal is optimizing water usage while minimizing waste. Among the company’s innovations are capturing water through a water reuse system and recirculating it through various operational processes; implementing cascading rinses for the running rinse tanks in all of its major plating lines; and installing evaporators on the still rinse tanks after the zinc-plating baths.
Sharretts has established a Plant Task Team to address the plant’s overall appearance and the requirements for preventive and predictive maintenance. As a result of the team’s efforts, Sharretts has improved its overall appearance; increased its productivity and profitability; and gained many benefits by emphasizing a formal system with dedicated personnel to monitor, track, and schedule facilities and maintenance needs.
ISO-9002 certification has provided Sharretts with well-documented procedures, effective ways to communicate, and a training system. The company believes that ISO certification has been well worth its implementation and maintenance costs. The major impact from certification has been a dramatic improvement in quality and consistency. Sharretts uses consistent operating procedures to run the shop, and customized line manuals for each plating line as well as support areas (e.g., office personnel; laboratory technician; shipping and receiving; quality assurance and control).
Overall, Sharretts has made great strides during its transition to become ISO-9002 certified. As the second plating company in North America to achieve this status, Sharretts showed its determination by complying with stringent environmental regulations and establishing quality processes in training, communications, design, and maintenance. The company has realized a 35% to 45% material cost reduction over three years as a result of certification. The BMP survey team considers the following practices to be among the best in industry and governme
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