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A Full Plate: Bales Metal Surface Solutions celebrates four and a half decades
We kind of live in an episode of How It’s Made,” jokes Stacey Bales, President of Bales Metal Surface Solutions, when she describes her family business. The Downers Grove based metal finishing company has been a fixture in the Belmont Avenue industrial corridor since Stacey’s father, Steve Bales, started it in 1978, alongside his brother, Mike.
Bales’ primary service is metal plating of plastic injection molds.
Plastics play a big part in everyday life, from medical supplies to packaging to home appliances. From juice caps to gym shoe soles to car floor mats, the plastic parts are made in metal plated injection molds. To prevent the metal on these molds from wearing or to restore it to its original condition, a protective nickel, chrome, or diamond plating is applied to the surface, which refinishes the mold.
“I remember my dad once brought home a box of pushpins and a map of the United States. For weeks, I pinned every city in every state where Bales had a customer.”
– Stacey Bales, President of Bales Metal Surface Solutions
Secondarily, the company also does industrial plating for metal manufacturing parts to prevent corrosion.
“My dad and uncle weren’t the most industrious students,” said Stacey. “But they always tinkered with things – they took things apart and put them back together to try to figure out how they worked.” And it served them well. Steve and Mike, two of four sons being raised by a single mother, grew up with a strong work ethic. Throughout high school, the brothers worked at a chrome plating shop in Brookfield.
“They figured out they could do better in business for themselves,” said Stacey. “My dad was 22 years old, and my uncle was a couple of years older.” The pair began polishing out of Mike’s garage in the Henry Puffer neighborhood. Soon after, they outgrew the space. The next stop was a short stint in Lombard before returning to Downers Grove. As irony dictated, the rental home they were raised in was demolished in the early ‘80s to build Bales’ current warehouse location.