When it comes to polishing, sometimes less is more.
John and Sarah Carey are the grandchildren of the company founder, R. John Carey.And when it comes to Aamro Corporation — a three-generation family-owned metal finisher in Broadview, Illinois — decades of experience inform them when a part has reached completion.
Tom Mrock, the Product Finishing Manager at Chicago White Metal (CWM), says the key to Aamro’s high quality finishing is knowing when to stop the process.
“Some people want to chase after things like parting lines,” he says. “That’s the worst thing you can do as a polisher, and yet Aamro’s people have a true skill for knowing when a part is finished.”
Blasting, Deburring, Shot Peening, and Polishing
R. John Carey founded Aamro in 1946 and eventually passed the torch to his son Richard Carey. Presently, day to day operations are managed by Richard’s children, Sarah Carey and John Carey. Originally located in Chicago, the company moved to Broadview, Illinois in 1999.
Started as a deburring job shop, Aamro added services throughout the years to include blasting, shot peening and equipment and supply sales. Surprisingly, it was only 10 years ago that Aamro added its aluminum polishing division and quickly became known as a facility that could churn out exceptional work on die castings.
More recently they constructed a building dedicated to magnesium polishing.
Aamro works with die casters throughout the Midwest as well as stamping, fastener, and spring manufacturers and machining and welding job shops. They serve industries as diverse as medical, automotive, military, appliance, and food equipment. Chicago’s vibrant cultural landscape has given Aamro unique opportunities to work with artists, architects, and museums on many exciting projects throughout the years.
Sarah says she looks forward to the feedback she gets from their customers, some of whom give monthly, quarterly, and annual feedback surveys on how well they are finishing parts to meet specifications.
“Reading those, I know we do a really good job,” she says. “We don’t see a lot of rejects. Our customers don’t see problems three steps down the line.”
‘An Extension of Our Own Company”
Aamro has a solid partnership with CWM and handles a lot of their polishing, vibratory finishing, and blasting, so much that CWM considers them “an extension of our own company.”
“The quality of work that comes out of Aamro is impeccable,” Mrock says. and he appreciates the open dialog between the two companies.
Aamro recently constructed a building dedicated to magnesium polishing.Sarah says there can be variability in casting quality and while CWM’s castings are usually very consistent, daily communication between the companies is critical to pinpoint and correct issues during processing. The goal is to limit rejects, returns and reprocessing.
Aamro has 25 employees, but only five or so perform the delicate polishing tasks required by some of their customers. Sarah says they cross-train their staff, but it takes a certain skill and artistry to polish to the manufacturer’s specs day in and day out.
Aamro’s polishers are highly skilled and know how to polish die castings with accuracy and consistency.
“Polishing is an underappreciated craft”, she says. “It’s repetitive and takes a great deal of concentration and skill. When done well, the end user probably won’t detect the amount of work that has gone into a part, but they will notice good quality.”
Visit https://www.aamroco.com
