The Williston Times, Friday, November 16, 2018
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Family the key at Nassau Chromium ‘Under the radar’ business four generations in the making a leader in the industry BY J E D H E N D R I X S ON
Hidden inside an unassuming onestory beige building across the street from Western Beef on 2nd Street in Mineola is an unconventional family business, four generations in the making. Nassau Chromium Plating Co. was founded in 1929, when the family patriarch, Frank Miltner, commuted through the potato fields that would eventually become Levittown and borrowed $1,000 at the height of the Great Depression to buy a small building, the same space where the business stands today. “We now own the whole block,” owner and President Shirley Waring, 94, said. “But he bought just a small building.” Miltner was Waring’s father. She inherited the business she grew up around and has brought her own family into it. Now, Waring is joined by her sonin-law and Vice President Pasquale Martimucci and granddaughter and quality manager Kaycee Martimucci in continuing to expand Nassau Chromium Plating’s reach headed into its 90th year. “People drive by here every day and have no idea what it is we do,” Kaycee! Martimucci said. “But they’re welcome to come in and find out.” Nassau Chrome, as she refers to it, is in the business of anodizing and electro-
plating. Anodizing is the process of adding an oxide, or protective, layer to the surface of mostly aluminum objects. Electroplating is the process of manipulating the electric currents of metals to form a thin coherent metal coating on the item being plated. At one point, Kaycee! Martimucci thought of pursuing a career in criminal justice while attending Rutgers University. “They told me they’d sell the business if I didn’t come in,” she joked. Kaycee! Martimucci gave the business a chance and has not looked back over the last 15 years, she said. “I am proud of what we do,” she said. “We’re a woman-owned business, which is a big deal in a very male-dominated industry. “I feel like it’s an artistry that is dying and I’m very proud of what we do and where we stand,” Kaycee! Martimucci said. Nassau Chrome is recognized by the National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program, or NADCAP. The business has received the highest accreditation available and was named one of the top electroplaters in the nation at one point. “We are approved for plating all over the world,” Waring said. Some of Nassau Chrome’s regular
projects, Kaycee!Martimucci said. Everything from automobile, hardware and marine restorations to housing fixtures is done, she said. “We have a lot of families come in where they have family heirlooms that they cannot restore; we do this type of delicate, intricate work,” she said. Some of the company’s recent work includes chandeliers, Ferrari emblems, jet engine parts and even the MTV moon man awards. “You name it, we do it,” Kaycee!Martimucci said. “We’re here to service the community as well as the aerospace industry,” she said. “However we process for aerospace, we use the same intricacy for someone’s automobile or silverware set.” The family culture at Nassau ChromiPHOTO COURTESY OF um has even made its way into the hearts NASSAU CHROMIUM PLATING of some of the unrelated workers at the 28-employee business. “Our employees stay with us until One of many items Nassau Chrothey retire, then they retire, and then they mium Plating Co. has done as a come back again,” Waring said. “Because personal restoration. they like it here.” Often employees will retire and recustomers include GE Aviation, Lockheed ceive their pension, leave and come back Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX and to work once they are above Social Secuthe United States Army and Navy. Despite rity age, Pasquale!Martimucci said. all of the high-profile customers, the busi“It’s hard to find experienced people ness dedicates equal efforts to personal Continued on Page 66