You run a metal finishing shop with five different processes. It operates two shifts a day and employs 22 people. You gross $2,375,000/year. Your basic environmental and energy cost numbers look like this:

• 18,000 gpd of water (@ $3.85/1000 gal)
• 2.34 mg/l Zn, 0.94 mg/l Cr, 1.56 mg/l Ni (94% compliance rate)
• 234,678 kWh/year of electricity (@ $0.065/kWh)
• 78,235 therms/year of gas (@ $0.43/therm)
• 14,987 lbs./year of sludge (@ $0.24/lb for disposal)

Are these numbers good or bad? Are there any areas where you can obviously save money and/or reduce environmental liabilities?

We can tell you.

Over the past 3 years, working with the Metal Finishing Strategic Goals Program, the NMFRC has developed and honed a technique that can be applied to your shop. This methodology shows mathematically, how your shop compares to others. You can use this information to identify problem areas and save money. Our tool: Benchmarking Metal Finishing.

The NMFRC has collected data from hundreds of metal finishing companies of all types and sizes across the U.S. that includes both job and captive shops. Using this extensive database and our mathematical models, the NMFRC can generate a detailed benchmarking report for any metal finisher.

Benchmarking is a service that we provide free of charge. Companies involved with the Strategic Goals Program automatically are enrolled in this service. Other U.S. companies are also welcome to take part. To participate, you provide some basic data. Your data are entered into our model and we generate and mail to you a customized benchmarking report.

To receive a benchmarking report, download and complete the Benchmarking Form and mail it back to NMFRC. Here is the address:

If you have any questions, contact George Cushnie via email (geoc@nmfrc.org) or by phone at 703-255-2240.