Market Research Data

Letter 4031

Market Research Data on Customers of Finishing Industry

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Where can I find detailed market research data on the customers that the finishing service industry serves? For example, customers by category, dollar volumes by type of customer, by region, etc. Thanks in advance

Jim Chang
- Ontario, CA

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Some general market studies of this nature is available in the various issues of the Surface Finishing Market Research Board Reports available from NAMF or AESF (www.nasf.org) at reasonable prices (I think they are something like $100 each). However, really detailed market studies are 5-figure items.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

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Ted is right on the ball but a tad off on the numbers:

For the Surface Finishing Market Research Board reports (available at aesf.org) they are $125/ea for members of the AESF/NMFRC and I believe one other organization, maybe the NAMF, or $250 for non-members.

(tip, it costs you 125 dollars to sign up for the AESF & NMFRC together, why not do that, order your report, it pays for your membership instantly then and you have a years worth of value from the two organizations, it's what I did).

Matthew Stiltner
plating company - Toledo, Ohio

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... or you could get the same discount by just joining AESF, and then enjoy it here at finishing.com for free rather than paying an extra $40 to a beltway website

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What about gross margins? Does anyone know what the typical gross margins are for a surface finisher?

thanks,

Matthew Klokel
- Irvine, CA

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Unfortunately that's a laugh, Matthew K. :-)

Plating involves hazardous waste; in many cases, waste that seeped into the floor decades ago and is now retroactively a hazardous waste.

So, while there are some surface finishers who are earning a good living, there are some very unhappy people in the business who have been losing money for many years now, but who can't retire no matter how old and weary they are because closing down triggers hazardous waste costs and responsibilities that would cost them their home and leave them without a dime in their old age. When some of your competition is in a situation where slowly bleeding away their life savings is preferable to closing and becoming homeless in a single swoop, it does make it difficult for anyone to compete against them :-)

So, no, there is no "typical" in this business -- but be sure to look to highly technical, advanced, plating rather than commodity work like zinc plating.

Ted Mooney
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey

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