In today's world of highly automated factories, Al's Polishing, Plating & Powder Coating, Inc., is a throwback to another time.
Sure, there are machines, but the 10 workers pride themselves on their custom work: polishing, buffing, plating, and powder coating a variety of products, including parts of pool tables, restored Harley-Davidson motorcycles, even the rollers for fire hoses. They offer a variety of finishes, including copper, chrome, nickel, brass, antique, and antique nickel, and they are willing to experiment.
“We try to do whatever finish someone wants,” said Jamie Szymanowski, the great-grandson of the firm's founder. “The guys on the job have a lot of freedom to try to come up with ideas and ways to improve things. And if it doesn't work, they have to be the ones that fix it.”
The company has been experimenting ever since Al Szymanowski, Sr., got a patent for a bowling ball buffing machine and opened shop at 1615 W. Laskey Rd., where the shop still is. From that buffing machine, Al's Polishing has expanded in different directions and expects to do an estimated $650,000 in business this year.
The founder's son, Al, Jr., works at the company, as do his sons, Rick and Chris, and Rick's son, Jamie. Al, Jr., said he remembers a time when the company faced a great deal of competition, but he said most of it has died off.
Jamie Szymanowski said Al's Polishing has benefited from its relationship with another Toledo-based company, Gerity-Schultz, Inc., which subcontracts with Al's for such items as shamrock paperweights that are sold at shops all over the country and pieces such as the ball rack on a pool table for the Brunswick Corp. in Bristol, Wis., which has made pool tables since 1845.
But while those are big jobs, the Szymanowskis take pride in handling smaller jobs, like cleaning up fireplace pokers, a silverware set, or even the claw feet for an old-fashioned bathtub. The company might charge $30 for each bathtub foot, said Jamie Szymanowski.
“There aren't a lot of people who do this type of work. It's not glamorous,” he said. “But we have a loyal customer base because we tell them what they can expect. It's all about doing what you're telling them you're going to do.”
Glen Bowman, president of Perfection Metal Finishing in Millbury, Ohio, uses Al's Polishing to do the custom plating work on a variety of products that he can't do at his shop.
“They're easy to get along with, and they do good work,” he said. “And a lot of the work is hand done, and all of it is hand polished.”
Bob Friedmar, a Toledo native who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he was introduced to Al's Polishing several years ago by his late brother, Richard, who had worked with the company to do the chrome work on the Harley-Davidson he had refinished.
Mr. Friedmar has been a collector of antique telephones for years and was looking for someone who could polish the phone pieces he bought from other dealers. He ships the metal pieces of old phones to Al's, where the workers refinish them.
“They do phenomenal work. I trade and swap antique telephones with collectors all over the world, and when Al's does [their work], the phones turn out drop-dead gorgeous,” the financial consultant said.
A debate is under way at the company on whether it should stick with its custom niche or invest in highly automated equipment that would allow it to do bigger jobs, said Jamie Szymanowski.
Said his grandfather, Al, Jr.: “Some of our competitors had big plating machines, but they couldn't do what we do. And they're all gone.”
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First Published November 12, 2001, 4:48 p.m.
