Toefco Adds Major New Niles Facility

A prolific Niles manufacturer with a long history of serving customers from coast to coast has just ramped up dramatically its capabilities for handling larger jobs for anyone needing specialty coatings to protect metal surfaces of all types. Toefco Engineered Coating Systems, Inc. cut the ribbon this afternoon on a new 20,000 square foot, high-temperature coating facility capable of handling parts that weigh up to 750 lbs each and ranging up to to 10-feet in length.

For more than 60-years the top-of-the line coating specialists have served a broad array of industry sectors from the automotive industry to aerospace and motorsports…from agricultural, medical, and food processing clients to compressors, heavy-duty truck equipment and the military. In fact, when the Statue of Liberty underwent its major restoration in the mid 80s, the Toefco team spray-coated every piece of hardware utilized in the makeover with specialty corrosion-resistant coatings. 

The Four Flags Area Chamber of Commerce assisted with today's ceremonies showcasing the new 947-foot long liquid and dry coating, overhead conveyor-driven high-temperature oven. The massive new oven enhances the capabilities of Toefco's main facility barely a mile away. Company President & CEO Artie McElwee III told me today, "I designed this new line to provide unbelievable capabilities and substantial capacity." He says that 99-percent of what Toefco does is specialty high-temperature coatings for a wide range of industries.

He says Toefco has the capacity to spray more than 400 types of coatings and bake them in their more than 20 ovens, leaving them with the capacity to handle virtually any coating project. The company has also become increasingly engaged in green technology and the precision of robotic painters to make them a top choice in the industry. 

Toefco's new facility is in a building that McElwee purchased from Jerry French, saying the close proximity, excellent condition of the building and the loading docks out front made for a perfect choice rather then undergoing the cost of an entirely new structure from the ground up. 

Toefco's penchant for innovation and state-of-the-art investments have made them an industry leader and this new line features a powder booth which gives customers the option to use high temperature paints or the powder process using both conventional and Teflon powder options. 

McElwee says that the line's use of hospital-grade air affords 100-percent efficiency and "repeatability" of results in two massive spray booths which offer expansion room as well for future robotic upgrades on the line. 

Toefco's new line should be in full operation within several weeks as the main facility goes through training and hiring regimens for the new site. McElwee says his current workforce of more than 60 people at the headquarters plant on North 14th Street will expand by 6 to 8 people per shift at the new site located at 1919 Industrial Drive. 

Toefco's expertise has been applied to thousands of components from radiators to tail pipes, from rocket components to pancake griddles. 

Niles City Administrator Rick Huff joined Four Flags Chamber Exec Tyanna Weller in congratulating the Toefco team on their new expansion and thanked the company for its ongoing faith in the community of Niles and for the good paying jobs the company provides to Michigan's Great Southwest.