How it all began….
We cannot talk abut TDF Metal Finishing without 1st looking back at the decisions and hard work that made today’s TDF possible. In the historic Lydia Pinkham Building in Lynn another entrepreneur like Lydia herself founded a modern manufacturing company almost exactly 100 years later.
Thomas D. Ferrairo started TDF Metal Finishing in 1984 on this historic site and much like Lydia Pinkham and her “tonic”, a successful business based on good chemistry was founded. With years of experience in metal finishing, working for several shops, Tom named his business using his initials and, literally, hanging his name over the door, began to build his reputation as a businessman and a tremendous metal finishing partner for his customers. Since that beginning and following a move to the Danvers, MA Industrial Park in 2006, TDF has grown, evolved and continued to flourish as metal finisher, meeting the demands and needs of the diverse customer base we serve.
Now, after an almost 40 year run as one of the most respected and unique metal finishing shops in New England, Tom Sr sold TDF to the Phenna Group for the UK and did what every business and family man strives to do, he provided his entire family with a great future. It was Tom’s business that took care of his family while he ran it and it is that legacy of hard work and good fortune that will allow Tom to take great care of his family into the future. Fast forward to 2021 and the high speed, high quality, high tech manufacturing world that we are in now and see where TDF has moved to and where we are headed.
“The Leaders in metal....”
TDF Today
Today TDF is still an evolving company with the backing of a world wide, world class family of manufacturing companies as part of the Phenna Group.
Still a stand alone company, TDF is moving quickly into the modern world of today’s business, evolving into a company capable of meeting the needs of machine shops, fabricators and OEM’s throughout the region and serving a multitude of industries.
From medical to aerospace, high tech electronics to some heavy industrial products, TDF is a capable and diverse finishing house, able to meet the needs of many advanced manufacturers.
TDF offers a very wide array of finishes and can be a one stop finisher for many machine shops and manufacturers as well as supply other customers with specialty, unique or a “cut above” quality. Anodizing and Hard Coat Anodizing with excellent quality, price and delivery available are TDF’s largest specialty finishes. Whether it’s the difficult to process parts, parts that have intricate masking or high volume jobs that need fast turnaround, TDF has the capability and flexibility to say “yes" in some of the most challenging situations.
Electroless Nickel, chromating / passivating of aluminum, copper, tin, silver, gold and zinc plating are more of the finishes TDF offers with the quality and throughput to help serve our customers.
And as Henry Ford said about painting his Model T’s, the customer can have “any color as long as it’s black”. Need Black Oxide, Black Passivate, Black Endurion, Black Ebonol or even Black Zinc? TDF has a department dedicated to blackening processes for the gun industry, heavy industrial and even military and aerospace applications.
For medical and other applications TDF offers both electropolishing and passivation services. Covering all types of passivation and with a large electropolish tank, TDF serves many industries requiring stainless steel alloys with precision finishing. With a separate clean room production area, the ability to bag and tag parts in medical industry approved packaging while producing high quality work, we can meet even the most stringent specifications.
Peripheral services like bagging and tagging for medical products, bead or shot blasting for precision parts, drop shipping, inventory of customer supplied material or adding any needed packaging services are also available at TDF. Development of special fixturing or masking tools is a specialty and we have had some great successes in this area. TDF tries to find a way to say yes and collaborate with customers to find a path to shared success. With all of these processes and services available and willingness to work with customers, TDF is a solution for all of your finishing needs.
Past meets present…
The Future
Where were you in 1984? These 2 men were both in metal finishing. Tom having been in metal finishing for many years was establishing TDF and Marko growing into a role as a well known and respected metal finishing professional. With a long relationship going back decades, when TDF was sold in 2021 Marko was a familiar choice to take the reins next. Already a part of TDF as a key supplier, the operators, lab technicians and other team members knew Marko and already relied on him for chemistry and processing advice.
What’s next for TDF? With a great foundation to build on, TDF has been taking care of our valued employees helping improve their health insurance and other HR benefits. As we look outward to our customers we are actively discussing opportunities and ways to fill their metal finishing needs. Solving problems, meeting challenges and creating opportunities is the path that TDF is heading down.
Already an ISO Certified supplier, TDF is working hard towards NADCAP Accreditation to further enhance our capabilities and offerings to our customers. Our implementation of a World Class software system that offers our customers access and information as well as creating NADCAP Quality process sheets that make for reliable processing.
