Mechanical Metal Finishing is Turning 55 years old!
On July 24, 2012 Mechanical Metal Finishing completed 55 years of business in Gardena. The company spent its first twenty years on the corner of 178th and Western from 1957 to 1977. In 1957 that intersection was surrounded by a huge brick manufacturer.
Eventually the Brick Yard gave way to the Mobile Home Park just north of 178th St. The Namans are the surviving generation from a company started by three great men: Solomon Naman, our father, Fred Bowyer, and Karl Seleen. All three men were employees of Woods Metal Finishing at 808 E. Florence Ave. Los Angeles.
They took their combined talents and assets and opened Mechanical Metal as a competing company in Gardena. They chose Gardena to serve a potential customer Deutsch Metal Components on Figueroa just north of Compton Blvd.
Los Angeles and surrounding communities were a hub of industry. Gardena had every source of manufacturing needed to serve a growing state. Manufacturing and the metal industry were growing very well from 1957 to 1977. Changes started occurring in the early 1980’s. Industry started moving out to Orange and Riverside Counties. Our customers started moving farther and farther away. In 1977 our business was within a ten mile radius of Gardena. Today we send our trucks to far reaches of Corona, Ontario, Lake Forest and Riverside. We can not support our business with our neighbors. Many customers moved or ceased operations.
The Namans, Sol and Teri, brother and sister, are the last generation. They feel that investing in modern equipment and being competitive with cell manufacturing will allow the next generation of management to be successful in a declining market.
Mechanical Metal Finishing is the best at offering deburring services. One can visit its website (deburr.com) and see the electronic brochure with complete facility guide. The future can be good even as industry moves from needing our services.
Future management will seek other opportunities and meet what new requirements come our way.
The Asian Pacific rim supply chain has changed the way all of America does business. Manufacturing is trying to stay competitive by using China the other Pacific Rim countries as sources for tooling. Things may turn back to local manufacturing but not in the near future. Environmental regulation, Safety regulations, Business code requirements make competing very difficult.
Looking back 55 years brings memories of our childhood. Although Sol, Chuck and Teri, also known as Sister, were 15, 14, & 11 in 1957, we grew up in the industry. We would take trips with our father every Sunday night from 1950 to 1957. We three Naman Brats would drive with our mother, Connie and Dad to Woods Metal Finishing. Much of the scenery traveling from Pico Rivera to Los Angeles has changed. We would either travel down Slauson Ave. The old Bethlehem Steel facility would be glowing .
Yellow hot ingots of steel. Going down Washington Blvd. we would pass the smelly feed lots and the huge pit in the ground that have since been eliminated. There was a large arrow the size of a telephone pole and a huge doughnut on top of a doughnut shop.
When we arrived at Florence, we would see our current logo on top of Woods Metal Finishing. This land mark has been on the corner of Broadway and Redondo Beach since 1977. It was moved from Florence Ave. Another land mark on Florence Ave. was the Goodyear Blimp Hanger. The two men turning a tumbling barrel is a focal point for people. We say we are the red brick building with the two men turning a barrel. People usually remember this land mark. Maybe your grown children may remember this land mark.
