The Business Behind The CHEMON Name Change and New Company Direction

This Month's issue of Product Finishing Magazine, the go to source publication for all things Surface Technology, looks at the business behind the CHEMEON Surface Technology name change from METALAST and the new ownership's vision, values and global campaign for the removal of hexavalent chrome.  Read the full article at PFOnline (here)

In 2013, Madylon and Dean Meiling became owners of Metalast, a Nevada-based supplier of chemistries for the plating industry. They have since changed the name to Chemeon Surface Technology. Madylon, the president and CEO, is a Ph.D. with more than 15 years of experience as a corporate consultant and executive coach, specializing in leadership development. Dean retired as managing director of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), a fixed income investment management company with $1.2 trillion in third-party assets under management.

PF: Neither of you have a background in electroplating or finishing. What led you to get into the business?

MM: We strongly believed in the licensed, patented and proprietary chemistries, scientists, and potential for success of Metalast LLC and were investors in the company. Sadly, the founder squandered other people’s money and eventually led the company to insolvency. In April 2013, a court-appointed Receiver reported that approximately 1,000 members of the LLC had contributed more than $95 million, the accumulated losses exceeded  $119 million, and the accounts payable to its vendors, landlord, suppliers, and employees totaled nearly $1 million. On November 4, 2013, the Court approved a sale of all Metalast LLC assets to us, as the secured creditor. Although we entered this industry with limited experience in surface technology, we are successful entrepreneurs and leaders in business, and were confident that the chemical experience of the company’s scientists, sales team, and operations team, combined with their expertise and passion for its products and technical services, would enable us to expand and excel. Included in the sale was exclusive ownership of all Metalast company history and trade secrets, including chemistries, products, services, contacts, customer and distributor information, licenses, contracts, copyrights, product marks, and logos.  We particularly embraced our trademarked chemistries and changed our name to ChemeonSurface Technology to eliminate confusion between the company’s new leadership and values, and the former management.

PF: Your company says it will focus on environmentally responsible corrosion resistant coatings. Is this born from a professional or personal emphasis? 

DM: We have always supported organizations that are focused on improving the environment such as The Nature Conservancy and The Tahoe Fund. Chemeon Surface Technology has a choice in what we develop and provide to the public, and as a specialty chemical company, our vision is to be a leader in environmentally responsible coatings and surface technologies, committed to research, development, customer service and solutions. We are currently focused on leading a significant campaign to remove carcinogenic hexavalent chromates from the environment and replace them with our Trivalent Chrome and Zero Chrome solutions. This year, we are planning to present the first Chemeon CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Award to a company that is replacing hexavalent chrome in all of its US plants with Chemeon TCP-HF.

PF: What is the plan for expanding your global operations to new markets?

MM: Our plan for expansion is focused on Chemeon values for integrity, transparency, collaboration, and innovation. As a WOSB, we are investing resources in critical research and development to continuously provide cutting edge technologies to the surface engineering industry.  Our technical center has discovered new markets for existing products, as well developing new chemistries. We are currently working on improved no-chrome solutions as well as other needed chemistries for magnesium, zinc nickel, cadmium and more. Read more (here)

and here https://chemeon.com/p/the-companys-name-change/