Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. was established August 28, 1973, and has been faithfully serving the Bay Area ever since. The business was founded and named after the four Deguara brothers, James, Pete, Charlie, and Anthony.

 

The plating business has been in the Deguara blood for years before Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. was even thought of. It started with the four brother's father, Paul Deguara, back in 1948. Paul was an immigrant from the island of Malta who came to America with his wife and two kids looking for a better life for his family. He had heard about this great American dream and he wanted a part of it. Almost immediately after arriving in America, Paul started working as a plater in a shop in San Francisco, CA.

 

Paul worked hard at what he was doing and before long was not only supporting a wife and two kids, but a wife and four kids. In 1957, all his hard work paid off. He started working at a plating shop called Electrite Plating located in East Palo Alto. At that time, Electrite was struggling and about to go under. Paul was able to come in and turn the place around, avoiding bankruptcy.

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In 1960, the owner of Electrite gave Paul just the opportunity he had been waiting for. He offered to sell Electrite to Paul and he jumped on it. Paul could not afford to buy the place by himself, so he found two partners to go in with him. Once he became an owner, Paul brought his second oldest son, Pete, in to help him out after school and on weekends.

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In 1964, Pete began working full time at Electrite. In the summer of 1965, Pete had to take a break from the plating industry to serve his country fighting in Vietnam. He joined the navy and proudly served two years.

 

When Pete got out of the navy in 1967, he returned to work with his father at Electrite. Upon his return, Pete started running the aluminum side of the shop that consisted of anodize and alodine. Pete, like his father, was hard working and strived to do the best work he could. He saw a future in plating based on how well it had already been for his family.

 

The third oldest boy, Charlie, joined his older brother, Pete, and father, Paul, at Electrite in 1969. Soon to follow in 1971 the youngest brother, Anthony (Tony), joined in the family business.

 

By 1973, Paul and his three sons were making a good name for themselves, supplying their customers with high quality work and service. At this time, Paul's wife had become ill and was recommended that she move to Arizona where she would be able to live more comfortably because of the warm and dry climate. Paul decided to sell his portion of the shop to his two partners and retire to Arizona with his wife. The three boys continued working for the two partners.

 

After a few months of Paul leaving, the three brothers decided they did not want to work for someone else anymore, so with the help of their oldest brother Jim, they started Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. They rented a building in Palo Alto where they started with the aluminum processes of alodine and anodize. At first, the brothers were not sure how things were going to work out so just Pete and Charlie started working full time in the new shop while Jim and Tony came over on nights and weekends to help out. After about six months, it was clear the brothers had made the right decision in opening up their own shop. They had so much work; all four brothers started working full time.

 

Just four years after going out on their own, Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. had already outgrown itself and was ready to expand. They decided to add a steel line which consisted of zinc and black oxide. This was an exciting decision for them. As the leaders they were, they had to do something new and cutting edge. For their zinc line, instead of using the traditional cyanide zinc they decided to go with a new acid zinc. There was not much known yet about this new process and Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. was one of the first plating shops in the area to put it in. This made sense to the Deguara's because this new process was safer for the environment and for people to work around. It also made waste treatment more manageable which the EPA was really starting to crack down on.

 

Once again, because of their work ethics and cutting edge technology, Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. was ready to expand. In 1980, with the purchase of a new building, Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. moved to their Sunnyvale location. This new building was outfitted with an 11,000 square foot plating area. They also outfitted the new shop with a hoist for plating bigger parts, boilers for heating the tanks, and probably most impressive, an all-new $80,000 waste treatment system. Being the cutting edge minds the brothers were and seeing where EPA, city, and state environmental standards were heading, they pioneered the plating industry with this new waste treatment system. In fact, in October 1984, when the waste restrictions really got tight and plating shops were closing down because of this, Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. was featured in Finishers' Management magazine, a national industry plating magazine, regarding their compliance and state of the art waste treatment system.

 

Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. has continued, over the next couple of decades, to be one of the best plating shops around doing work for costumers like, HP, Westinghouse, Lockeed Martin, Varian, Hosmer, and Ampex. Indirectly, Four-D has worked with, Sysco Systems, AMD, Applied Materials, and Genentec.

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Like all business, Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. has had its hard times and setbacks. In 1983, one of those hard times hit with the passing of the oldest brother, Jim. Soon after the youngest brother, Tony, retired. Pete and Charlie continued the family business through it all, striving to maintain the quality the family had built up in the past. By 1999, the family business had exceeded more than anyone could have imagined. Throughout the years, Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. had consisted of the four Deguara brothers, three Deguara wives, and a Deguara daughter working under the same roof. Even at times when their father, Paul, would visit from Arizona, he would come in and help out. The company was able to run itself. These influences helped Charlie make the decision to retire at age 50. Pete decided to stay in the business hoping that one of his two sons might want to get involved.

In 2004, after graduating college, Pete's youngest son, Matt, followed in his father's footsteps and started working for Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. In 2007, Matt stepped up and became Vice President of the company. This makes three generations of plating experience, continuing the Deguara plating reputation. With the help of Matt, Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. has been able to open their current location in Santa Clara specializing in alodine, anodize, zinc, etch, and passivation.

 

Pete and Matt continue to work side-by-side delivering the highest standard in plating that the Deguara family has taken pride in for over 60 years. With Matt's wife, Maria, working in the office and his brother, Andy, helping keep up with advances in digital technology, Four-D Metal Finishing, Inc. continues to be a cutting edge, family owned and operated business.