2nd Generation Family Owned

The story of New England Electropolishing is a classic tale of an American company founded on the wits and hard work of an entrepreneur who saw an opportunity and seized it.

In the 1980’s Alvin Almeida was selling electropolishing chemicals to finishing companies. He observed that finishers did a good job electropolishing large vessels, but could not finish smaller parts with a consistently high level of quality.

So in 1985, Al started a company to fill that gap with his wife, Jeannine, working at his side. He hired the former Finishing Manager of F.B. Rogers Silver Co., in Taunton, MA. The two men set about learning everything they could about electropolishing and became experts at precision rates of removal. They were aided by Hydrite Chemicals, the world’s leader in electropolishing solutions, which supplied invaluable support and technical knowledge.

Their shared dedication soon paid off. Boston-based Gillette approached NEE with a holiday edition of its Sensor Razor, and kept returning because it could not find the same quality finish elsewhere. With the customer’s high volumes, the men learned how to efficiently finish orders of 60,000 parts on tight deadlines.

Over time NEE grew along with its reputation for quality and fast-turnaround of high-volume small parts. In 1995, the company purchased its current 17,500-square-foot building on Shove Street in Fall River.

Alvin Almeida stayed involved in New England Electropolishing until early 2019, the year that he passed away. The business remains family-owned and operated, and true to Al’s legacy remains wholly dedicated to providing excellent customer service while maintaining respect for the contributions of its employees.

Siblings Amy Almeida Prigmore and Luke Almeida, who together run NEE, grew up with the business. Both started off doing basic clerical support, and each spent school vacations working on the production floor.

Luke remembers what it was like to learn electropolishing first-hand.

“When Dad first started out,” says Luke, “our dining room served as the office, which consisted of an IBM typewriter and computer. The Accounts Receivable file cabinet was in the laundry room. I remember watching cartoons on Saturday morning and filing invoices.

“As I got older, I would help Dad clean the facility on the weekend if he had a customer visit scheduled for Monday or Tuesday. I’d sweep the floor in the plant, and polish furniture in the office. Helping him taught me how important the business was to him. I also inspected and packaged parts, but by age 13 or so, I really wanted to work on the production line. I can still remember the thrill the first time I saw the change in the complexion of the parts. 

“Working on the line with the electropolishers, some of whom are still with NEE, made me feel mature. I could also see what a difficult job it was and how hard everyone worked. From an early age, I had a lot of respect for the people who worked for my father.” 

Amy shares many of Luke’s childhood memories of growing up in the family business. But the siblings are also proud of their more recent contributions, building on the strong foundation established by Al.

“New England Electropolishing made an early commitment to having its process registered to a third party-certified Quality System. The management team at the time worked hard to earn the certification,” she said. “In 1996, the company became one of the first metal finishers in the nation to achieve ISO 9002 Registration. It was a significant point of pride, and we keep the original certificate as a reminder of the achievement.”

The company is now both ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified, coveted designations that underscore the company’s core values.

“NEE is built on responsiveness to our customers, a commitment to customer satisfaction, and respect for our hardworking employees,” Amy said. “Those are the values that our father instilled in us. And those are the values our team works to honor every single day at New England Electropolishing.”