On August 17, 1988 the mother-and-son team of Patty and Bruce Meminger officially opened Meminger Metal Finishing, Inc. for business. The superstructure, tanks and hoist that Bruce had built himself were located in a rented building near a bowling alley in Aledo, Illinois. Apart from the assistance of family and friends, Bruce and Patty were the only employees, and they plated in black oxide for their only account, Superior Barbell.   Bruce soon rebuilt the superstructure at a new location in Aledo, and MMF expanded its line of services to include zinc plating in three colors, yellow, black and clear. By the end of 1992, Bruce and Patty had hired two additional full-time employees. Over the next two years, an addition was built on the back of the building and an old car wash behind the facility was purchased for extra delivery and storage space.   By 1997, Meminger Metal Finishing had expanded so significantly that another plant, this one with an automatic line, was started in Eldridge, Iowa. The company now employed between ten and fifteen additional full and part-time workers. In August of 2002, the company's physical expansion continued apace with the construction of a new Aledo facility, complete with a new automatic line and waste treatment system.   Today Meminger Metal Finishing, Inc., continuing its tradition of growth, has more than thirty employees and maintains accounts with over eighty customers. All three MMF facilities are equipped for plating, with one manual and two automatic plating lines. Each facility is also equipped to bake for hydrogen embrittlement, and a barrel plating line is currently under construction.