Who We Are
Manufacturing is one of the fundamental methods for creating a healthy community and economy. Instead of merely passing wealth around, as in a service economy, manufacturing generates wealth. Throughout my career I have taken opportunities to be heavily involved with manufacturing.
I have a BS in Chemical Engineering, and after ten years in the workforce, I earned an MBA. I spent the first ten years of my career at National Semiconductor as a Device Engineer, designing processes and electronic test structures for HCMOS Logic and Memory chips. I managed a group of engineers and technicians responsible for troubleshooting and process improvements.
I then worked in production, R & D, and business management for the next 17 years in the finishing division at Woodgrain Millwork. I worked with painting and laminating processes and developed my understanding of management and operations.
Over the next five years I had the privilege of working as the president of Rekluse Motor Sports, where I facilitated excellent growth in sales, profitability, and process improvements. We were able to develop a productive work culture and implement progressive manufacturing philosophies. During this time I had occasion to be frustrated with our anodizing partners. A Rekluse distributor in Great Britain pointed out that we were losing sales because the finished components of one of our most basic products, a clutch, were wildly inconsistent in color. At the same time, long anodizing lead times negatively impacted our ability to ship to our customers on time and tied up cash because we had to maintain 5 times more inventory in finished goods.
As I analyzed the inconsistency we were experiencing with the anodizing industry, I began to feel that improvements could be made. After careful consideration and planning, I decided to leverage my education, skills, and work experience to start an anodizing company.
At Sapphire, we have learned about anodizing by studying the literature, evaluating our own experience, and consulting experts. Our consultant, Robert Probert, has been involved with anodizing for more than 60 years. As he helped us develop our anodizing line, he noted Sapphire’s multiple innovations to the anodizing process, and said, “In 67 years I have seen only 5 good anodizing lines, and this is one of them…but you aren’t number one.”
“Yet…” I replied.
Our vision at Sapphire Metal Finishing is to provide a high quality, consistent, anodizing service with short lead times. My goal is to create a wonderful place for people to work, and to help our customers be successful through our partnership.
Dwayne Dayley,
Founder of Sapphire Metal Finishing
Robert Schappert – Vice President
In 2016 Dwayne asked his friend, Robert Schappert, what kind of risk taker he was. Shortly after that question, Robert began painting the floor of the building where they would start Sapphire Metal Finishing. Robert has literally helped to build Sapphire from the ground up. He is a Journeyman electrician and has an extensive background in automation. In his past career he automated equipment to reduce labor and create consistency in processes. He brought this experience to Sapphire to create repeatable and consistent product for our customers.
Before coming to Sapphire, Robert spent over 20 years in maintenance and Engineering, working on projects to automate and improve equipment to create better products. He has designed projects from small pieces of equipment to run one dedicated product, to plant wide dust collection systems to manage waste streams. This ability enables critical thinking to ensure that we are not only thinking about how things need to work, but also what can go wrong in a process, and to program the system to prevent errors from happening.
While Robert spends much time and energy concentrating on improving Sapphire Metal Finishing, he is also dedicated to his church and has served in the Fruitland Fire Department since 1997.
Shane McGoldrick – Operations Manager
Shane joined the Sapphire Metal finishing team in 2023 stepping in as Operations Manager. With over 15yrs of combined experience in the Manufacturing & production industry he has brought a fresh outlook and approach to Sapphire. Although relatively new to the team, he has worked closely with Sapphire for many years as a customer. That experience allows him to bring a new perspective to Sapphire to better serve their customers. Shane oversees high-level HR duties, such as attracting talent and setting training standards and hiring procedures. Part of his role is to analyze and improve organizational processes, and work to improve quality, productivity, and efficiency.
Before joining Sapphire, Shane was the Operations Manager for The Blower Shop. His position allowed him to work closely with vendors, customers and his employees. Part of his responsibility was to streamline processes both for his employer as well as his vendors while always maintaining the highest level of quality. Working with outside companies allowed him to expand his knowledge base of different processes to help add efficiency and quality to the manufacturing process.
Shane’s passion for building Hotrods has taught him that details matter. This plays well into his role here at Sapphire. Being able to envision projects from start to finish and understanding how important each step of the process is to achieve the highest result.
He also spends his days with his two sons Race & Gauge. Supporting them in their hobbies and being their biggest fan on the sideline of their football games.
Josh Noble – Production Supervisor
Josh started at Sapphire Metal Finishing in 2019. This was in the early days of the company when everyone did a little bit of everything, and Josh was no exception. He worked in bead blasting, racking, bookkeeping, packaging, masking, and running the anodizing line. Eventually he became the lead running the line, and then accepted his current role as production supervisor. In this role he oversees production and maintenance.
Before joining Sapphire Josh gained a degree in Agricultural Business and worked in farming and banking. Although it may seem that his education and previous roles don’t add much to his current position, it has amazed Josh how many skills he still uses that he learned from previous experiences. The names may be different, but the concepts are the same. In farming, just like manufacturing, you are trying to achieve high quality with a low amount of waste. In banking there are processes that must be followed to achieve the desired result.
When not at work Josh spends his time with his family, going to church, and gardening.
Candy Schappert – Accounting
Candy joined Sapphire Metal FInishing in 2019 as a temporary role but it quickly grew into a full time career that she loves. She has worked many positions within the company including racking & packaging operator, reworks lead, packaging lead, and shipping & receiving which all has grown and improved her knowledge of anodizing and manufacturing itself. She now enjoys her current role of bookkeeping, invoicing, quoting and any & all office related duties.
Before SMF Candy worked as an Accounts Manager at a Factoring Company being responsible for taking care of all clients and their orders on a daily basis to ensure they were processed correctly and in a timely manner. She worked closely with her customers and others in her team to help them encounter a quick and seamless experience.
In her free time Candy likes to read and also research and learn more about her family history. She loves spending time with her family and new granddaughter.
Geraldine Asta – Assurance Manager
Geraldine joined the Sapphire Metal Finishing Team in 2021 with more than 20 years of Quality Assurance and Quality Management System experience in the Medical, Industrial, and Avionics Industries and 7 years as a Customer Service Representative in the Semiconductor Industry.
Before joining SMF she served as a Product Quality Engineer for PKG Inc. and was part of the Strategic Business Unit team responsible for the design, development, and product realization of the Airbus A350 Pilot and the Maintenance Keyboard interface.
In her current role as the Quality Manager, Geraldine promotes the Quality culture in the business through compliance with QMS and works with functional groups to help establish Quality and Process improvements with an emphasis on Lean Management and 5S.
Geraldine graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electronics Engineering. In her spare time, she loves to read, cook, and hang out with her baby cat.
