Striving for product innovation and furthering education for their customers

By Anna Lockhart.  

Learn about the legacy of Malco Products’ dedication to innovation and their efforts to provide customers with the best resources and education needed for industry success!  

In a recent episode of the Roofing Road Trips® podcast, host Heidi J. Ellsworth sat down with Rebecca Talbot and Rich Benninghoff of Malco Products to discuss the brand’s history and their dedication to the customer journey. As the Malco brand nears its 75th anniversary next year, Rebecca and Rich highlighted how far the company has come since its early beginnings in 1950.  

Rich, the current president and CEO of Malco, shared that their founder started out by creating a line of tools designed to help contractors and laborers in the steel industry. These products included metal crimpers and seamers, among others. “[Our founder] decided that he wanted to help the industry and the folks that were working with that sheet metal product in the industry and started to design and develop some tools to work with sheet metal to make their jobs more efficient and safer... He worked to innovate and develop new products and solutions for the industry. At its core, the business has always had a product innovation identity,” Rich explained.  

Since the 1950s, Malco has seen several decades of continued innovation and growth, under the leadership of the original founder’s sons until the 2000s, when they shifted the brand from family ownership to employee ownership. This shift was significant and solidified Malco’s dedication to product innovation and solutions overall. Rich elaborated, “There's been a very loyal following in the end user side of our business and the trade pro side of our business that has been second to none. It's a very strong brand loyalty that's been built over the years because of this idea of being proud of making a product and using that product the way that it was intended. So, a cool business with a lot of legacy, and I think our job is to try to continue that legacy, and keep an eye on the history of the company as we look forward.” 

Rebecca, who has recently joined Malco as their vice president of marketing, emphasized the company and its current employee's dedication to continuing the Malco legacy of innovation and the customer journey through their efforts to provide educational resources and opportunities to their customers. She shared, “As part of our EOS traction, we've identified training as a key component to our success... There are so many resources for individuals who are visiting our site and programs that support the promotion of those resources as well as the promotion of the entire trade pro journey and the industry of roofing, siding and gutters, HVAC, building construction trades at large.” 

Not only is Malco invested in training those in the industry, but they also want to celebrate them! “We have a head of the class program that any educator who may be listening to this is familiar with. We've recognized hundreds of students all across North America and the programs that they're in. We also have national programs that celebrate the knowledge and the skillset of those trade pros as part of our Trade Pro of the Year for HVAC and building construction,” Rebecca explained. “More recently, we introduced a new program to bring our distributor partners into the fold of recognition by announcing our counter person of the year, which is really intended to celebrate the staffing and the personnel within our distributor partner locations who understand the value of the trade pro, how to use the tools and just being an ambassador in general to the building construction industry.” 

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast episode to learn more about Malco Products and their mission to continue their legacy of innovation and the customer journey!