Malco pioneered two niche markets with its specialty hand tools. Today Malco Products, Inc. is the nation's leading manufacturer of hand tools for the HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) professional trade. Malco Products is also the leading manufacturer of hand tools for professionals in the Exterior Remodeling Industry (Roofing, Siding, Gutter and Downspout). The corporation continues to expand the markets it serves, and in 1995 Malco Products acquired the Kenyon Tools line. The young Kenyon Tools Brand specializes in the manufacture of tools for landscape, irrigation, and lawn and garden professionals. Both the Malco and Kenyon brands are also gaining popularity in the huge do-it-yourself/home and garden market.
Corporate headquarters and Malco manufacturing facilities are located in Annandale, Minnesota, just outside the Minneapolis / St. Paul metroplex. The Kenyon Tools Brand is located in southern California's "Inland Empire" region, in the city of Corona.
The future promises the introduction of even more Malco and Kenyon branded innovations-after all, product innovation and specialization is what the Malco success story is all about.
Malco Products, Inc. got its start in 1950 when a young steel supply salesman, Mark W.Keymer , decided to manufacture and market a pipe crimper he had invented for use in installing the new sheet metal ductwork used with forced air heating systems. More tools soon followed, including: the first hand seamer to employ compound leverage; a time saving hand notcher that made a V-shaped cut in one motion; and a hand operated, snap lock punch to complete the basic sheet metal tool set. Metal duct fabrication could now be done easily at the job site and the tools were well received by contractor-installers.
Mark Keymer's manufacturing operations had to move from a garage to the more spacious basement of his Minneapolis home. Mr. Keymer relates that the origin of the Malco name came from combining his first name and the first name of an early associate named Al: Malco for "Mark and Al's Company" (it was Al's garage). The fledgling tool company's humble move upward so to speak, from a garage to a basement, was the first of many moves and plant expansions. Over fifty years later, the legacy of innovative products that started "Malco" lives on. The early product line of crimpers, seamers, notchers and punches has since been joined by hundreds of other specialty tools, and Malco is still known for regularly introducing exciting new hand tool designs and modifications for the niche markets it serves.
