Markin’s success today is due to the collective efforts of both the Markin team and our customers over many decades of partnership and collaboration. We believe that it’s not just what we make, it’s how we make it, and this philosophy has helped make us one of the leading suppliers of small-diameter steel tubing worldwide.
Markin was founded in 1958 in Rochester, New York by James S. Markin when he purchased a single tube mill from the Rochester Products Division of General Motors Corp. With the help of his production and engineering chief from Rochester Products, Isadore Caplan, Markin quickly expanded both the breadth of products offered and the industries served. In addition to producing small diameter welded steel tubing for automotive applications, the Company began manufacturing various roll-formed shapes and sizes of tubing which could also be used for toys, umbrella rods and wire conduits for lighting fixtures. Within two years of opening their doors, Markin acquired a second tube mill and began operating around the clock to support demand.
In the early 1970’s, Markin acquired four additional tube mills from the Rochester Products Division of General Motors and began construction on a facility custom-designed for the purpose of tube manufacturing in Wyoming, New York. It was also during this time that Barton P. Dambra was named President of Markin Tubing. With the enhanced capacity, improved layout, and Mr. Dambra’s leadership, Markin was able to expand further into the automotive market, producing in-line annealed and coated tubing used for technical, tight-tolerance fluid transfer applications such as fuel lines, transmission lines and other low pressure fluid carrying applications.
In the mid-1980s Markin opened a fabrication facility in Buffalo, New York. This operation performed value-added services such as cutting, end finishing/chamfering, end forming, tubing bending and light assembly. Customers have and continue to view this facility as an extension of their own, leveraging Markin’s fabrication capabilities to help load balance their own manufacturing operations typically during new program launches and periods of high demand.
Markin produced its first Galfan® coated product in 1993. The Galfan® coated tubing is both formable and flexible, and offers significantly enhanced corrosion resistance to more traditional zinc-plating. In addition, Markin’s Galfan® product represents a compelling low cost alternative to stainless, copper and PVF coated tubing. Since that first production run, Markin has added a two additional Galfan® coating lines and developed proprietary methods and techniques to measure and control the coating thickness. With these enhanced controls, Markin began production in 2012 of its G2 product, a product offering substantially increased corrosion resistance over the standard Galfan® product.
After almost 40 years of leadership, Bart Dambra named Daniel T. Cunniffe his successor in 2012.