TAMKO Building Products\nLLC is celebrating 75 years in business with a historic anniversary and\nemployee events, including a picnic at its Downtown Operations facility in\nJoplin, Missouri. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On September 5, 1944,\nTAMKO was officially born when founders E.L. and Mary Ethel Craig named their\nnew roofing company \u201cTAMKO\u201d as an acronym of the first letters of the states\nthey believed would be their sales territory \u2014 Texas, Arkansas, Missouri,\nKansas and Oklahoma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the next 75 years,\nTAMKO grew from one small location in an old streetcar barn in southwest\nMissouri to one of the nation\u2019s largest manufacturers of roofing with more than\n20 facilities across the United States, a host of building products and\nnationwide distribution. The company expanded into a variety of building\nproducts, including new styles of asphalt shingles, steel shingles, roofing\nunderlayments, waterproofing products and cements and coatings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will continue to adapt\nthe world to ourselves \u2014 as change is inevitable \u2014 but how we adapt; how we\nevolve; who we hire to join our team: all of these will determine our future,\u201d\nsaid David Humphreys, TAMKO President and CEO at an anniversary gathering.\n\u201cThings will change; we will make strategic choices; and, as we celebrate 75\nyears, we will be focused on positioning TAMKO for even faster growth and\ngreater success.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the company,\nthe TAMKO story is one of perseverance, entrepreneurialism and the American\ndream. Founder E.L. Craig was a self-made man who started working at age 12 and\nwent on to start a series of successful businesses. He was 69 years old when he\nstarted his final business venture \u2014 a small roofing manufacturer in Joplin,\nMissouri that his wife named TAMKO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Craig was a\ndeeply-principled man and TAMKO continues to be guided by those same core\nvalues, under the leadership of the third generation of its founding family.\nTAMKO is privately owned and operated and has a commitment to \u201cstay in business\nfor the long-haul\u201d as late TAMKO President J.P. Humphreys often said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the company, J.P.\nwas the one who introduced TAMKO to the principles of Continuous Improvement\nand the work of famed statistician Dr. W. Edwards Deming in 1981, a defining\nmoment for the company, driving much of TAMKO\u2019s progress since then in vertical\nintegration, product development and manufacturing processes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
TAMKO Chairman Ethelmae Humphreys, 92, daughter of the company\u2019s founders and a TAMKO employee for more than 70 years, graciously led the company in a variety of leadership positions, acting as a steadying influence during times of transition. J.P. and Ethelmae\u2019s eldest son, David Craig Humphreys, has led the company as President and CEO since 1994, expanding both the company\u2019s geographic and product footprint since then. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOver time, we\u2019ve seen\ngreat business growth and we\u2019ve built upon our character without sacrificing\nwho we are,\u201d Ethelmae said. \u201cIt\u2019s special for me to think about TAMKO \u2014 a\ncompany initiated by my father, named by my mother and run by my husband and\nchildren.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, we never\nwould\u2019ve made it without our people,\u201d she continued. \u201cFor 75 years, TAMKO\nexpected hard work, honesty and integrity from its employees, and just as my\nfather did from day one, our employees have demonstrated a work ethic and level\nof dedication that no one ever had to ask for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n