Heather Athey

Malco Tools started in 1950 when a young steel supply salesman, Mark W. Keymer, decided to manufacture and market a pipe crimper he had invented to install 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 toolset. Metal duct fabrication could now be done easily at the job site, and contractor-installers received the tools well. 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 Malco name originated 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. Corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities are located in Annandale, MN. Over 70 years later, Malco's legacy of innovative products lives on. Hundreds of other specialty tools have since joined the early product line of crimpers, seamers, notchers, and punches. Malco is still known for regularly introducing exciting new hand tool designs and modifications for the markets it serves.