Founder James Martindale launched the company in February 1967 as Martco with three employees in a small office on Main Street in Middletown. A move to its current facility at 3350 Yankee Road in 1971 allowed Martco to expand its product lines, and added roll grinding capability. Since then, it has completed nine building expansions.
Known as MTR Martco since 1998, the company now has 55 employees in a more than 60,000 square foot facility.
“We still offer rebuilt and used equipment but have expanded to include new equipment and engineering services,” McIntosh said. “We also offer field service and installation of equipment for a turn key solution. We have expanded beyond the paper industry to offer our products and services to all industrial customers including the steel industry and others.”
MTR Martco’s greatest overall success was purchasing the business next door, Orman’s Welding Center, in 2005 to expand the company’s customer base beyond the paper industry, McIntosh said.
“I was the former general manager of OWC prior to joining Martco and I thought it would be a good fit and allow us to expand to other industries,” he said. “We have also expanded our customer base to reach all the USA, Canada and Mexico. We are shipping some products now to other parts of the world, as well.”
McIntosh, who has been with the company since 1994 and an owner since 1998, said he was born in Middletown and has lived in the Middletown and Trenton areas his entire life, “so this is home.”
“We have a tight group of local employees that work well together and see opportunities to work and live right here,” he said. “Between Martco and OWC, I have over 30 years combined experience that led to ownership of Martco. The Martindales and Ormans, the former owners of Martco and OWC, gave a local employee a chance to succeed and carry on the businesses they started.”
The biggest challenge to MTR Martco over the years has been hiring and training skilled employees, McIntosh said.
“We could add a second shift in some areas if we could find skilled employees to fill the positions,” he said. “Retirement will be an ongoing problem as employees age and not as many younger workers are pursuing these types of careers. An example is my former business partner Tom Bake, who retired in 2013. We need to attract young talent to skilled trades, engineering and customer support and sales roles. It can be a very rewarding career.”
In 2016, MTR Martco partnered with CanAm Machinery to offer rebuilt equipment to the USA and Mexico paper mill markets, McIntosh said. That helped the company expand its customer support and introduce its products and services to Mexico.
“We don’t have a sales office or technical support in Mexico, so partnering with an established company has given us a huge opportunity,” he said.
Next up, MTR Martco is looking to partner with with other companies to reach new customers and is already starting to see some interest outside of North America, McIntosh said.
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