Marlin Steel Wire: Competing Globally
by Christine Hansen
When Drew Greenblatt purchased Marlin Steel Wire in 1998, the company manufactured custom steel wire baskets, shelves and hooks for bagel companies. But when the Atkins diet became popular and bagels were no longer a hot commodity, Greenblatt had to change his target market.
“We first started off selling commodity bagel baskets but that was a very challenging market because the Atkins diet came in – which was devastating to the bagel business,” Greenblatt said. “China also began importing baskets into America for cheaper than I could buy steel. So we had to transform.”
Greenblatt thought global, and focused on items that factories would be willing to pay for: high quality, fast-delivered, engineered products. Today, Marlin Steel Wire makes custom steel baskets and high-end industrial applications for medical plants, pharmaceutical plants, and automotive plants, to name a few. Since its transformation, Greenblatt said, the company has grown six times bigger since the day he bought the company.
Marlin Steel Wire produces high quality steel products for automotive, pharmaceutical, and medical plants across the world.
What started out as a bagel basket company making $800,000 in annual revenue has grown to an international manufacturing company, boasting $5 million in annual revenue. Based in Baltimore, Md., the company employs 34. Employees range in education level and skill, but all are offered training opportunities, competitive salaries, and benefits.
“We have six mechanical engineers, we have college graduates and we have skilled trades – people that can set up $150,000 to $400,000 robots by reading blue prints,” Greenblatt said.
In the last few years, Greenblatt has invested in a number of robotics machines to aid in the production of the steel products, which has enabled his small business to produce high quality products quickly and efficiently.
“Robotics are critical because it empowers your employee to be more productive. They do a higher quality job, they go faster, and make many more parts per hour,” he said.
Robotics helps the company and its employees produce faster and more efficient.
Greenblatt is also proud that his small company doesn’t leave a large carbon footprint. Every coil of steel they purchase, he explained, used to be an old dishwasher or an old car that was melted down to a steel coil they could use to repurpose.
“When we make a basket, sometimes we have scrap – it’s a fact of business. But we recycle everything. So we are 100 percent landfill free when it comes to the steel we use and we are very proud of that,” he said.
Marlin Wire exports to over 35 countries, including Canada (their biggest client), Singapore, China, Taiwan, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and South America. Greenblatt accompanied Governor O’Malley earlier this year on the economic trade mission to Asia and spent 15 days there talking with potential new clients, and has plans to travel to Germany later this year.
“Ninety-five percent of the world’s consumers are not American – they are outside our borders. It’s a huge market. We would be foolish to focus on just our domestic market. The domestic market is a strong good market – but there are a lot more clients over there than there are here,” Greenblatt said.
After Greenblatt invested in robotics and expanded the company's product range, employees jumped from an hourly wage of $6 per hour to $24 per hour.
And Greenblatt believes that his investments in robotics have enabled his once fledgling business to soar above his international competitors, like China. His employees, he said, who were once making $6 to $8 an hour are now making $24 to $30 an hour.
“Our clients are very demanding with quality and they are demanding with speed, so these robotics make our employees like Super Man where they can do their jobs very quickly and efficiently. And because of that, we can compete against China, we can compete against Mexico and we can compete against Europe,” Greenblatt said.
