In 1944, E.L. Craig began his own roofing business at the age of 69 in an old streetcar barn in Joplin, Missouri. His wife named the company "TAMKO" -- composed from the first letters of the five states they anticipated as their territory: Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma.

The long, narrow structure of the streetcar barn was ideally suited to house a roofing production line and serve as TAMKO's first headquarters. Despite material and supply shortages created by World War II, Mr. Craig had TAMKO up and running before the year was over--and supporting the war effort in 1945.

Today TAMKO® Roofing Products, Inc. has grown beyond its original building and territory to become a leading national manufacturer of residential and commercial roofing products, waterproofing, cements and coatings. It is still family--owned and operated with the high standards and hardworking ethics that remain reflected in our products.

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TAMKO was a young company when the mantle of leadership fell on the shoulders of the Craigs' daughter, Ethelmae, who directed TAMKO's operations during the early '50s. In 1960 her husband, Jay Humphreys, became TAMKO's president. Under his leadership, TAMKO attained national stature in the roofing industry.

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Jay Humphreys' conservative management style secured TAMKO financially and led to a carefully executed expansion into new manufacturing facilities in Phillipsburg, Kansas; Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee; Frederick, Maryland; and Dallas, Texas. He wisely reinvested company profits to introduce new products such as Awaplan--America's first SBS-modified polyester roll roofing product--and the Heritage® series of laminated shingles. These products changed TAMKO's approach to commercial and residential roofing.

Mr. Craig approached business with strong personal ethics. Work hard. Do your best. Be fair and honest. Believe in those around you. Today--as it was during Mr. Craig's lifetime--this is the TAMKO work ethic. It has been passed through three generations of leadership and it's shared by everyone from the newest employee to the Chairman of the Board. It's our company's point of difference, and it is evident in every product we make.

In the years since Mr. Craig founded TAMKO, we have continually worked to do our best each day and to continuously improve our products and services. Our objective is to produce the best-quality roofing products at the lowest overall delivered cost. We strive to offer our customers the right quality--the best balance of price and performance.

In the early 1980s, Mr. Humphreys attended a seminar conducted by Dr. W. Edwards Deming. He was so impressed with Deming's concept of continual process improvement, he immediately took action to implement it at TAMKO. Today, we apply this methodology to all aspects of our business: manufacturing, shipping, sales, raw material procurement, even our billing system.

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Under the direction of David Humphreys, we are thriving in our third generation of family leadership. Our present success is the direct result of teamwork and the honest belief that every team member--customer, supplier and employee alike--should benefit financially by contributing to the good of the team. Looking back, this philosophy has helped us build long-lasting relationships with customers, suppliers and employees. It is this spirit that made TAMKO the company it is today.

You can depend on TAMKO for top-quality products at competitive prices, and strong support before and after you buy. You can depend on us like family because that's what we are--a family dedicated to the roofing business.

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