M-D Building Products have been innovating from OKC for more than a century

From left to right: Ryan Plotkin, president of M-D Building Products and Loren Plotkin, CEO of M-D Building Products. 

Since 1920, M-D Building Products has been manufacturing a diverse array of products including door and window weatherstrip, caulk, aluminum and vinyl custom extrusions and flooring accessories. Over its century of success, M-D Building Products has maintained its roots as a family-run, privately held business headquartered in Oklahoma City. 

Today the company has 12 locations spread across North America, including Canada, and you can find their products in nearly every hardware store, including Ace Hardware, Lowe’s and The Home Depot. While it has grown into an international company, its origins are about as Oklahoman as you can get.

In 1919, L.A. Macklanburg and his wife moved to a new home in Oklahoma City. They quickly became frustrated with the dirt the Oklahoma wind would blow into their house. This led to Macklanburg developing the first door weatherstrip to help combat the Oklahoma winds, summer heat and winter colds. Sensing an opportunity, he took his hand-crank weatherstrip machine to the Oklahoma State Fair in 1920 and Macklanburg-Duncan (which would later become M-D Building Products) was born.

M-D Building products has been in business for more than a century. 

The President of M-D Building Products, Ryan Plotkin, said that the original story of Oklahoma innovation, entrepreneurialism and finding solutions to problems remains with the company more than 100 years later.

“We have a very entrepreneurial, cool story,” said Plotkin. “Flexibility, innovation and creativity remain core competencies today.  Another core strength of ours is ego-less teamwork.  We are all in this together. Whether it is the senior leadership team or the person that is running the weatherstrip machine, we are all pulling in the same direction. It is the Oklahoma characteristic of rolling up your sleeves and getting to work to make it happen.”

To Plotkin’s point, while M-D Building Products started out making weatherstrip, and it is still a big part of its business, the company has an impressive resume of innovation and adaption over its history, including a shift in the 1940s to help supply products for the war effort during World War II.

Speaking further to its longevity and great customer relationships, M-D began a partnership with Ace Hardware in 1938, Lowe’s in 1946, where they hold vendor number 81, and The Home Depot when it opened its doors in 1979. 

In 1949, M-D Building Products became the first company to put caulk in a tube for consumer use and in 1952 it began extruding aluminum.

“The very first product that was manufactured by Macklanburg-Duncan in 1920 was a piece of weatherstripping - roll formed bronze that went up under the door to keep the dust out. We have been in this specific business for 100 years,” said Plotkin. “You think, it's weatherstripping and thresholds. How much innovation can you really integrate? I have been really proud of how our team has tackled that challenge head on over the last decade. We have begun innovating the category to make products that last longer and are easier to install. That creativity will continue to drive us into the next 100 years.”

While M-D Building Products has always been innovative, the company has been particularly aggressive in its growth over the last decade with the acquisition of several companies to help diversify its portfolio and create lasting stability.

In 2011, the company opened an 82,500-square-foot warehouse and distribution center and quickly expanded that by another 100,000 square feet in 2017. In 2012, they acquired Canada-based Loxcreen Flooring Group to re-enter the professional flooring and custom extrusion businesses, as well as gain a foothold in Canada. Continued investments to create capacity and grow capabilities over the last decade have included new capital equipment and the additional acquisitions of RCR Canada, Morse Industries, and most recently Cardinal Aluminum was acquired in 2021 to support the custom extrusion business.

Diversifying products and channels, as well as controlling the supply chain, has been a big reason M-D Building Products has been so successful for a century and according to Plotkin is core to the plan to remain in business for another 100 years.

M-D Building Products acquires Cardinal Aluminum. 

“Oh, absolutely having a stable, diverse portfolio strategy is important.  It is not just our product diversity, it is our channel diversity and our business diversity. Many know us for the retail part of our business  - weatherstripping, floor trims and screens, which is only about 40% of our overall business,” said Plotkin. “The rest of our business is in other channels which are B2B and channels that you may never know we are involved in. You probably have our products around your office. For example, if you have a whiteboard in your office, there is a chance that we made the aluminum that goes around it. That diversification has been a real core strategy of ours.”

That commitment to product and manufacturing diversity helped the company when the world was hit by the COVID 19 pandemic.

“As we navigated through uncertain times at the beginning of the pandemic, our custom extrusion business and our professional businesses contracted,” said Plotkin. “However, our retail demand went crazy. Everybody was staying at home and doing projects around their houses. Now, we are starting to see the retail business level off from the unprecedented growth of last year, but the custom extrusion and professional businesses are now strong with the onshoring opportunities.”

Adding new product lines and business channels have also helped M-D Building Products stave off the boom-and-bust cycles other industries endure.

“Having all those different products inside of retail stores, but also having these different channels that we service gives us stability. That has been another real differentiator for us in Oklahoma City,” said Plotkin. “When you have oil and gas you get the booms, and you get the busts. Differentiating ourselves in this market means we may not have the booms, but very importantly, we are not going to have the busts. We have never had to have a layoff. We have always stayed very stable.”

Besides a commitment to innovation, manufacturing their products in the U.S. is an important part of M-D Building Products’ strategy. Currently, 90% of what it sells is made in the U.S.

“Maybe 25, or so, years ago everyone started moving their manufacturing to China. We were very intentional at that point of reinvesting in domestic manufacturing. We bought new extrusion presses and equipment to be able to do that. We knew that short-term, it was not going to bring the best profitability to the business, but long-term, we wanted to be able to control our supply chain,” said Plotkin. “Being able to control our supply chain has proven invaluable when you look at the challenges that have been present recently with overseas manufacturing. It is a real competitive advantage for us.”

And once again, M-D Building Products commitment to their business practices helped provide them flexibility and opportunity during the pandemic.

“The other reason why we have been very intentional about domestic manufacturing is it gives us a lot of flexibility. During the pandemic, there was a need for sneeze guards, foot pulls, and arm pulls. We were able to go from ideation to having product in stores in about 45 days,” said Plotkin. “That is a lightning pace to get something drawn up, designed, extruded, built, shipped, and put into stores. We would have never been able to do that had we not been domestically manufacturing.”

When asked what secrets he could share on how M-D Building Products has been able to not just stay in business for more than a century but innovate and grow, Plotkin was quick to put the focus back on the employees.

“While all of the business strategies around diversification and stability are important, that isn’t the number one thing. The number one, most important part of M-D, is the people. If we did not have great people, we would not be here as a stable, Oklahoma company for over 100 years. Our team truly cares about each other and about our customers,” said Plotkin. “I’ve traveled to other companies and manufacturing floors around the world.  Our plant is very unique because our workforce, from the person that is operating the machine all the way up, is very engaged and very welcoming. We are excited about the type of work that we are doing and the opportunities that lie ahead. That has been consistent at M-D for years and years. Ever since I was a kid coming here, I remember that warmth of our culture. One of the reasons I wanted to come back is because of the great people that are within these four walls. I think that has definitely been very important for us and our long-term success.”