TAMKO Building Products, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of residential and commercial roofing products, waterproofing products, composite decking and railing systems, and cements and coatings. Our more than 65 years of success is the direct result of teamwork, enduring relationships with customers, suppliers and employees, and our commitment to Six Sigma continuous quality improvement with its foundation based on the total quality management principles of Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

In 1944, at the age of 69, E.L. Craig began a roofing business in an old streetcar barn in Joplin, Missouri. Mrs. Mary Ethel Craig named the company TAMKO—from the first letters of the five states the company anticipated as its sales territory: Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. She later assumed the leadership of TAMKO in 1954 due to Mr. Craig’s health. The Craigs’ daughter, Ethelmae, directed TAMKO’s operations during the ’50s and has continued as TAMKO’s chairman to this day. In 1960, Ethelmae’s husband, J.P. (Jay) Humphreys, became TAMKO’s president.

Over the next 33 years, Jay Humphreys led TAMKO’s success with his entrepreneurial vision of growth for TAMKO with the addition of manufacturing plants in Phillipsburg, Kansas (1969); Tuscaloosa, Alabama (1974); Knoxville, Tennessee (1978); Frederick, Maryland (1978); and Dallas, Texas (1985). In addition, Jay Humphreys set the course for TAMKO’s continued success with his vision of quality process management built on the continuous quality improvement principles of Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

Following Jay’s death in 1993, David Craig Humphreys (Jay and Ethelmae’s eldest son) assumed TAMKO’s leadership in 1994—the same year the company name changed to TAMKO Roofing Products, Inc. to reflect the company’s focus on roofing products. Since 1994, TAMKO’s expansion has continued at a dramatic pace. The addition of new manufacturing plants expanded TAMKO’s production capabilities for additional organic roll products as well as asphalt cements and coatings at Green Cove Springs, Florida (1994); additional glass mat production at Ennis, Texas (1996); additional fiberglass built-up roll roofing at Naples, Texas (1997); polyester mat, cements and coatings, and waterproofing at Columbus, Kansas (1998); additional dry felt at Butler, Alabama (1998); the MetalWorks® Steel Shingles production facility at Joplin High Street (2003) and many additions and modifications at existing plants to increase capacity for the production of Heritage® Laminated Shingles, the cornerstone in TAMKO’s residential roofing product line.

Beginning in 1999, TAMKO also entered the plastic composite decking business with its purchase of composite manufacturing equipment in Lamar, Missouri. Since then, TAMKO has rapidly expanded its production of theEverGrain® Decking line. In addition, in 2002 TAMKO added a composite plastic shingle manufacturing plant at Lamar South to produce Lamarite®, the premier synthetic slate and wood shake shingle product line. Most recently, TAMKO added extruded railings to complement its decking product line.

TAMKO has continued to build on the success of the Deming quality principles with the launch of a comprehensive Six Sigma program across the company beginning in 2002. Six Sigma at TAMKO is a business strategy and management philosophy for the urgent pursuit of perfection to achieve increased profitability with a goal of near perfection.

On June 1, 2006, TAMKO Roofing Products Inc. changed its name to TAMKO Building Products, Inc. to more accurately reflect that TAMKO manufactures not only roofing, but also EverGrain Composite Decking, Tam-Rail® Railing Systems, waterproofing materials, window and door wraps, asphalt cements and coatings, insulation facer and many of its own raw materials, such as glass mat, dry felt, processed asphalt, paper cores, polyester mats and crushed limestone.

Today, TAMKO remains headquartered where it began, in Joplin, Missouri, while operating manufacturing and warehouse facilities across the country in order to serve its customers across the nation.