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Marlin Steel named to Forbes’ list of ‘Small Giants’
//May 24, 2018
Baltimore’s Marlin Steel has made the list of 25 “Small Giants” named by Forbes magazine as the best small businesses in the U.S.
Here’s what Forbes had to say:
Two things went wrong for CEO Drew Greenblatt soon after he bought Marlin Steel, a manufacturer of metal bagel baskets, in 1998. First, the low-carb Atkins diet surged, which meant people started eating less bread and bagel chains started buying fewer baskets. Then Chinese manufacturers started selling the baskets for less than it cost Marlin just to buy its steel. So Greenblatt reinvented the company. Spurred by a surprise order from Boeing, which needed custom wire baskets to wash precision parts on an assembly line, Marlin pivoted to supplying custom-engineered containers to manufacturers in the aerospace, defense, medical and automotive industries. Today, having invested in robotics, automatic raises for enhanced skills, and 100%-paid continued education, Marlin’s workforce has grown and 20% of its employees have degrees in mechanical engineering.
Marlin had 32 employees and $5 million in revenue last year, the magazine noted. Greenblatt also has become a prominent national voice in discussing how U.S. manufacturers can revive their industries.
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