Bagel Baskets to Boeing

Marlin Steel exemplifies the future of the U.S. machine tool industry. Facing global competition and decline, the company set out on a new course: One that has resulted in 700% sales growth and a stakeholder in America’s fourth industrial revolution.

Marlin Steel is a machine shop dedicated to workplace automation and investments in employee education. The shop has been featured on American business media channels such as Bloomberg Business, CNN, CNBC, FOX, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, among others. But that wasn’t always the case.

Marlin Steel was once known as “the king of bagel baskets.” Founded in 1968, the Brooklyn, NY steel wire manufacturer established a niche by hand welding its manufactured wire to form baskets for the bagel market. The company went on to become the dominant supplier of wire baskets to bagel bakeries everywhere. So when Drew Greenblatt bought the company in 1998 and moved it to Baltimore, MD, the plan was to upgrade operations and bring an ever more thriving business into a new century. After 30 years of bagel basket market domination, what could go wrong?