Metal Products Company was founded in 1941 as a proprietorship to fabricate ladders and doors for Liberty Ships, which were being built at the rate of one per day. These ships were used to support supply for England in the early part of WWII.
C.E. Gammage and Robert Harris became friends while students at Georgia Tech, class of 1927, and partnered again in 1941 to start the company.
Within two or three years it became necessary to look for a new product line in order to keep the company going. Mr. Gammage went off on his own and built a plant to produce Underwriters Listed Petroleum tanks. This product was chosen because Mr. Gammage had previously been a tank representative for Armco Steel, Inc. and therefore was familiar with the product and customer base.
During the late 1940's and 1950's the company produced farm tanks, heating oil tanks, service station tanks and aboveground bulk plant tanks. It was during the decade of the 1950's that the company was converted from a proprietorship to a corporation.
From the late 1950's and into the decade of the 1960's the company furnished tanks for Standard Oil Company, Sinclair Refining Company, Shell, Texaco, Gulf and Phillips Petroleum.
During construction of the interstate highway system, large shopping centers, airports, etc. the company built numerous 10,000 gallon skid tanks, and 1000 gallon wagon mounted tanks complete with pumping systems and filters.
In 1977, as the old plant in the city of Atlanta began to show its age, the company began to search for a new location with rail service and soon began construction on a new facility twenty miles northeast of Atlanta. The new plant in Suwanee, Georgia came on stream in late 1978 and the old plant was closed January 1, 1979.
By 1983 Metal Products Company was becoming seriously involved in new technology as far as underground tanks were concerned. As the latter part of the decade unfolded, the company was supplying three major technologies that originated in California, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
Customers for the above products have included Amoco, QuikTrip, Racetrac, Starvin Marvin and Esso, Shell and Texaco in the Caribbean.
The original plant site in Suwanee has bee enlarged by five times since 1978, and an additional plant has been added in Alachua Florida which went into production in 1989.
In the 1990's Metal Products Company continued to work on improving underground tank technology while adding several leading aboveground products along with aboveground and underground oil / water separators.
It is interesting to note that of the approximately 80 tank companies in the United States, only one is a public stock company. Only three large stock companies; Armco Steel, Bethlehem Steel and Owens Corning have ever produced underground tanks. They no longer participate. Tank companies are family owned, and most are in the 3rd and 4th generation. Metal Products Company is in its 3rd generation. The survivors are committed to quality and service, or they have ceased to exist.
Metal Products Company celebrated its 70th year in 2011. The commitment to quality and service will be stronger than ever to meet the demands of the environment, the petroleum industry and safety concerns.
Metal Products Company
