History

Formed in 1952, Masdom Corp. (name was changed in 1993 to Masdom Inc.) was established as a manufacturers rep and distributor of several quality product lines; which to this day form the foundation of Masdom’s business.

In the early 1960s, a deal was struck with Air Maze Corporation that would change the course of the Company. It was to be Masdom’s first foray into manufacturing and involved the exclusive Canadian marketing, distribution & manufacturing rights for Air Maze’s entire line of filtration products.

To meet the manufacturing end of the commitment, Masdom began its first company expansion. Unbeknownst to us at the time, Air Maze owners were in the process of selling the company to new interests who would subsequently overturn the manufacturing agreement.

Masdom scrambled. We had to find alternative uses for the equipment we had bought and the facility. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for two companies to come forward with licensing agreements – Cleveland-Armstrong, a supplier of bulk handling gates, and Acrison, a company manufacturing a line of volumetric feeders. With these two contracts, Masdom established a new Armstrong-Jones manufacturing division servicing the bulk material handling industry. Masdom Corp. now had two distinct divisions and lines of business, distribution and manufacturing.

Over the sixties, Armstrong-Jones developed into a world leader in industrial fabrication. Requests to quote on manufacturing for every manner of metal product were coming in from all over the world. Despite all the prosperity, we were never blind to new opportunities; and a new one soon surfaced.

Noise in the industrial workplace was becoming an increasing problem and demand for silencers and industrial acoustical equipment was heavy. With the founding of yet another division, Acoustex of Canada, Masdom moved quickly to fill the niche.

As sole supplier of such products in Canada, Acoustex soon found itself inundated with business. By the mid 1970s, the company was recognized as the world leader in their field and two acoustical experts were brought in from the U.K. to head up design and marketing for the busy division. When the two left to form their own competing firm a few years later, the loss was a heavy blow to Acoustex.

By now, our founder was in his seventies and in failing health. Reluctantly, in 1987, he made the decision to sell the company. However, the company did remain within the family.

In a tactic that admittedly made good sense at the time, the new owner spun off both the Armstrong-Jones and Acoustex divisions. Despite the abundance of business and world wide reputation for quality work, it had long been argued that these manufacturing divisions were not generating profits and that, in fact, were being carried by the original distribution end of the business.

Just two years later, with Masdom Corporation stripped back to its roots as a distributorship the company was sold yet again. Unfortunately, the new owner had little real interest in Masdom’s business and rapidly ran the company into the ground. The liabilities accumulated were more than we could possible cover and the company was placed in receivership.

In a surprising eleventh hour bid, two long-time Masdom employees, Joan Wilson and Malcolm McKaye, came forward with a proposal to buy the company’s assets. They acquired the total assets of Masdom Corp. on June 4th, 1992. By month’s end, the company was breathing life again under a slightly changed Masdom Inc. name.

In a show of confidence and loyalty, the entire administrative staff of the old Masdom Corp. stood behind Joan and Malcolm’s side. So did virtually every primary supplier, including Masdom’s oldest partners, Air Maze, Kunkle and Firestone. In the end, the Masdom family was back in business and stronger than ever.

As a testament to our belief in "relationships", every employee with the exception of two (both of whom have since retired) are with the company today!