The charter took effect on October 1, 1956, with Armco Steel Corp., Behlen Manufacturing, Butler Manufacturing, Carew Steel, Cowin & Company Inc., Inland-Ryerson Construction Products Company/INRYCO INC., Marathon Metallic Building Company, Martin Steel Buildings Inc., National Steel Products Company/Stran-Steel, Pascoe Steel, Soule Steel, Steelcraft Manufacturing and Wonder Building Corp as the original members. On September 25, 1956, 13 companies officially formed the Metal Building Manufacturers Association. At that time, Wilber Larkin of Butler Manufacturing wrote to a number of companies and invited them to a meeting in Chicago. The builders provided contracting and erection services and the manufacturers offered training courses for the building of their structures. ĭuring the 1950s, metal building manufacturers began to use a builder/dealer network model. After the war, metal buildings became more widely accepted for other uses.
The use of pre-engineered buildings increased during World War II with the introduction and evolution of the Quonset Hut, a portable and inexpensive solution to housing and other needs.
The first standing seam metal roof was introduced by Armco Steel Corp at the 1934 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. Įarly in the 1900s, prior to the formation of the MBMA, metal beams and panels were used for garages with small structures and were advertised for sale in publications such as the Saturday Evening Post. Larkin in order to work together to promote metal building systems and be the technical voice of the industry. The first group of 13 metal building systems companies came together under the leadership of Wilbur B. The Metal Building Manufacturers Association, commonly known as the MBMA, was founded in 1956 by a group of companies that designed, manufactured, and marketed metal buildings.