Greenvale, New York-based Slant/Fin is celebrating 70 years of heating homes and businesses across the United States and Canada.

“Mel Dubin started Slant/Fin 70 years ago with an idea and a dream,” said Adam Dubin, chairman of Slant/Fin Corp. “He wasn’t the first to make baseboard, but he knew he could make a better baseboard. I like to think that he simply outworked, out-thought and ultimately outran the competition. Quality and customer service mattered above all to my father. And those values are still in our company to this day.”

From its 1949 beginnings in the back room of a Coney Island bakery, Slant/Fin has grown to become the largest baseboard heating manufacturer in the U.S. and one of the nation’s top boiler manufacturers, the company noted.

The company took its name from founder Mel Dubin’s original design — a slanted, locked fin — that he came up with in response to that era’s inefficient fin-tube radiation designs. The original work area was so small, Dubin said that they needed to “manufacture 10-foot heating elements one half at a time, then we’d open the back door so we could turn it around to finish it.”

That innovative design — and those that came after it — took the lead in the heating industry, the company explained. Through the years, the company has grown to a multi-national corporation, installing heating equipment in millions of homes and businesses in North America and around the world.

Although it’s manufacturing facility focuses on baseboards and boilers, Slant/Fin’s core philosophy is customer service. With not only an outstanding product but also world-class support and service, the company supplies some of the nation’s most iconic buildings, including the new One World Trade Center, Slant/Fin notes.

Innovation, though, is only half of the company’s success equation, noted Stacey Droogan, Slant/Fin’s vice president of sales and marketing services.

“As a family-owned business,” she says, “we’ve built our culture around customer service, trust-building and relationships. At Slant/Fin, customer service isn’t a department, it’s everyone’s job. It’s at the heart of what we do.” That extends into the tech services, manufacturing and shipping departments as well, she points out. 

The company provides troubleshooting by phone, full sales support with a team of independent and factory representatives, as well as frequent training for both customers and their support team, she adds.

“With a solid history behind us, the company, our leadership and every member of the Slant/Fin family looks forward to many more milestones in its next 70 years,” Droogan said.