- Martin Door
-
Martin Door Manufacturing, founded in 1936, is a garage door manufacturing company, based in South Salt Lake, Utah with distribution to 87 countries.
The company is privately owned. David O. Martin is chairman of the company.
Contents
History
Martin Door Manufacturing is one of the oldest garage door manufacturers in the world. Leno Martin founded the company in 1936 in Santa Ana, California.
Leno created a one-piece overhead type door that soon began to replace the swinging doors of the west.[1] Dave Martin helped his older brother, Leno, expand his market in California and learned the business from him.
The outbreak of World War II temporarily closed the company down. The Martin family moved to the Salt Lake City area and the company was formally reorganized in 1951, with Dave Martin buying the business from his ailing brother.
MDM evolved through the years and continued the pattern of innovation initiated by Leno. Dave Martin was a partner in developing the idea and design for raised panel steel doors and has several patents for safety and design changes, which have followed through the years.[2]
Seeing a growing trend of garage door-related injuries in the 1990s, Martin vowed to go out of business, rather than continuing to produce a product that caused so many injuries.[3] However, instead of ceasing production the company found or developed product modifications to increase user safety. In 1996 it introduced FingerShield, a safety device designed to keep fingers out of the door's folding joints.[1] Since that time other safety innovations have included features on track, section, and spring assemblies.
Martin Doors are still manufactured in Utah but in 2002 the company opened a factory-direct outlet in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Site
Martin Door Manufacturing has 210,000 square feet (20,000 m2) of manufacturing space in five adjacent buildings on a 14 acre (5.67 hectare) site at its 2828 South 900 West location in South Salt Lake, Utah. The Las Vegas facility has 10,000 square feet (930 m2) of feet on a 1-acre (4,000 m2) site.
Certifications
In 2001 MDM became the first garage door manufacturer certified to the new ISO 9001 quality standard. With this certification, Martin became the first "UL Registered" garage door manufacturer worldwide.[1]
In 2002 MDM had six of its door systems earn UL approval,[4] making it the first company within the garage door industry to have both a UL-listed product and be ISO 9001 certified.[5]
In 2003 Martin's garage doors passed hurricane test wind standards for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in the state of Florida.[6]
In 2005 Martin Garage Doors passed European standards[7] for safety and earned the right to use the CE label.[8] Martin Door added the controlled descent device, an advanced falling-door safety device, to its door systems, as part of the CE process.[9]
In 2007 MDM introduced a new UL-listed garage door system which did not rely on photo eyes, featuring soft-touch reversing technology.[10]
Environmental record
Even though there is no industry standard for defining green, Martin Door Manufacturing has claimed to be "greener than green" in regards to their processes and the impact their garage doors have on the environment.
The company quit building wooden garage doors several years ago, leading Dave Martin to suggest no trees are cut down to build his garage doors. Martin officials claim they recycle every component used in assembling a door down to the last scrap."[11]
In 2003 the company had a new powder coat paint booth installed, which imposed new environmental controls on a key component of their manufacturing process."[12] The paint system utilizes a high-tech wash system that monitors the acidic level of the water during the washing cycle and runoff is tested for pH levels and not released into the sewer until it reaches appropriate levels. The filtration system is also touted as being environmentally friendly. Any residual powder that does not attach itself to the negatively charged panel is captured by a filtering system that drops the powder down into a holding area, where it can be easily controlled, and removed. A holding room off one of the chambers is climate controlled for the sensitive powder used in the painting process. When the temperature is not right, a red light will signal a potential problem.
Even though Dave Martin has argued against putting too much emphasis on insulation in an area with venting requirement, the company added a new insulation option in 2009, which allows a customer an R-14 on a garage door. ."[13]
The company donated a door as part of a solar test project ."[14] in the greater Salt Lake City area in 2008, and findings from that project suggest significant energy savings as a result."[15]
External links
- Martin Garage Door Corporate Website
- Website focused on defining green for garage doors
- Website devoted to children's safety with garage doors
References
- ^ a b c http://www.martindoor.com/Company-Info/Company-History.aspx
- ^ http://www.martindoor.com/Company-Info/MartiNews.aspx?udt_471_param_detail=218
- ^ MEP Utah Application From Martin Door For Manufacturer of Year 2003
- ^ Cetificate Number 20060609-E215360 Underwriters Laboratories Inc.
- ^ http://www.martindoor.com/Company-Info/MartiNews.aspx?udt_471_param_detail=182
- ^ http://www.martindoor.com/Company-Info/MartiNews.aspx?udt_471_param_detail=168
- ^ Reference 0402-CPD-42 17 01 Swedish National Testing and Research Institute
- ^ http://www.martindoor.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=raRuXOyvQ5g%3d&tabid=116&mid=472
- ^ http://www.martindoor.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=vRP%2f5V9eLbE%3d&tabid=116&mid=472
- ^ http://www.martindoor.com/Company-Info/MartiNews.aspx?udt_471_param_detail=25
- ^ . http://www.martindoor.com/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=6cfu703Jv7Y%3d&tabid=116&mid=472/.
- ^ . http://www.martindoor.com/Company-Info/MartiNews.aspx?udt_471_param_detail=166/.
- ^ . http://www.martindoor.com/Company-Info/MartiNews.aspx?udt_471_param_detail=227/.
- ^ . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDEfHc1zIao/.
- ^ . http://www.solartesthome.com/.
Categories:- Manufacturing companies based in Utah
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.