BAD SIGN FOR THE BOYS

APPRENTICE boss Bill Cullen blasts the boys' team this week - when they try to flog hotel vouchers to the boss of his own car showroom.

He added: "There is a winner. Basically this was the tightest boardroom ever.MDM is ISO 9001 certified by the International Organization for Standardization and offers a garage door system that is UL-Approved by Underwriters Laboratories. Since its inception as a humble manufacturer of single piece overhead wooden garage doors, MDM has evolved its product line to include steel sectional garage doors available in more than 5,000 color combinations with 77 powder coat color options. Many of its products, including its 99.9 percent pure copper sectional overhead doors and solid aluminum carriage house doors, are guaranteed for life.The company’s business strategy is to build affordable high-end garage doors, focusing on safety and value, rather than the lowest price. Martin says his company will never be among the giants, but is bucking the trend among his competitors seems to come down to the lowest price.But instead of leaving with their heads held high, the dopey foursome keep on trying - pleading and begging with the garage's boss to buy some of the vouchers himself, even asking him if he wants to take his wife on a romantic getaway.MDM's residential and commercial garage doors are available at certified garage door dealers across the United States and in 83 foreign countries. In 1994, MDM received an "E" Award, recognizing a significant contribution to increasing U.S. exports, from President Bill Clinton. Customers can also use the company's "Design Online" feature to custom design garage doors from a wide variety of design templates, materials and colors made to specification and backed by MDM's 12-year, 15-year and lifetime warranties.Since company founder Leno Martin relocated his fledgling garage door company to Utah, where he had family roots, MDM has called the Salt Lake Valley home. MDM doors, as well as their tracks, belt-driven garage openers and additional components, are manufactured in a 210,000 square foot factory on 14 acres at 2828 S. 900 W. in South Salt Lake and a 10,000 square foot factory outlet built in Las Vegas in 2002. David Martin is a past chairman of the Utah Manufacturing Association.They are then told by the boss he can't take any vouchers off the team as Bill already owns a hotel which the garage is associated with.In 1994 Martin Door Manufacturing received the "E" Award for excellence in exporting from President Bill Clinton. Martin is also the only garage door manufacturer in the world certified continuously to the ISO 9001 quality standard, which also has Underwriters Laboratories (UL) listed garage door and opener systems.And in some of the most savage scenes ever seen in the hit TV show, which begins again on TV3 tomorrow night, Bill rants at the team and tells them he can't believe they could be so stupid - especially since staff at the garage already get discounts at his Muckross Park Hotel in Killarney. He says: "Which bright spark had the idea to visit my garage? Did you see my name in 12ft letters and still decide to go in - even though I own a hotel?"In business since 1936, Martin’s niche has grown from a regional door company to one that sells doors in 93 countries, including China.Since Leno Martin's clever overhead one-piece garage door replaced the then-standard swinging garage door, an inherently problematic design that puts inordinate strain on side-mounted hinges, MDM has consistently improved on the design of the residential and commercial garage door. Evolving from hand-operated wood-en one-piece doors to prefabricated sectional automatic doors made of roll-formed hot-dipped galvanized steel, under David Martin's leadership, MDM doors have consistently improved with the advent of new technologies, often leading the industry in areas such as the quietness of its automatic garage door openers or its award-winning FingerShield finger safety system. The latter, an MDM-developed safety suite lauded by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, features sectional joints, roller shields, track mounts, safety hinges, curve shields, hemmed-rolled edges and reduced hole sizes to protect customers and children from hand and finger injuries associated with automatic garage doors.

"At the last minute we weren't sure which way Bill would go - two amazing people made the final. I'm very, very happy with the candidates and very, very happy with the winner."

Author: SAMUEL HAMILTON