Archive for February, 2010

Social media is changing business, fundamentally. Everything from communication to personal interactions and the very culture of organizations is shifting as a result, making social media potentially the biggest change in business communication since the introduction of mass media. In this video from Radian6, Marcel Lebrun riffs on the new notions of how the medium and the message are working together more powerfully than ever before.

Entrance systems consist of doors, frames and hardware. Sometimes people think great doors will somehow make up for the deficiencies in the other components of entrance systems. Well… it doesn’t work that way.

For instance, let’s look at door closers. They are critical to proper operation of entrance systems, and they really should be called door controllers. Besides just closing doors, they keep doors from swinging too fast, or too hard. By keeping doors under control, door closers help to prevent damage to entrance systems, and they help to prevent injuries to people using the doors. As they perform these important functions, door closers are subject to extremely high operating forces, and cheap closers wear out quickly leaving doors and frames vulnerable to the ravages of use and abuse.

The picture at the left shows and example of failed door closers. Neither door is properly under control, and the door on the left doesn’t even close all the way. These doors were equiped with bargain-brand concealed door closers. Not a very good bargain! Doors in high-traffic openings should have high quality hardware.

In my opinion, the specifier should have chosen premium grade, heavy-duty, surface applied door closers for this opening. The right closers not only protect entrance systems, they also protect the people using the entrance systems.

The introduction of Special-Lite’s SL-17 Fiberglass Reinforced Polyester (FRP) door revolutionized the world of heavy-duty doors nearly 40 years ago and has yet to be matched for its strength and resilience. Since that time, Special-Lite has expanded its series of composite doors, each sharing an unbeatably strong and durable physical structure, but differing in stylistic choice and exterior skin.

One constant question we get, as clients search for that perfect combination of strength with style, is “what’s the difference?”

Each of this series of composite doors has a poured-in-place polyurethane core, rendering the doors 30% lighter than comparably sized steel doors. Reduced mass and monolithic construction translates into significantly less wear and tear on the door’s individual components while enhancing the door’s strength by carrying operating loads through the door skins.

While the SL-17 Series doors are a favorite in the schools and universities for their strength and durability, Special-Lite offers a variety of aesthetic choices to allow for a greater client choice and to meet individual needs. Although all of Special-Lite’s foam core doors share the poured-in-place foam composite structure, some stylistic choices include:

SL-16: Aluminum skin painted or anodized for enhanced architectural beauty

SL-17: Flagship FRP door, durable pebble-grain surface is tough and easy to clean

SL-18: Acrylic Modified Polyester (AMP) skin, 6-panel Colonial style door available in wood grain or smooth surface

SL-19: AMP skin, flush door with wood texture

SL-20: FRP skin with a Sandstone texture, handsomer than SL 17, and nearly as tough

On February 4th, TruStile announced the launch of a new and improved version of its TruCAD Door Design Software. The new application has been completely redesigned to work on any computer operating system or web browser, including Mac and Firefox. In addition to its cross platform flexibility, TruCAD has been upgraded to include exciting new design options and visualization tools.

Visit TruCAD today to test drive the new features and functionality.

To learn more about TruStile Doors and their unmatched offering of premium stile and rail MDF and wood door visit www.TruStile.com/

More businesses than ever are seeing a need for secure facilities, which in turn creates a need for top level security doors, and Mayer Door can provide doors that meet a wide range of security specifications. After all, a door represents the front line of security and provides the entryway into any facility.  Doors are especially important when entry should be restricted, and when high security standards are a must.

The DCID, or Director of Central Intelligence Directive, has a comprehensive list of base level physical requirements for SCIFs, or Secure Compartmented Information Facilities, and we at Mayer Door can both meet and exceed those standards in our secure doors. Most facilities’ needs, of course, are less extreme than those of the CIA, and we represent products to meet those as well.