Marvin Windows and Doors is featured in an article on MSNBC.com today that discusses the recent uptick in manufacturing in the United States. From the report:

Susan Marvin went into 2010 expecting it to be much like 2009: weak and difficult.

So when the president of the Minnesota manufacturing company Marvin Windows and Doors started to see orders pick up a bit in March, she was pleased but not overly confident.

“I would have to say there was a very tentative optimism,” she said.

So far, the growth in orders has continued. That’s allowed Marvin, whose company makes windows and patio doors for upscale customers, to increase hours for her manufacturing employees and reverse some of the pay cuts she instituted for her salaried employees. …

The article also reinforces the significance of the company’s no-layoffs strategy:

“Clearly we had more employees than we had work,” Marvin said.

But to Marvin, the cost to morale and productivity that would come from laying off workers was not worth the financial gain. Instead, she had employees spend time doing additional training and looking for ways to run the plant cheaper and more efficiently.

With orders up, Marvin said some of the company’s plants are back to 40-hour weeks, while others have gone up to 35 hours. Salaried employees also will soon see a 2 percent increase in their reduced pay, she said.

By avoiding layoffs, Marvin thinks her company was in a better competitive position to ramp up production when business began to improve.

Read the full story at MSNBC.com.

Delivering higher performance and exceptional durability Hanson Building Materials selected as first distributor

WARROAD, Minn., May 17, 2010 – Marvin Windows and Doors is introducing the nation’s first siding system using Ultrex®, a patented pultruded fiberglass offering high performance characteristics, exceptional durability and long-lasting aesthetics.

APEX Siding System builds on more than 20 years of Marvin experience using Ultrex® in its highly successful Integrity and Infinity lines of windows and doors.

“Innovation is the key to growth in today’s business world,” said Susan Marvin, president of Marvin Windows and Doors. “APEX represents an innovative use of a proprietary technology that’s already been proven in tens of thousands of homes across the United States.

“For consumers, APEX offers a beautiful, durable finish that’s virtually maintenance-free. For builders, APEX offers a material that’s light, easy to work with and saves time and labor. We believe APEX offers unique benefits unmatched by any other siding product on the market today,” Marvin said.

Hanson Building Materials of Ramsey, Minn., has been chosen as the first APEX distributor. Working closely with builders, remodelers and architects, Hanson Building Materials will offer service and support to ensure that APEX exceeds the expectations of building professionals.

“We think that APEX will be a game-changer,” said Brad Hanson, president of Hanson Building Materials. “We invite builders, remodelers and architects to see this remarkable new product for themselves, and learn about the many features that make it such a desirable choice for their building projects.”

Among the unique features of APEX Siding System:

• A built-in water management system to reduce rot and mold
• A durable finish, four times thicker than paint, that’s integrated into the substrate
• Resists fading, chalking, warping and chipping
• Performs in extreme temperatures from 30 below zero to 350 above
• Three times lighter than fiber cement for ease in installation
• Integrated siding and trim options for a complete system

APEX Siding System will be available for both residential and commercial applications.

Minnesota-based manufacturer recognized by Opus College of Business for four generations of business success, family leadership and community involvement

WARROAD, Minn., April 30, 2010 – Marvin Windows and Doors was honored yesterday as “Family Business of the Year” by the University of St. Thomas’s Opus College of Business.

The prestigious award, given by the college’s Center for Family Business of the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship, recognizes Marvin for 98 years and four generations of business success coupled with ongoing family leadership and community involvement.

“We’re honored and humbled to be recognized with this award,” said Jake Marvin, Chairman and CEO of The Marvin Companies. “In our modern economy, it’s more important than ever to have companies that recognize the timeless values of quality, integrity and commitment to families, employees and communities.

“As I look back, I realize that much of what we all learned about business, we learned from our father at the dinner table,” Marvin said. “The values he taught us every day are the same values we strive to uphold in running our business.”

Based in Warroad, Marvin employs more than 5,000 workers at seven factories in five states. The company is the world’s largest manufacturer of made-to-order wood and clad wood windows and doors.

Marvin was founded in 1912 by George Marvin, who opened a lumber and cedar business in Warroad. George’s son, the late Bill Marvin, led the company through a period of remarkable growth beginning in the 1950s, growing Marvin from a regional supplier into an internationally renowned maker of premium windows and doors.

Bill’s six sons and daughters picked up the leadership mantle. Ten members of the fourth Marvin generation are currently working within the Marvin family of companies and some are in leadership positions.

Ritch Sorenson, Opus Endowed Chair in Family Business and Academic Director of the Family Business Center, and Bill Monson, Director of the Family Business Center at the University of St. Thomas, say, “Our recognition reflects three areas of excellence: business, family, and community.  Marvin has a track record of innovation, financial performance, quality, customer loyalty, sensitivity to environmental issues, mutual respect and commitment to employees.  Multiple family members across the generations have worked in the business and fourth generation family members are being prepared to assume leadership.  The company reflects the culture, values and talents of its origins in Warroad, Minnesota, and represents the best qualities of family business.”

Since 1989, the Schulze School of Entrepreneurship has recognized outstanding individuals and companies that personify the spirit of entrepreneurship and demonstrate excellence and ethics in their pursuits.

Marvin’s “Family Business of the Year” award was given at the 2010 Annual Entrepreneurs Award Dinner in the Schulze Grand Atrium of the University of St. Thomas School of Law on the Minneapolis campus.

New mobile app helps homeowners visualize a home with new windows and doors

Warroad, Minn., April 12, 2010 – Have you ever found yourself fumbling for words while trying to describe your vision for what you want your living room to look like? Are you the type who might tear a photo out of a magazine and hold it up to the wall to see how that look might work in your home? The “Window Shopping” iPhone app from Marvin Windows and Doors is for you.

The Window Shopping app is a tool to help homeowners plan basic designs for windows and doors, inside and outside the house. After taking a photo of an interior or exterior space that could use an upgrade, the app user can choose from nearly 50 resizable photos of Marvin windows and doors, arrange them over the photo, and save or send the photo to share with friends, family or a local Marvin dealer. Watch a demo video below, and learn more or download the app at www.marvin.com/iphone.

The app includes interior and exterior views of several Marvin windows, as well as the five unique windows designed by Karim Rashid, Milton Glaser, Sarah Susanka and others as part of the myMarvin project. Users also can choose from an array of patio doors, offering a full lineup for redesigning the interior or exterior of a home. Window Shopping also includes automatically updating feeds from MLuxe, Marvin’s blog about fine home living and home improvement, and a special “Green Feed,” a series of articles and resources about energy efficiency and sustainability.

“Once a homeowner creates and saves a design idea, a Marvin dealer can bring the design to life by helping personalize windows or doors with the desired hardware, wood choices, colors, energy-efficiency ratings and so on,” said John Kirchner, public relations manager for Marvin Windows and Doors. “A dealer-locator tool is built into the app, which makes it easy to turn a homeowner’s design dream into a reality.”

The Universal Design Living Laboratory, a home designed to demonstrate the power of universal design, is half-way to completion, the organization announced yesterday.

The home is the brainchild of Rosemarie Rossetti, whose lower body was paralyzed after an accident. According to the group’s statement:

Life in a wheelchair inspired her to build home based on the concept of universal design, which makes a facility’s level of livability beneficial to the widest possible range of people in the widest range of situations without special or separate design. The home will be able to accommodate people of all sizes, ages and abilities.

The demonstration home project includes windows donated by Marvin Windows and Doors. You can see photos of the project’s construction phase on the UDLL Web site.