Micro*D Celebrates Fifth Anniversary

Furniture World Magazine

Micro*D, Inc. of Hickory, North Carolina which was founded by Mary Jeffers Martell and Ron Martell in February 1993 to acquire the PreVue digital catalog system business of Microdynamics, Inc., a Dallas, Texas company, celebrates its fifth anniversary. In 1988, Microdynamics developed PreVue to facilitate the visualization of upholstery fabrics on furniture frames (sofas, chairs, etc.). Micro*D acquired the PreVue assets and liabilities including the responsibility for servicing the 150 existing PreVue customers. Today, Micro*D has 18 employees and a 5,100 square foot facility in Hickory and more than 1,000 PreVue systems installed. International distributors in the United Kingdom and Germany are using PreVue technology to develop a similar product for their furniture industries The PreVue product has been expanded to include not only upholstery but case goods and a newly introduced pricing and order entry module named EasyOrder. In addition to developing, selling and serving PreVue systems, Micro*D publishes PreVue catalogs for 16 leading furniture companies. The catalogs, which are recorded as digital data on CDs, are published twice a year for upholstery and wood products. Mary, who serves as President of Micro*D, has a Ph.D. in Textile Technology and 15 years experience in the computer graphics business. She taught for 14 years at all academic levels and she worked 9 years as Director of Graphic Systems at Microdynamics. Ron, who serves as Chairman, has a master's degree in Mechanical Engineering and 34 years experience in computer graphics. After working seven years at Sandia Laboratory, he founded CAMSCO, Inc. in 1971 to develop CAD systems for the apparel industry. CAMSCO was sold to Sulzer Brothers Ltd. Of Switzerland in 1978 and Ron founded Microdynamics in 1979. Microdynamics was the National Association of Small Business Investment Companies "Portfolio Company of the Year" in 1987 and an Inc. 500 company for 1986-1989. Ron holds 10 patents and he has received multiple entrepreneurial awards. In 1994, Microdynamics was sold to Gerber Garment Technology and Ron joined Micro*D full time in 1997. For more information on PreVue or Micro*D e-mail:microd@vvi.net