MDM celebrates 30th anniversary

Successful Ponte Vedra business a nationwide leader in supplying technology and appliances for lodging and health care industries

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At the tail end of the 1980s, George H.W. Bush was president, the U.S.S.R. was beginning to unravel, and Mike Tyson was the heavyweight boxing champion. Americans were watching “Murphy Brown,” listening to the song that gave birth to Rickrolling and watching Bruce Willis fight terrorists in “Die Hard.”

Locally, a young man named Steve Austin took a job with a distributor of aptly named Zenith TV sets. Zenith, with its roots going back to 1918, was a leader in electronics and a pioneer in high-definition television.

Among its products was a commercial-grade TV that was sold to hotels and hospitals, something which would prove essential to Austin’s career and the establishment of one of Ponte Vedra’s most successful enterprises.

A year into his employment, Austin’s employer found that selling TVs to the hospitality and health care sectors wasn’t generating the desired level of profit and decided to exit the business.

Austin, who had established a relationship with Zenith, saw an opportunity and seized it.

“I approached the manufacturer and said, ‘Hey, if I set up a company, will you sell to me direct?’” he recalled.

And, in 1990, MDM Commercial Enterprises was born.

INDUSTRY LEADER

Over its three decades, MDM Commercial has grown from its regional roots to a national leader, adding products and services along the way.

It continues to equip lodging and health care facilities with television sets, air conditioning products and miniature refrigerators and other appliances just as it did at the start. But it has diversified to incorporate new technologies, digital signage and more in its offerings.

Today, MDM is the largest dealer of LG commercial products in the United States. Its health care industry customers include Mayo Clinic, Baptist South, Banner Health and more. Hospitality customers include Marriott International, Hyatt and Omni, large lodging management companies and small, mom-and-pop hotels and motels.

And MDM continues to pursue new markets, including fitness businesses and colleges. It’s bringing its products and services to office buildings and conference rooms. And its large inventory and buying power allow it to sell to third-party resellers who serve the same customers MDM serves.

MDM currently has about 40 employees, and Austin is quick to acknowledge their critical role in the success of the company that he and wife Laurie launched 30 years ago.

“We’ve developed the best, most talented team of people that you could imagine,” Austin said. “We’re very fortunate.”

Still, MDM’s success didn’t happen overnight. Entrepreneurship is an adventure, and like any adventure, there is a need to recognize opportunities and know when to act.

MOVING TO LG

Nine years into MDM’s existence, something happened that would help catapult the company into the national arena: Zenith filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

About the same time the Austins were founding MDM, a South Korean company called GoldStar purchased 5% of Zenith as part of a technology-sharing agreement. Five years later, GoldStar merged with Lucky Chemical and formed LG Electronics, which has gone on to become a multi-billion-dollar corporation. LG bought another 50% of Zenith that same year, and after Zenith went into bankruptcy, LG bought the remaining 45%.

MDM quickly adapted to this change and became partners with LG Electronics.

“Now, we were partnering with a global company, which was very exciting,” said Austin.

Still, the company continued with its original mission of selling television sets, air conditioners and anything that comes in a box.

“If you could ship it to a hotel in a box, and they could take it out and plug it in, then that was mainly our business,” said Austin.

But the company passed another major milestone four years later when MDM decided to expand its health care division. At the time, the company had only one salesman who was selling TVs and pillow speakers to hospitals. MDM increased its sales force and divided up the territories geographically, transforming this part of the business into a national one.

The recession hit in 2008, and for three or four years, sales were flat. But another big development awaited.

In 2014, MDM formed a second business, LG Fulfillment.

“LG was looking for a company that could handle and distribute a lot of their direct sales to hotels across the U.S.,” said Austin. He called the creation of LG Fulfillment “a big game-changer.”

MDM was already warehousing some products, but this new arrangement would require a much larger warehouse. The company found one that measured 100,000 square feet in Dallas. Its size allows the company to inventory as many as 30,000 televisions at any given time.

Austin’s company grew by about 50% per year between 2014 and 2018. Today, it handles about 60% of LG’s direct sales to the hospitality industry.

NEW TECHNOLOGY

With this greater level of success, MDM officials decided to diversify and build its technical services division.

In 2017, company officials decided to invest in software and added a couple of software developers. The result, announced this month, stands to transform the experiences of hospital patients.

On Nov. 5, MDM announced the official launch of its new inpatient video chat platform, Journey PX Connect. It operates on hospital smart TVs from LG Electronics to deliver video chat capability for patients, staff and family members.

This allows patients to securely connect with loved ones directly through the TV in their patient room, using a mounted video camera for two-way communication. The system can be operated via the bedside pillow speaker. This new platform might also be used when speaking with a physician remotely.

"Our solution addresses a lot of problems in a time where health care facilities are taking extra care to prevent the spread of dangerous contagions and where patient visitation is very limited," said Andrew Thompson, MDM Healthcare executive vice president. "Patients want to see the faces and hear the voices of their loved ones for comfort. Journey PX Connect easily provides them with that peace of mind, while care teams can rest easy that contagions are not being spread through personal devices. This technology is rapidly becoming a must-have in the patient experience space, and we are proud to be the leader in providing a necessary solution that is ready to implement now."

"LG is proud to work with MDM and their Journey PX Connect solution to bring this important tool to health care facilities across the nation. It provides patients with meaningful connections to stay in touch with friends and family in a user-friendly and highly visible way," said Gianni Restaino, engineering vice president for LG Business Solutions USA.

Another area MDM is expanding into is digital signage. The company can create large, very sharp video screens capable to rendering brilliant colors and whatever content the customer desires. These screens can be used in small rooms or large stadiums. In fact, MDM has screens in TIAA Bank Stadium.

GIVING BACK

Since the beginning, MDM Commercial has been involved in the community. It was something Austin learned from his mother, Patricia Austin.

“My mother was involved – this was back in the ‘80s, probably – she started the first advisory council for the Ronald McDonald House in Jacksonville,” Austin said. “Once I got started with the company, I was like, ‘I really want to be involved.’”

In the 1990s, Austin’s team began to go there to cook and grill out. MDM also supplies all the TVs and does the installation as a donation to the charity.

“It’s important,” Austin said. “It’s such a great place. They provide such a great service to the community.”

MDM has also gotten involved in Beaches Habitat, building a couple of houses a year, and supports the YMCA Ponte Vedra.

REFLECTING ON 30 YEARS

In June, MDM moved into a new address on the first floor of 1102 A1A North in Ponte Vedra.

Looking back over the past 30 years, Austin marvels at how far MDM has come.

“I’m amazed,” he said. “I feel blessed. I would never in a million years have guessed that my wife and I would have the company that we have today.”

Again, he praised his employees for the company’s success.

“I think it’s just we’ve been fortunate to surround ourselves with the right people,” he said. “It’s not us. It’s the people that we bring. Without the people that we’ve brought on board, we wouldn’t be here.”

And despite the company’s growth and success, Austin still remains committed to MDM’s original mission: serving its customers.

“If somebody calls and they want to buy and $8 remote control, we’ll bend over backwards to get them what they need, and sell them an $8 remote control,” he said.