11/28/2005

AMSCO Windows embarks on expansion

AMSCO Windows, a South Salt Lake-based manufacturer of vinyl and composite windows and doors, has embarked on an expansion that will increase the size of its plant to 500,000 square feet and its capacity by 25 to 30 percent.

Grading work has begun at the company’s sole manufacturing facility, 1880 S. 1045 W., and construction of the 100,000 square foot addition should take about six months, according to Tracy Shaver, who shares duties of company president with Bart Naylor.

“The original plant was built in 1976 and thereafter about every three to four years we had an addition of some type,” Shaver said. “The last addition, which is what this new addition will connect to, was 100,000 square feet. We’ve spent a little bit more time in that because we actually added about twice what we usually add.”

Shaver said AMSCO presently operates three shifts that run 24 hours a day, five days a week.

“With the addition we should be able to fill up our third shift, and then for any further capacity we could add a 7/24,” he said.

AMSCO, which employs approximately 560 people, has been owned by Phillip Rasmussen since its founding in 1949 as Aluminum Manufacturing Supply Co. The firm sells its products to dealers throughout the Intermountain West.

AMSCO’s newest product line is called Renaissance. A composite window designed to compete in the wood window market segment, the Renaissance products are made of PVC resins and other proprietary components.

“Basically it’s a solid piece of PVC resin, while the vinyl window we sell is a hollow core,” Shaver said. “It’s a higher end window, it really fits in the niche of higher end homes, replacing wood. It doesn’t chip, rot, peel — any of that stuff. Even the wood windows today that people build are usually aluminum-clad. This will have the vinyl cap on the exterior. On the interior you’re able to veneer it with wood so you can have the look of a wood window without the bad features of a wood window like rotting, chipping and peeling.”

The basic Renaissance line presently is in production. Renaissance Master, which will boast a variety of exterior colors and wood species other than pine on its interior, should be in production within a year, Shaver said.

Furst Construction is contractor on AMSCO’s expansion. Beecher Walker is the architect.

Contact: Barbara Rattle: Managing Editor - The Enterprise: Utah's Business Journal