Milgard Closing Additional Plants

Following up the announcement that it was shutting down its Illinois facility, Milgard Windows & Doors says it has additional plans to close window manufacturing plants in California and Arizona. It has also closed its Milgard Tempering operation in Washington state.  The changes are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Over the next few months, Milgard will move window manufacturing from its Hollister plant to Milgard’s Sacramento, Calif., facility, reports Kathleen Vokes, communications director for Masco Corp., Milgard's parent company.  In addition, window and door manufacturing in Phoenix will be moved to facilities in Temecula, Calif., and Denver, Colo.  Milgard will continue to serve all current customer areas served by the closed locations, she notes.

The tempering plant in Dixon, Wash., was closed in August, with IG manufacturing transferred to Milgard's Tacoma window plant. 

Offiicials at Masco Corp., Milgard's parent company, explained the decision in the company's third quarter earnings conference call. "We'll have six remaining manufacturing facilities in the western part of the country and our feeling is that we can maintain lead times, given current market conditions with the manufacturing footprint that remains behind. We've done some good things from a productivity standpoint," said Timothy Wadham, Masco president and CEO. 

"As we think about it," he said, explaining the chanages at Milgard, "we think there's some things we can do more on a regional basis going forward just in terms of cost management and supply chain, and certainly feel pretty comfortable that we can handle the market demand, again, with good lead times for our customers."

"We've been talking a lot about the work we're doing in the supply chain and manufacturing," added Donald J. Demarie, Masco COO and executive vice president. "And really, this is–what you're seeing now is really a result of a lot of those efforts, where we looked at our supply chain and our manufacturing base, and which was primarily served to a local markets, and have regionalized our ability to serve in a way where we think we can maintain lead times and our service levels and take costs out of the business. So we're excited about the changes. Changes are always tough, but we think it's necessary in the current environment and, going forward, we think will serve us well."

In addition to discussing the plant closings, Masco's third quarter report noted Milgard has outperformed the weak repair and remodel markets with continued expansion of market share.  The company sees growth potential as it enters new markets in Texas and Western Canada, as well as more opportunities to gain share as competitors exit the business.