There’s no place like home, and there’s no place like Pierce County to find everything that goes into building one.

Here are just a few of the prominent Pierce County building manufacturers that help communities grow:

• Manke Lumber Co. (Tacoma) and Parr Lumber (Frederickson): Lumber and building supplies
• Cal Portland and Basalite Concrete Products (DuPont): Concrete and concrete products
• The Truss Company (Sumner): Engineered wood roof and floor trusses
• Carlisle Construction (Frederickson): Rigid-foam insulation
• James Hardie (Frederickson): Fiber cement siding and backer board
• Georgia-Pacific Gypsum (Tacoma): Wall board
• Gensco (Fife): HVAC products
• Milgard Windows (Fife): Windows and doors
• Tacoma Glass Manufacturing (Frederickson): Glass products
• Hörmann Northwest Door (Frederickson): Garage doors
• Rainier Woodworking (Tacoma), Belmont Cabinets (Sumner) and Ruckman’s Cabinet Doors (Frederickson): Custom cabinetry
• Pabco Roofing Products (Tacoma): Residential asphalt roofing

Pierce County is the place for manufacturing

Hörmann Northwest Door has been a Pierce County fixture since 1946. The manufacturer of overhead steel, aluminum and wood garage doors for residential and commercial use serves more than 1,400 dealers throughout North America and several Asia Pacific and Middle Eastern countries.

Originally established in Tacoma, Northwest Door relocated to the Frederickson manufacturing/industrial center in 2006. Valuable resources have helped the company remain in Pierce County while continuing to grow.

“We have direct access to an outstanding workforce and business development groups that are supportive and proactive,” said William Baer, Hörmann Northwest Door Vice President of Manufacturing. “Pierce County and related agencies continue to focus on infrastructure improvements, such as enhancements to arterial traffic, and zoning for business and residential needs.”

In 2015 when the company was purchased by the Hörmann Group, Germany’s largest door producer and the world’s fourth-largest door manufacturer, the local partnerships  have only expanded. Currently, the company is working with the EDB and economic development partners from Tacoma Public Utilities and Pierce County as it navigates several capital projects, including a new door manufacturing line, updates to its spring-manufacturing equipment and the addition of a new paint system. Hörmann Northwest Door is also looking at options to expand its current facility or build a new green field facility on four unused acres on-site. As production capacity and facilities grow, Baer anticipates increasing the company’s current administrative and manufacturing workforce of 275.

The supply chain challenges faced by manufacturers and consumers during the COVID-19 pandemic have made for an exceptionally busy couple of years for Hörmann Northwest Door. During 2021, demand for their products increased dramatically and back orders stacked up, but the facility is finally nearing pre-pandemic lead times.