Alpen to offer its multi-pane windows to other manufacturers
LOUISVILLE — Alpen High Performance Products Inc., a high-efficiency window manufacturer in Louisville, will double its manufacturing space and extend its triple- and quad-pane window materials to other window manufacturers.
The move to become a supplier to other manufacturers while continuing to produce its own product line extends the reach of its high-efficiency window systems while also helping other manufacturers meet new performance standards that will be required starting January 2026.
“We’ve fallen in love with these glass units. Historically we’ve used this for our own windows and doors, and now that we’ve stepped up manufacturing we can help other window companies, too,” Andrew Zech, Alpen CEO, told BizWest Wednesday.
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The company has clients lined up for the triple and quad-pane windows that it produces, he said.
Alpen buys raw glass sheets from three manufacturers and combines them into “high-tech sandwiches,” Zech said.
Alpen, which is opening a new production plant in Pennsylvania, initially will produce all the increased product in Louisville, where the production facility will double in size with a 50,000-square-foot addition in the same building in southwest Louisville. Some of the increased production will occur in Pennsylvania in January, and the company will eventually — no timetable set — create regional production centers elsewhere in the country, Zech said.
Zech would not commit to specific increased employment numbers but said that additional hiring will be needed in both traditional and advanced manufacturing.
In response to a question, Zech said that sharing its window systems with other manufacturers will help to meet new state-law requirements that take effect in January of 2026. At that point, all new windows need to meet Energy Star northern zone, which basically means that windows will need to keep more heat inside a home during the winter while also allowing heat from the sun to enter through the windows.
“It’s strict,” Zech said. Traditional window manufacturers will have difficulty meeting the standard, but Alpen windows already meet it.
“We’re giving them the tools to meet that higher standard,” he said.
Even without the Colorado law, “energy codes are getting more strict all over the country,” he said.
Other manufacturers will soon need to change their designs or buy materials that will help them meet new codes.
“The challenge is to make (the changes) affordable and cost competitive,” Zech said.
