More good news for the health of the industry came late last week as ProVia announced it is expanding its entry door manufacturing facility located near Walnut Creek, Ohio. The three-part, 150,000-square-foot expansion will enable the company to meet the growing demand for its professional-class entry doors, officials said. Company president Brian Miller told [DWM] magazine that while this expansion has been in the works since 2019 (pre-COVID-19), the company will add some additional capabilities to the plant due to increased demand over the past year.

ProVia’s Walnut Creek facility will add 100,000 square feet to house a new steel door production line, 20,000 square feet for a new trim paint line, and 30,000 square feet for warehouse space. Together, officials said these additions will enable the company to double its capacity for steel doors and trim painting, and further streamline its shipping process to support customer demand. All three additions are scheduled to be completed in 2021.

“In 2019 we started to identify the need to expand our steel door production with a second fully automated line,” said Miller. “Because of the significant size of that line we knew we would need more square footage, and that has increased even more since the surge of orders [this past year].” That’s where the addition of items, such as additional areas for painting came into play.

Speaking to the growth of the market in general, Miller said “it has been extraordinary.”

“We talk to our customers and they are expanding, and I see a lot of good things happening. A lot of people have to be working in unison to make sure this surge of orders gets filled. Our customers are doing a phenomenal job of representing us and getting the products installed. Our employees are doing a remarkable job of stepping up through this whole last year and meeting the needs of those demands. I can’t say enough about what they have been able to accomplish.”

He mentions the efforts of suppliers as well.

“Even though there have been some stumbles, they have continued to recover from that,” adds Miller. “We realize that it takes all of us to work together.”