United Window & Door (United) recently announced the purchase of 75,000 square feet of manufacturing space right across the road from its current base in Springfield, N.J.

United added 75,000 sq. feet of manufacturing space.

Gregg Proscia, vice president of sales and marketing, says the company has seen considerable growth in the past few years and needs the additional space to keep up with demand.

United has gone completely vinyl-based in its production and Proscia says that has been a huge factor of their growth, especially on the residential side. But the main reason for the added space, Proscia says, is due to a new project the firm is working on.

“We will be introducing some new and innovative products for Q-4 2019 and Q-1 2020,” Proscia teases but could not offer any further information.

In addition to the new product, the space will be used for manufacturing products such as an additional line to United’s single-hung series.

Several new automated machines are also set to be integrated into the new space. Proscia says that in a competitive industry automation is important to helping companies increase production, quality and efficiency while lowering costs.

But even with automation, more growth means more workers and the company plans to hire a total of 100-125 new factory employees with 50-60 of the positions already filled, he says. Proscia says that the company is confident they will be able to find qualified labor in spite of recent labor shortages.

“At first it was tough getting people, but we found when we raised the rates, there were a plethora of options,” Proscia says. “And we feel good about the quality of workers we are getting.”

The firm is planning to use the space for office as well as manufacturing purposes and will begin moving office workers shortly. The manufacturing space will be undergoing construction and will be operational around November of this year.