Dickson, Tenn.-based window and door profile extruder Bavarian Polymers Inc. is growing again, this time at its satellite manufacturing site in Abilene, Texas, which is undergoing an expansion that will double its size to 80,000 square feet and create 20 new jobs.
Founded in 2005, the privately held company is investing about $3.8 million in a warehouse expansion and more equipment for PVC extrusion, material handling and recycling in Texas, which currently runs 24 hours for five days with 32 employees.
The company is growing near a customer, ABI Windows. The second-generation family-owned ABI, based in New Mexico, recently invested $42.5 million in Abilene to manufacture and distribute vinyl windows for its markets in the southwestern U.S.
ABI Windows built a 150,000-square-foot facility in the same industrial park where Bavarian Polymers is doubling the 40,000-square-foot building it bought.
The companies created "a new industry cluster of window manufacturing in Abilene," according to the Development Corp. of Abilene.
ABI had a hiring event in February for production and assembly workers, maintenance technicians, shipping loaders and a safety coordinator. The company is looking to fill 175 positions.
Down the street, Bavarian Polymers in May will mark its 20th anniversary of extruding PVC-compound window and door systems for large window fabricators as well as its own product line.
Founded by Robert Weishaeupl and Ralph Weiss with four extrusion lines and no customers, Bavarian Polymers now supplies the likes of ABI, Jeld-Wen and other large nationwide window manufacturers with a soon-to-be total of 26 extrusion lines.
To meet all the demand, Bavarian Polymers will increase to 10 extrusion lines and 52 employees in Texas in addition to the 16 extrusion lines and 70 employees in Tennessee.
"We started from scratch with just a screwdriver. It felt like the Field of Dreams movie. If you build it, they will come," Weishaeupl, Bavarian Polymers CEO, said in a phone interview. "It was a bold move."
The business partners had experience in the window industry and a strategy to operate only with the newest equipment, forgo trade shows to focus on large accounts, and set their sights on expanding where new construction is on the upswing.
About 90 percent of Bavarian Polymers' profiles go to the new construction market. With Texas being the largest state for new construction, Weishaeupl said it was a good place to set up production.
Abilene, which is about 2½ hours west of Dallas, offered economic development incentives.
Bavarian Polymers opened its Abilene site in 2021 with three extrusion lines. It now has eight lines and will be up to 10 lines by the end of the year.
"We are rapidly expanding," Weishaeupl said. "The market is not really growing right now but we are because of our geographic location. We're taking market share with our low-cost, no-overhead approach, which really appeals to a lot of window manufacturers."
Bavarian Polymers saw sales increase 12 percent from 2023 to 2024 "against all the odds," Weishaeupl said.
Now, with estimated annual sales of $38 million, Bavarian Polymers is the 86th largest pipe, profile and tubing extruder in North America, according to Plastics News' latest ranking.
"It was crucial for us to have a second location as part of a contingency plan in case of natural disasters like hurricanes and tornadoes," Weishaeupl said. "We had an obligation to the accounts we supply."
Bavarian Polymers' products also "hit the marks," Weishaeupl said, in terms of energy ratings and design, including single-hung windows, which are popular in Texas.
In addition, windows for manufactured housing make up a large part of the company's demand related to new construction.
"Larger accounts have their established window systems and marketing, so we're not necessarily involved in in the development of the product as much as the manufacturing of the product," Weishaeupl said. "We take the customers ideas and put them to work. We know what they need and want."
While the first 10-15 years of business seemed an uphill battle at times, Weishaeupl said the last five years have been better.
"We are almost debt free and not leveraged. It's really an exciting time for us again. We can invest in the expansions pretty much from cash flow," Weishaaeupl said. "I'm not sure what tariffs will do for the construction or building industry, but I remain optimistic in the midterm and expect in the short term some hiccups."