Transformation in our living space can guide the usage of energy in a responsible way. Sierra Pacific Windows are committed to showing you how.
1. What is the inspiration that sits in the heart of Sierra Pacific?
Just by nature, we’re a family-owned company and have been since day one. Red Emmerson, the patriarch, along with his sons, George and Mark, are running the company day in and day out. Red is still deeply involved and a dynamic leader of the company. Those guys set the tone for the culture. They’re determined by nature, and work tirelessly in an effort to grow and improve the company.
We’re very innovative. We’re incredibly vertically integrated which gives us a great strategic advantage. And it gives us a speed-to-market advantage. We can make quick decisions. We can do a lot of the work that is necessary to develop new products ourselves.
At our core, we’re a timber and lumber company. We’re planting seedlings today for trees that we’re not going to harvest for 80 years. It takes us decades to grow our timberlands, but we can make decisions in minutes to change direction or make improvements in the company today. It’s a very interesting dynamic. Everything we think about is long term, but we can move so fast. We’re a very lean company.
2. How has innovation played a role in Sierra Pacific's success?
To me, innovation is the driving force in the window business. Between advances in technology and the ever-changing codes from an energy and performance perspective, we have to be extremely innovative. It’s also driven from our desire to be a national company.
There are so many variances in product design and architectural needs in different parts of the country. What’s prevalent and popular from a design standpoint in Montana, for example, is radically different from what’s prevalent and popular in Miami. Our business has got to be heavily-driven by innovation because we have to have products that suit the needs of the different areas of not only the US but the different areas of the globe in which we’re pursuing business.
3. How has sustainable vertical integration shaped your supply chain?
When you just look at it from a perspective of controlling our supply chain, obviously the biggest raw material that goes into a wood window is wood. And that’s the supply that we truly have from seed to the wood parts that we machine. We are our own biggest source of supply.
That level of control, from a quality and cost perspective, drives the way we think about a lot of things. Even outside of our wood supply, we take that same perspective in our other manufacturing steps that a lot of our competitors don’t emulate. We’re one of the very few companies that insulate our own glass, for example.
4. Tell us more about your focus on hurricane ready products?
Given what’s occurred in some coastal cities, and the horrible hurricane events just in the past year, it brings to mind just how important the safety aspect of our products are. We are very focused on having a wide breadth of our products available with that hurricane protection for those coastal markets that are at risk of hurricanes. We don’t want to be limited in the products that we offer in those broad areas of the US – literally from the Gulf Coast of Texas, all the way up the Atlantic coast. It’s a very big market and it’s a very real risk. We feel you get the beauty of the products we offer, as well as the security that comes with that protection against those environmental hazards.
Our products are custom built products. Those homes built within close proximity to the ocean are built on expensive pieces of property by high end homeowners who have high expectations for the value of the product they put in their homes. They want a lot of choices, options and interesting and unique designs.
The technical aspect of hurricane-resistant products is substantial. It’s not only R&D. It’s critical that we have an understanding of the codes, and making sure our products are built, tested and approved for sale in hurricane zones.
Thank you so much for sharing your story with Sustainable Inc.! For more information about Sierra Pacific Windows, please visit their website here: https://www.sierrapacificwindows.com/ Disclaimer: Sustainable Inc. does not endorse businesses or their practices. The purpose of this blog is to provide information to readers.