GlassBuild America 2026 starts tomorrow, and Friedman Corporation will be there.
From September 23–25, glass, window, door, glazing, and fenestration professionals will gather at the Las Vegas Convention Center for three days of technology, education, product innovation, and industry connections.
If you’re attending, visit Friedman Corporation in the West Hall at Booth #3335.
We’ll be showcasing how Frontier ERP helps complex window, door, and glass manufacturers connect product configuration, quoting, engineering, production, inventory, scheduling, and financial management through a more integrated manufacturing environment.
GlassBuild America brings together manufacturers, fabricators, suppliers, distributors, contractors, installers, architects, and other professionals from throughout the glass and fenestration industries. The 2026 event also features more than 500 exhibitors across over 220,000 square feet of exhibit space.
For Friedman, it’s an opportunity to talk about one question:
How can manufacturers manage increasing product complexity without creating increasing operational complexity?
Why Window, Door, and Glass Manufacturers Need Industry-Specific ERP
Window, door, and glass manufacturing isn’t simple repetitive production.
A single order may include variations in:
- Dimensions
- Glass types
- Frames
- Hardware
- Colors and finishes
- Coatings
- Glazing options
- Performance requirements
- Customer-specific configurations
Those selections influence almost everything that follows.
Pricing.
Engineering.
Materials.
Production.
Scheduling.
Shipping.
Generic business software may handle the transaction, but manufacturers need systems capable of managing the manufacturing complexity behind it.
That’s why industry-specific ERP for window and door manufacturers is becoming increasingly important.
Frontier ERP is designed for complex make-to-order and configurable manufacturing environments, helping connect customer requirements with the processes required to actually manufacture the product.
1. Simplify Complex Product Configuration
Customization is a competitive advantage for window, door, and glass manufacturers.
It can also become an operational challenge.
Sales teams need to know whether a configuration is valid.
Pricing needs to reflect the customer’s selections.
Engineering needs accurate specifications.
Production needs to know exactly what to manufacture.
Frontier ERP uses rules-based product configuration to help manufacturers structure these decisions.
A product configurator can account for variables such as:
- Dimensions
- Materials
- Glass selections
- Hardware
- Product options
- Pricing rules
- Manufacturing requirements
Instead of manually validating every possible combination, manufacturers can embed product knowledge into the configuration process.
Friedman’s existing window and glass ERP guidance emphasizes integrated CPQ and parametric product configuration as important capabilities for managing customized orders.
2. Connect Configure, Price, Quote With Manufacturing
Quoting shouldn’t exist separately from production.
When configuration, pricing, and manufacturing information are disconnected, companies can end up selling products that require manual engineering intervention before they can actually be built.
Integrated Configure, Price, Quote (CPQ) changes that relationship.
A connected CPQ process can help manufacturers:
- Create quotes faster
- Validate product configurations
- Apply accurate pricing
- Reduce manual calculations
- Improve order accuracy
- Connect customer selections with downstream manufacturing requirements
For manufacturers managing thousands or millions of potential product combinations, this connection can significantly reduce administrative effort.
The goal is a smoother transition from:
Customer Selection → Configuration → Quote → Order → Production
3. Connect ERP, CAD, and CNC Equipment
One of the biggest opportunities for glass and fenestration manufacturers is reducing the manual steps between product design and production equipment.
Consider a custom glass product.
The customer specifies dimensions and options.
Engineering develops the product requirements.
CAD defines the geometry.
CNC equipment performs cutting, drilling, or other processing.
If information must be manually transferred between each system, every handoff creates another opportunity for error.
Friedman has previously detailed how connecting CAD, Frontier ERP, and CNC equipment can help glass manufacturers automate cut-part processing, reduce duplicate data entry, and maintain accurate production specifications.
The result is a more continuous digital workflow from design to production.
4. Improve Glass Cutting and Material Utilization
Material efficiency directly affects profitability.
For glass manufacturers, poor cutting decisions can create unnecessary scrap and increase material costs.
Integrated manufacturing technology can help connect product requirements with cutting and optimization processes.
Frontier’s Cut Part Processing capabilities can support workflows where production information is translated into the formats required by manufacturing equipment. Friedman has highlighted these capabilities as particularly relevant to window and glass operations.
Better integration can help manufacturers:
- Reduce manual machine programming
- Improve accuracy
- Reduce material waste
- Increase throughput
- Improve production consistency
Small improvements in material utilization can become significant when multiplied across thousands of orders.
5. Gain Real-Time Shop Floor Visibility
Knowing an order was released isn’t enough.
Manufacturers need to know what’s happening after it reaches production.
Where is the order?
Which operation is complete?
What’s running behind?
Is material available?
Are machines being utilized effectively?
Will the customer order ship on time?
Manufacturing Execution System (MES) capabilities can provide greater visibility into labor, material, equipment, and production activity.
Frontier ERP’s MES capabilities are designed to connect shop-floor information with scheduling, inventory, and other operational data, helping manufacturers identify bottlenecks and respond faster.
Instead of waiting for yesterday’s production report, managers gain information they can use while production is still happening.
6. Reduce Manual Processes Between Departments
Many manufacturing inefficiencies aren’t caused by machines.
They’re caused by information.
An employee exports a spreadsheet.
Someone else updates it.
Production sends an email.
Customer service calls the floor.
Purchasing checks another system.
Finance reconciles everything later.
These steps may work, but they don’t scale efficiently.
Integrated ERP creates a shared operational environment across:
Sales → Engineering → Purchasing → Inventory → Production → Shipping → Financials
The less time employees spend moving information manually, the more time they can spend solving manufacturing and customer problems.
7. Build the Data Foundation for What’s Next
GlassBuild 2026 is putting a significant emphasis on what’s coming next.
A new Innovation Lounge at this year’s show features recently launched and upcoming technologies spanning areas such as robotics, artificial intelligence, sustainability, architectural glass, and other innovations.
AI will undoubtedly become increasingly relevant to manufacturing.
But advanced analytics and AI require something first:
Reliable operational data.
Manufacturers need accurate information about:
- Orders
- Products
- Inventory
- Production
- Materials
- Customers
- Costs
- Delivery performance
Connecting that information through ERP creates a stronger foundation for future automation, analytics, and AI initiatives.
The question isn’t simply:
“How can we use AI?”
Manufacturers should also ask:
“Is our data ready for it?”
What to Ask Manufacturing Software Providers at GlassBuild 2026
Walking a large trade show can quickly become overwhelming.
Instead of focusing only on feature lists, consider asking technology providers questions tied directly to your operation.
Can your system handle our actual product complexity?
Your ERP should support how your products are configured and manufactured rather than forcing your operation into generic workflows.
How does product configuration connect with production?
Customer selections should translate into accurate downstream manufacturing requirements.
Can your system integrate with our existing technology?
Look at CAD, CNC equipment, customer portals, dealer systems, shipping applications, analytics platforms, and other technology already in your environment.
Can we see production activity in real time?
Operational visibility should help teams identify problems before they become customer problems.
How much manual data entry can we eliminate?
Technology should reduce administrative work rather than simply move it somewhere else.
Can the platform grow with us?
Evaluate whether the system can support additional products, locations, users, automation, and future technologies.
Meet Friedman Corporation at GlassBuild America 2026
If you’re attending GlassBuild America this week, come meet the Friedman Corporation team.
GlassBuild America 2026
📅 September 23–25, 2026
📍 Las Vegas Convention Center | Las Vegas, Nevada
📌 West Hall | Booth #3335
The exhibit hall is open from 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and 10:00 a.m.–1:00 p.m. Friday.
Stop by and talk with us about:
- Frontier ERP
- ERP for window and door manufacturers
- Glass manufacturing ERP
- Product configuration
- CPQ
- CAD integration
- CNC integration
- Cut part processing
- MES and production tracking
- Production scheduling
- Inventory management
- Data integration
- Manufacturing automation
You don’t need to come with a software requirements document.
Bring us the manufacturing challenge you’re trying to solve.
That’s usually the best place to start.
Built for Complex Products. Built for What’s Next.
Window, door, and glass manufacturers operate in an industry where customization and manufacturing complexity go hand in hand.
Customers want more choices.
Lead-time expectations remain demanding.
Labor must be productive.
Materials must be managed carefully.
Production needs accurate information.
And manufacturers increasingly expect their technology to work together.
ERP sits at the center of those challenges.
The opportunity isn’t simply to digitize another process.
It’s to connect the entire manufacturing lifecycle.
From the first customer configuration through production and final delivery, manufacturers need information that moves as efficiently as their products do.
That’s the conversation we’re looking forward to continuing at GlassBuild America 2026.
We’ll see you at Booth #3335 in Las Vegas.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is GlassBuild America 2026?
GlassBuild America 2026 takes place September 23–25, 2026, at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Where is Friedman Corporation exhibiting at GlassBuild 2026?
Friedman Corporation is exhibiting in the West Hall at Booth #3335. The official GlassBuild exhibitor directory lists Friedman Corporation among the show’s computer software, systems, services, and consulting exhibitors.
What is GlassBuild America?
GlassBuild America is North America’s largest event dedicated to the glass, window, and door industries. It brings together manufacturers, fabricators, suppliers, distributors, glaziers, architects, and other industry professionals.
What does Frontier ERP offer window, door, and glass manufacturers?
Frontier ERP supports complex manufacturing requirements including product configuration, CPQ, inventory, production scheduling, manufacturing execution, analytics, financial management, and integrations with other manufacturing technologies.
Why is product configuration important for window and door manufacturing?
Window and door products can have extensive combinations of dimensions, materials, glass, hardware, finishes, and other options. Rules-based product configuration helps validate those combinations and translate customer selections into accurate pricing and manufacturing requirements.
Can ERP integrate with glass manufacturing equipment?
ERP can be integrated with CAD, optimization, CNC, and other manufacturing systems to reduce manual data transfers and create more connected design-to-production workflows. Friedman has previously documented these workflows for glass manufacturing using Frontier ERP.
