To stay competitive and succeed, every manufacturer must target and achieve peak performance at all levels. This means more than just producing the best possible product. Frontier ERP is window manufacturing software designed to help you deliver quality products, on time, and at a realistic price. It means staying on the very leading edge of technology and tying it all together by taking advantage of the latest in internal automation at every business level; financial, customer-facing, and manufacturing.
Manufacturers of windows, doors, and other flat-glass products (such as shower enclosures and heavy glass fixtures) face all of these same challenges as other manufacturers. Order management, inventory control and planning, production control, scheduling, and finance are all key requirements.
However, manufacturers in these industries also face additional challenges:
The configurator in Frontier’s window manufacturing software enables easy global updates of materials or finishes without having to adjust each window in an order.
- To-order manufacturing. Most (if not all) products are built to customer specifications, which can vary on an order-by-order basis. Dimensions, colors, and configurations can be different for every order and job.
- The dealer channel. Manufacturers of windows typically do not deal directly with the consumer. They must accept orders from dealers and provide additional support services to those dealers to ensure loyalty. Furthermore, they must be able to quickly provide quotes to their dealers, who themselves may be in a competitive situation.
- Material optimization. When the majority of products are made-to-order, it is vital to optimize the use of “cut-to-size” materials such as extrusions and glass to maximize yield and drive down overall material costs.
Friedman Frontier ERP software helps window manufacturers as well as door, panel, and screen fabricators achieve peak performance.
Frontier is a configured ERP window manufacturing software that offers a complete solution, including:- Parametric configuration
- 3D product engineering
- Modeling and rendering
- Web access for dealers to generate quotations and place orders
- Dynamic and user-defined scheduling
Frequently Asked Questions
What types of window and glass manufacturers does Frontier serve?
Frontier serves manufacturers of windows, doors, flat glass products, shower enclosures, heavy glass fixtures, and related fenestration products. These are manufacturers where every order involves customer-specified dimensions and configurations — frame materials, glass types, grille patterns, hardware, and finish options — and where the ability to quickly and accurately quote, configure, and produce to those specifications determines competitiveness. Frontier’s parametric configurator handles the dimensional flexibility and option complexity of window and glass manufacturing natively, rather than through workarounds.
How does Frontier handle material optimization for glass and extrusion cutting?
Material optimization for cut-to-size materials like glass and aluminum extrusions is one of the most significant cost levers in window manufacturing. Frontier manages material requirements at the job level, with the configurator generating accurate cut dimensions from each order’s specifications. The AME shop floor system produces consolidated cut sheets that group similar cuts across multiple orders, enabling material to be cut in optimized runs rather than order by order. This reduces glass breakage from unnecessary cuts, minimizes extrusion remnants, and improves throughput at cutting work centers — directly affecting material cost per unit.
How does Frontier support the dealer channel for window manufacturers?
Window manufacturers typically sell through dealer and contractor networks rather than direct to end consumers. Frontier’s eQuote Dealer gives dealers the ability to configure window products to exact specifications, generate accurate quotes reflecting real-time pricing, and place orders directly into the manufacturer’s system. For manufacturers competing for dealer loyalty in a market where multiple suppliers are available, giving dealers a fast, accurate quoting tool is a retention mechanism as much as an operational efficiency. DataBroker handles inbound orders from dealers or builders who submit orders electronically from their own systems or design tools.
What does Frontier provide in terms of production visibility and scheduling for high-volume window operations?
Frontier’s production scheduling and AME shop floor system provide real-time visibility into job status across work centers — cutting, assembly, glazing, hardware installation, and finishing. Dynamic scheduling adapts to changing order priorities and production constraints without manual rescheduling. For manufacturers running high volumes of similar but dimensionally unique orders, the ability to group compatible jobs at each work center and track progress in real time reduces bottlenecks and improves on-time delivery. Production KPIs tracked per work center give management the data to identify and address efficiency gaps continuously.
Does Frontier handle the financial complexity of large window and glass orders — deposits, progress billing, and job costing?
Yes. Frontier’s sales order management and financial suite handle deposit tracking, progress billing, and job-level cost tracking for large or complex orders. Each configured order has its own cost structure derived from actual material and labor requirements — so profitability analysis is available at the job level, not just at an aggregate product level. For manufacturers taking on large commercial glazing projects or multi-unit construction orders, having accurate job costing data tied to the production record is essential for managing margin and identifying where costs are tracking against estimate.
How does Frontier compare to ERP systems that were built for general manufacturing rather than window and glass specifically?
General manufacturing ERPs handle standard products with fixed BOMs well, but struggle with window and glass manufacturing’s defining characteristics — every order is dimensionally unique, materials are cut to specification for each job, and the dealer channel requires fast and accurate quoting for competitive specifications. A general ERP requires significant customization or manual workarounds to accommodate these requirements, and that customization typically has to be maintained through every system upgrade. Frontier’s configurator was designed for dimensional flexibility and cut-to-size manufacturing from the start — the capabilities window and glass manufacturers need are built in rather than added on.
