Published February 2001

Everett vinyl-parts producer uses bigger digs to streamline process

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

King Extrusions Ltd. is familiar with growth, both in space and profits.

Since its inception in 1989, the vinyl extrusions manufacturer has moved to a larger plant, has expanded its production capabilities by more than 40 percent and is looking at about $20 million in sales for this year, President Doug Torrie said.

“Our sales have just been growing. Every year, we’ve had this continued growth,” Torrie said about the company that makes custom vinyl systems for window and door manufacturers across Canada, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona and Alaska.

To accommodate that growth, King Extrusions, wholly-owned by Royal Group Technologies Ltd., moved from its 47,000-square-foot facility in Woodinville to a built-to-suit facility of almost 125,000 square feet in the Intracorp Industrial Center-Seaway in south Everett in April 1998.

“It’s been great,” Torrie said about the move. “Employees have good access to it. Transportation is good as far as trucking. ... And just having a new facility. We were in a very, very cramped facility. Having a facility that we designed ourselves for our own use has made the operation a lot more efficient.”

With the larger facility, raw product material is brought in one side of the building, put through the extruders and then moved straight to the warehouse and out to shipping, Torrie said. Along with production efficiency, the move has enabled King Extrusions to increase the number of extrusion lines, which produce the vinyl parts, from 18 to 26. The plant has room for a total of 40 such lines should the company need to expand further in the future.

Running the company, which employs about 100, has been a “dramatic learning experience” for Torrie, who received a call from Royal Group Technologies back in the late 1980s asking him if he’d like to start up a manufacturing facility on the West Coast.

Ontario-based Royal Group, as Torrie describes it, sets up “separate profit centers” or manufacturing facilities, each with a different name. These profit centers, located worldwide, manufacture everything from vinyl siding and patio furniture to vinyl building systems and window coverings.

At the time the Toronto native received the call from Royal Group, he was working in sales management for BF Goodrich Chemical Co. and had been a supplier for Royal Group for about 14 years.

“I investigated and decided it was a good opportunity, and here I am,” said Torrie, who now lives in Mukilteo.

During his time at the helm, Torrie has learned one of the keys to successful management: When you get thrown into a situation, you have to run with it and take charge.

The recent energy rate hikes, for example, will cost King Extrusions about a quarter-of-a-million dollars more for power this year. To deal with that cost, the company will pass on a power surcharge to customers, Torrie said.

But, the company also expects to benefit from the power-rate increase.

“People are taking old single-glazed aluminum windows or old double-glazed aluminum windows out of their houses and replacing them with more energy-efficient vinyl windows,” Torrie said. “We’re seeing a lot of retrofit type of frames going through, more than normal. So, even though we’re going to be paying a tremendous amount more for our power in 2001, we are getting a boost in business because of it.”

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