CONTACT US
Ideas come from the darndest places! Take for example the birth of Schweiss
Doors, rural Fairfax, MN, which today has thousands of its unique bifold
and hydraulic doors providing quick, quiet and effortless entry to
airplane hangers, commercial buildings and farm sheds across America and
other parts of the world.
Owner Mike Schweiss relates, "It was 1980. I was at a wedding dance. A
friend commented, 'Mike, you build lots of different things. Why not a door
that folds up?"
Ironically, that very person died of a heart attack that same evening. But
his idea didn't!
At that time, Schweiss and his three employees were manufacturing things
like farrowing crates for sows, snow blowers, farm trailers, tile plows and
can you imagine something called the Schweiss Chicken Plucker!
He chuckles, "It was the Chicken Plucker that gave us name recognition, and
in fact got us going financially." His first Bi-Fold door measured 12 x 12,
and was installed on a Renville County Highway shed, 10 miles from Mike's
country factory location. The door is still in operation even though
Schweiss admits, "We made it wrong every which way."
Today Schweiss manufactures three styles of doors: 1) the famous lift-strap
bifold door, 2) The "One Piece" Schweiss hydraulic Door, and 3) Schweiss
Designer Doors. And indeed Schweiss doors are traveling worldwide from
Africa, Russia, Asia to Europe and beyond. Three Schweiss hydraulic units
were shipped to Shanghai, China in February to be fitted as 'window walls'
for a luxury restaurant in a new $250 million Ritz-Carlson Hotel.
The Schweiss Lift-Strap System utilizes nylon web material, which quietly
wraps on a take-up spindle when the start-stop button activates an electric
motor. Tensile strength of each nylon strap is 29,000 lbs. Straps are quiet,
clean, quick, rust-free, durable and longer lasting than steel cables.
Schweiss Doors is one of about ten Hydraulic & Bifold door manufacturers nationwide,
but only Schweiss has the patented nylon strap system. And size isn't an
issue. Our biggest bifold door to date is a massive 140' wide facility.
Our biggest single project: 145 doors, each 12' x 40', for
T-hangers at Bult Field near Chicago, a new privately owned airfield.
Creating tremendous interest within the construction and architectural
industry is the new Schweiss Hydraulics. Builders like the clean, yet
rugged design of this new and improved product from Schweiss Manufacturing.
Heavy-duty hydraulic cylinders provide super stability, spherical bearings
for longevity and grease zerks on every heavyduty wraparound hinge. As one builder
commented, "Hydraulic doors with the Schweiss name, it doesn't get any better."
Schweiss created a new world of interest with architects and builders with a
marketing slogan stating: 'You Think It, We'll Build It.' Today Schweiss
doors can be ordered with walk-through 'designer doors', single or double
insulated windows, remote radio controlled capability, photo eye sensors for
emergency stop situations, virtually any 'skin' material, be it metal,
aluminum, glass, redwood siding, slate, or stucco. And of course matching
colors to correlate with the existing main structure. Doors can also be custom
cut to follow the roofline to gain extra headroom. A 50' Schweiss
Hydraulic for a unique Florida 'Hangar Home' was specially designed with 4'
trusses to accommodate a full-width patio deck and veranda roof. Open this
amazing hydraulic door and the entire patio deck sweeps up.
Today the aviation industry claims about 75% of the total sales of Schweiss
Manufacturing, which now employs about 62 people full-time. That ratchets
up to about 76 on a seasonal basis when the Ag market kicks in. Because
farm equipment gets bigger and bigger, Schweiss Doors find a comfortable
niche with U.S. farmers building new machine sheds for their huge farm
equipment. Door heights are now up to 20', and can be remotely controlled
from tractor, pickup or combine cabs.
Costs vary depending upon the door size and options with current costs at
$110-$130/linear foot. This includes installation, which typically is a
1-day process for a two-to-three men Schweiss crew that delivers the door.
Why the continued sales strength for Schweiss doors? Having a good product
obviously deserves credit. The private aviation sector is still going strong
for Schweiss Doors during the current world recession and we keep picking up tempo.
"When Piper, Cessna, and others started building small planes again, our
business with airport operators and airport builders really took off,"
relates Schweiss, himself a licensed pilot owning a Cherokee Six hangered at
Hector, MN, eight miles from the Schweiss operation. The Hector Airport is
frequently used by aviators and business people flying in to visit the
Schweiss factory.
Today business is brisk for Schweiss Doors with both national and
international sales including distributors outside the United States.
"The long-term future of our industry is strong. Better, quicker, quieter
and safer door openings have a bright future," concludes Schweiss.
Schweiss Computer Programmers and Inventory Control Managers developed a
unique computer program that details steel components, hinges, nuts, bolts
and total hardware of each door. A computer printout of each order goes to
electrical, steel, and welding crews in the various buildings of a 26-acre
manufacturing facility, so each worker knows precisely what hardware is
needed for each door as it moves through the assembly process. Doors are
built as ordered so inventory is minimized.
Lead Salesperson, Julie Schafer coordinates telephone and Internet
generated sales. About 15 percent of sales activity is now Internet sourced,
but the majority of our leads are driven from satisfied door customers.
DESIGNER DOORS
"I wouldn't have any problem recommending a Schweiss Bifold door to anyone in the construction industry. The materials in the door, the construction accuracy, even the on-site training they..."
"Not only does the morning coffee shop jump start your day, it can also jump start your creative juices. At least it did for Sade Borghei, designer with Holt Hinshaw, a San Francisco architectural firm..."
"Red Bull North American headquarters, Santa Monica, CA, can proudly boast of having the largest indoor/outdoor skateboard platform. And rightly so. Skateboarding is the 'energizing' sport theme of this major provider of Red Bull, now acknowledged as..."
"The interior represents a quaint European street scene complete with hotel entrance and second floor walk-out balcony. To the left, there's a working tavern with bar stools and a false-front ice cream store..."
HYDRAULIC DOORS
"The interior represents a quaint European street scene complete with hotel entrance and second floor walk-out balcony. To the left, there's a working tavern with bar stools and a false-front ice cream store..."
"Touching base with a hurricane survivor can be both grizzly and great. Aerobatic pilot Johnny Smith, Lucedale, Mississippi and his young family were survivors, as were his airplanes, thanks to their new 'hangar home' built to withstand 90 mile per hour winds, in fact even the 125 mile-per-hour blast of Hurricane Katrina..."
"This is our hanger door in Canton, Texas at Tailwind Airpark. We were on the northwest edge of Hurricane Rita and the door took straight-on wind forces off the storm. The one piece hydraulic door was still perfect after the storm. We like the hydraulic door because we could keep a lower profile opening and this kept the residential look we were seeking on this airpark house..."
HORSE BARNS
"Ten Schweiss bifolds, each with 18' vertical clearance, make creature comforts possible, both winter and summer. The ten bifolds totally enclose three of the four walls of the arena..."
AIRPORTS
"Weighing in at 16,000 pounds and measuring 80' x 27', Schweiss bifolds were the choice of several hangars that were part of a Varco Pruden real estate development project at the Morristown Municipal Airport, Morristown, New Jersey..."
FARM SHOPS
"It's hard to tell who is most pleased with the new shop at E&M Farms Inc. near Milbank, S.D. - the owners, Milt Stengel and his son Scott, or Milt's uncle Leonard. "It's quality all the way through," says Leonard..."
"We have a 47-foot Concord air seeder and wanted a door big enough so this rig could be pulled directly into the shop without being concerned about wiggle room. Thanks to that 60-foot door, getting in and out with big equipment is a piece of cake," related Jim Ross..."
LARGE PROJECTS
"Schweiss Bifold Doors, a Minnesota manufacturer acknowledged as the major builder of the bifold door design, was the door of choice for all 132 hangars. The bifolds included 68 doors each 12 ft. x 41 ft. wide; 32 doors each 14 ft. x 44 ft. wide; and 30 doors, each 14 ft. by 47 ft. wide..."
"The eight similar sized hangars and the four larger hangars near the center of the building all have 44-foot Schweiss bifold doors. On each end are two large hangars, with 58-foot doors built to accommodate large twins and small corporate jets..."
MORE NEWS
"Founded in 1980 Schweiss Bifold Doors today is acknowledged as the country's leading manufacturer of bifolds with sales throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe..."
"As the Schweiss Bifold door became more widely accepted for use in aircraft hangars and agricultural buildings. Today, thousands of doors have been installed across the US and internationally."
"SolidWorks is a tremendous time saver for Schweiss engineers. Plus this newer technology virtually eliminates production errors. This new system keeps delivery within a much tighter time frame. It designs even more structural strength into Schweiss doors..."
"We've listened to architects, contractors, and potential buyers, about what they expect when looking at bifolds. And we've learned. Below are a few issues if you consider going bifold..."
