How to choose ERP software for window and door manufacturing.

Fenestration ERP or general manufacturing ERP?

General manufacturing ERPs (the large horizontal suites) are strong on accounting, purchasing and inventory, and can be configured for almost anything. The cost is that "almost anything" includes your product: the configurator, the size-based pricing, the BOM formulas, the glass and the labels become a customization project, owned by a consultant and repeated at every upgrade.

A fenestration-specific ERP starts from the window: series, openings, mulls, glass, grids and screens are the data model. The trade-off is a smaller vendor and a narrower ecosystem. For most window and door manufacturers under a few hundred employees, the industry-specific route wins, because the configurator and pricing are where the money is made or lost.

The twelve capabilities that matter

1. A configurator that knows windows

Series, sizes to the sixteenth, glass packages, grids, screens, colors and options, with rules that refuse impossible combinations in plain words. Ask: "Configure a triple mulled unit with a half-round on top and show me the drawing."

2. Pricing that reproduces yours exactly

Size books, united-inch tables, option adders, mull charges, freight rules, dealer levels and customer-specific terms. Ask: "Reprice twenty of our real orders from last month and show me every line that differs."

3. Mulled and shaped units

Mulled openings are sold centerline to centerline and built at the frame; shape tops are priced and built as their own units. Ask: "Where does the mull post width come off the frame?" (Our guide to mulled sizing explains why it matters.)

4. Bills of material generated from the configuration

Length formulas, conditions on options and lookup charts (balancers, reinforcement) — with the BOM frozen at release so the floor builds what was sold. Ask: "Change an option on a released order. What happens to the bill?"

5. Cut lists and saw integration

Optimized lineal cuts to four decimals, saw sequencing and positioner integration. Ask: "Send tomorrow's frame cuts to our saw."

6. Glass handled end to end

Optimizer files or nesting, tempered and obscure units bought out automatically, one label per sealed unit. Ask: "Which lites on this order will be tempered for size, and are they on the cutting file?"

7. Labels at the bench, including NFRC

Tracking, welder, glass, shipping and NFRC certificate labels printed per window at the right bench. See what goes on an NFRC label.

8. Shop-floor scanning and remakes

Bench screens, barcode scans per window, remakes raised from any bench and routed back to the bench that builds the part. Ask: "A sash is damaged at assembly. Show me the remake."

9. A dealer portal on the same book

Dealers quoting your products at their own pricing, ordering electronically — without a second copy of your catalog to maintain. Ask: "If I change a price now, when does a dealer see it?"

10. Shipping, invoicing and receivables

Ready-to-ship, manifests and routes, invoices from the order, deposits, credits, statements and collections by sales rep.

11. Leadership visibility

Schedules, bench progress, late and at-risk orders, and wallboards — read live, not exported.

12. A migration you can prove

The single biggest risk in changing ERP is pricing. Ask: "Will you reprice our real historical orders before go-live, and will go-live wait until they match?" See how we do it.

Window and door ERP vendors to look at

Listed alphabetically, each summarized from its own public materials as of October 2026. Descriptions change, so check each vendor's current website.

Note: product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Extrusia is not affiliated with the other vendors listed.

A short checklist for the demo

• Bring twenty of your own orders, including your hardest mull and your most unusual customer terms.
• Ask to see a dealer quote become a released work order, a cut list, a glass file and a set of labels — without anybody retyping anything.
• Ask who owns the configuration after go-live: you, or a consultant.
• Ask how they will prove your prices before you switch, and what happens if they don't match.
• Ask what happens to your history and to the windows already on the floor on cutover day.