
Business Matters:
Meet Viwinco
Founded in 1982, Viwinco is a 3rd generation, family-owned and operated custom window manufacturing business based in Morgantown, Pennsylvania that has built much more than a successful company.
Over the past 40 years, while competitors have been acquired by larger companies that often struggle
to maintain quality and service levels, Viwinco maintains independent management, agile capabilities
and people-driven decision making that extends to clients, employees and the community. The result?
A company that has repeatedly doubled its operation, employs more than 400 local Pennsylvanians, has an outsize impact on their local community and is poised to continue growing the business, on its own terms.
We had a conversation with David Barnes, Chairman of the Board and former CEO of the Morgantown-based manufacturer. He describes himself as a “mud puddle guy” – the type of person who eagerly walks across a job site, dirtying his shoes, to ask the builder, “what can we do better?” Here’s what he had
to share:

What role does Viwinco play in the manufacturing industry?
Viwinco – which stands for Vinyl Window Company – designs and produces custom windows out of their Pennsylvania factories and delivers them to customers within 1-2 weeks’ time.
We make new construction windows, replacement windows and hurricane windows for residential and commercial projects. We manufacture nearly all products entirely at our facility in Morgantown, Pennsylvania. Over the years, we’ve brought a number of processes — such as tempering, laminating, and product development — in-house, allowing us to control the source.
Competitors’ windows are mostly wood, composite and/or fiberglass and ours is PVC. A lot of people used to look down their nose at PVC because everyone was trying to make things thinner and less expensive, but we’re in the hurricane business so we were focused on making our windows stronger and better looking.
As the industry becomes more consolidated through corporate acquisitions, and grapples with challenges, we’ve persisted as a ‘mom and pop’ shop that continues to grow – and get better.
Recently, we built a 70,000 sq ft, state-of-the-art glass processing facility across the street from our main manufacturing plant. In 2025 alone, we’ve already hired 30 new people. With the new generation of taking the reins, we’re looking at fresh ideas, constantly trying new things, and recruiting top talent from across sectors to further strengthen the business.

In one word, what sets Viwinco apart?
People.
We’ve built our own culture and keep reinvesting in it. We keep reinvesting in our people. Our employees have real ownership over their work, we don’t micromanage. We take training very seriously and make changes quickly when they’re warranted.
We now have people retiring who have been with us for decades. We’ve also focused on hiring local, younger talent and bilingual talent. That’s been a very successful equation for us.
That also means that when a customer calls, someone here answers the phone and solves their problem. And if they don’t know the answer, the person sitting next to them who’s been here for 30+ years does.
At the end of the day, it’s fun to be part of what we do and people have pride in their work.

How does Viwinco play a part in the broader community?
I was raised to believe that companies are supposed to be part of the community, just as much as they are there to help employees make a living.
The local school districts here run a program, “what’s so cool about manufacturing?” every year. And every year, we make a presentation there and then open the doors to Viwinco to allow students to come in work with a team, go through a project.
We do it for students, but we get many other groups, too. We’re happy to show them what a real manufacturing facility looks like. And you know what? It’s an awesome experience.
We’re also a proud partner of Habitat for Humanity in a few local counties. When students come in, I tell them that we aren’t just here to be a supplier, we need to be a good employer for the community. We’re blessed to be able to do that.

We work with entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes, across many industries. What advice would you give to other business owners, regardless of the stage, size, or specialty?
My advice is to treat people the way you want to be treated – that goes for employees and customers. Do what you say you’re going to do, when you’re going to do it, and you’ll be successful.

What impact has having the right banking partner had on your business?
Let me put it this way – I’ve had significant banking relationships where I haven’t appreciated how I’ve been treated.
When we were looking for a new bank, that’s when we met Tim Romig and Rob Fischer from Customers Bank. They were from Berks County, they took the time to understand the business, and took a chance on us.
They helped us build up the business over the years. Today we talk about what’s ahead, what we want to do in the next few years from now, and how we can get there together.