Schweiss Doors grows with the sheds that use them

By WHITNEY NESSE The

Land Correspondent

In the late 1970s, Mike Schweiss attended a wedding and was seated with friends. During the dance, Mike was chatting with a friend who suggested he build a bi-fold airplane hangar door. At that time, Mike was already fabricating snow plows, trailers and chicken pluckers, so a bi-fold door was right up his alley.

Unfortunately, Schweiss’s friend passed away mere hours after that initial conversation.

Within six months of the death of his friend, Schweiss went to work on his first bi-fold door. Now, over 40 years later, Schweiss is still building bi-fold doors and did not stop there. Schweiss Doors has expanded to luxury and designer doors and hydraulic doors, which are hung on agricultural buildings, restaurants, homes, airplane hangars, storefronts, and even on the Golden 1 Center, home of the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings.

As far as bi-fold and hydraulic doors go, Mike says his policy is “never say no!”

Schweiss grew up in rural Hector, Minn. on his family’s dairy farm. At nine years old, Mike lost his father in a farm accident. His family kept the farm going, milking 30 cows after his father passed. Mike said that when he turned 18, he decided to take over the farm, and to date, he has never lived off the home farm. Upon Mike acquiring the farm, he expanded from 30 to 60 milking cows. “I decided I wanted a little spending money for when I would go to town,” said Schweiss, so he set forth fabricating chicken pluckers.

When asked how he gained the skill set needed to build the pluckers, Schweiss responded, “Well, how do you learn to change a flat tire? You get a flat tire!”

As a boy, Schweiss picked up skills here and there by watching, learning, and applying his know-how. The results paid off.

In 1976, Schweiss sold the milking herd and focused on fabricating and selling his chicken pluckers; and he ventured into snow plows and trailers, too. Then, in 1979, said Schweiss’ daughter, Lark, (marketing manager of Schweiss Doors) Mike and his brother Dave built the first Bi-fold door, which is still in working condition in Franklin, Minn.

By 1980, Schweiss Doors was established, and they are still up and running today as a global company — continuously working to improve the bi-fold and hydraulic door designs that have brought them this far.

The original dairy barn is still used at Schweiss Doors. Like a larger-than-life jigsaw puzzle, Schweiss has added on, retrofitted, and newly constructed buildings on the original 100-acre farm place. Roughly five acres are under shelter, with eight state-of-theart door building bays, shipping prep, robotics, storage, and offices. Schweiss Doors has grown to 50 full-time employees.

The bi-fold and hydraulic door business has come with challenges.

When Mike began fabricating doors, steel was priced at 25 to 30 cents per pound. Since then, Mike said prices have risen to 80 to 90 cents per pound and as high as $1.30 per pound! Staying competitive and following the steel market is a hurdle Schweiss regularly confronts.

Lark mentioned that finding employees can be challenging because they are as rural as they are. “A happy, healthy workforce is a success. It’s hard to find people, but the people who are here are great, and that’s a blessing,” she said.

Over the years, bi-fold and hydraulic doors have changed immensely. Although an untrained eye may not see it, design components and hinges, the shift from cables to lift straps, and latching systems have all changed for the better.

See SCHWEISS, pg. 17

Call 1-844-716-2411

Lark Schweiss, who joined the company in July 2022, said, “The agricultural community is the backbone of the company, and Dad is a farm boy at heart.” What she finds exciting in the industry is how diverse Schweiss Doors has become. Beginning with mainly ag building doors and hangar doors, Schweiss is now fabricating doors for global companies such as Under Armour, Red Bull, and SpaceX.

But, for Mike, the best part of the job is everyone he meets.