Cascade Windows, a longtime Spokane Valley manufacturer of vinyl windows, says it has merged with a Portland-area window maker, boosting its regional presence and enlarging its total work force to about 450 workers.

Randy Emerson, Cascade Windows' president and CEO, says the merger with Empire Pacific Windows, of Tualatin, Ore., which had about 150 employees, became effective earlier this week. He declines to disclose the dollar value of the transaction.

"Cascade has always been a strong company with strong management and strong leadership, The fact that we positioned ourselves to be able to take care of some of these advantages in this economy is incredible," Emerson says, noting that a couple of other window makers have closed recently because of anemic market conditions.

He adds, "For us, this is just the start of our growth campaign."

Justin Kent, president of Empire Pacific Windows, said in a press release about the merger: "We are very happy to join Cascade Windows. Their culture is a great match for Empire Pacific, and we are happy to be a part of this positive growth company. The combined entity will allow us to better serve our customers with greater resources."

Emerson says some details, such as whether Empire Pacific will continue to operate under that name or will be folded into the Cascade Windows brand, still remain to be worked out. Tualatin is a southwestern suburb of Portland, and Empire Pacific operates a single 100,000-square-foot plant there.

The merger, he says, "gives us a larger share of the Northwest and Northern California market."

Cascade Windows says it will be implementing changes over the next 12 months resulting from the merger, including new ways of manufacturing products.

Emerson says, "For years, we've had a business model that has allowed us to remain very competitive in the markets we participate in and basically has allowed us to remain profitable, which has given us the resources to pull this off. Our performance has been what's really done it for us."

He declines to disclose the combined companies' revenues. For a Journal of Business list of Spokane-area manufacturers, Cascade Windows had said it had annual sales of $49.4 million in 2008.

Emerson became an equity owner and president of Cascade Windows in early 2009 when the Spokane Valley company bought a company he owned, Wood Village, Ore.-based LbL Windows Inc. LbL, which did business as LbL Windows & Doors, employed about 110 people at that time and was producing a high-end window line that Cascade Windows said would broaden its product mix. Garman Lutz, who had been president at Cascade Windows, became the company's chief financial officer.

Emerson says he took on the additional title of CEO at Cascade Windows last April "and started charting our strategy for growth."

Cascade Windows didn't greatly expand its product mix by merging with Empire Pacific, but rather joined forces with a company that has a similar operating philosophy, he says.

"Cascade has always been focused on value products, at every level, every segment of the market," he says, adding, "We really felt that the Empire line fell right into that sweet spot."

Cascade manufactures and distributes several lines of entry-level vinyl windows and patio doors, including its signature Cascade line, which are used mostly in new-home construction. With the LbL acquisition, it added a line of premium vinyl windows that typically are used for retrofitting in home remodeling projects.

It employs more than 200 people at its 42,000-square-foot manufacturing facility plant here, which is located at 10507 E. Montgomery Drive. Along with its two Portland-area plants, it also has a manufacturing plant in Salt Lake City.

Founded in 1989, the company changed its name from Window Products Inc. in 2004.