Lothar Erkens

With over two decades at Winco, Lothar Erkens has left his engineering mark of excellence on every aspect of the window business.  His title of Technical Sales and Engineering hardly conveys the depth of experience and passion that Lothar brings to the art and science of custom window making.   He is the go-to person at Winco when customers need windows to exceed current testing or code requirements.   The majority of Winco's windows are custom-made, and Lothar leads the team that considers every detail from wind loads to codes to windborne debris to threat levels.   

Lothar describes Winco to be in the perfect “Goldilocks” zone of the industry.    Winco is small enough to handle custom work that bigger mass-producing competitors can’t accommodate and remain efficient, yet large enough to enable its engineers to explore uncharted territory and create new products.   Lothar was challenged to design a window that would replicate the look of a 1930s-era window. The result was Winco's now classic 3250 Historic Steel Replica window with AW-PO-120 rating and 15 psf water resistance, which is now in historic projects across the United States. Lothar oversees AW-rated aluminum windows for standard Air/Water/Structural, as well as hurricane and tornado resistance, blast mitigation, seismic loading, and other highly specialized applications. He started designing blast-resistant windows and assisted with live explosive testing of blast-resistant windows since 2003.  His expertise with blast resistance focuses on Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC), as well as Veterans Affairs and GSA projects. He has been a certified Fenestration Master since February 2019 and has his name as a collaborator on two US patents for window products.  

When he's not designing for Winco, Lothar gives back to the window industry through his work with the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA). He participates as Architectural Products Council (APC) co-chair on six committees and serves as vice-chair/co-chair on two task force groups. (APC is one of multiple Councils that are balanced across the leadership of FGIA committees.)  Lothar was recently the recipient of FGIA’s Architectural Distinguished Service Award, which recognizes an individual who accomplishes formative work on behalf of the Association and the APC.   

In a joint research project by multiple universities, he was also a collaborator in a recent earthquake study evaluating glass and structural performance by simulating a series of large earthquakes on a full-scale, 10-story mass timber building – the world’s tallest full-scale building ever tested on an earthquake simulator or shake table at the NHERI site in San Diego operated by UCSD.  

A native of Germany, Lothar spent the first two decades of his professional career in the steel industry.  Today, he marvels at his career trajectory.  “Once I designed the ‘holes’ that windows go in, now I fill those holes with windows that let in light and protect inhabitants from weather.”