ACM Panelworx has built its reputation by doing more than manufacturing exterior building components. For the Canada/U.S. manufacturer, the building envelope is not simply a technical system, it is a place where architecture, performance, fabrication, and long-term design ambition come together. The company’s history stretches back to 1969, when Mark Mrkalj’s father worked at Pilkington Glass in Toronto, a company specializing in building envelopes within the glazing industry. After leaving Pilkington, he moved to Windsor in 1975 and continued working in the building envelope industry. In 1988, he founded D&M Glass, laying the groundwork for what would later help form ACM Panelworx.
Aluminum composite panels began entering the industry in the mid-1990s, and the company started installing them a few years later. By 2006, D&M Glass had moved into fabrication. In 2007, ACM Panelworx was formally established, initially as a panel manufacturer. Since then, the company has expanded its fabricated product line to include a broader range of building envelope components. Today, ACM Panelworx specializes in exterior building systems, with aluminum composite panel manufacturing at the center of their work. From that foundation, the company produces standard and custom-building envelope components, including sunshades, cladding materials, custom extrusions, perforation, geometric shapes and other exterior systems. Their services include technical drawings, engineering, manufacturing, estimating, design assist, 3D laser scanning and installation support.
The company prefers to be involved at the early stage of a project, often during the architectural design phase. This allows the team to support architects and project partners as they select materials and develop systems that align with the building’s performance and design requirements. “From there, we get down to the customer’s needs; we support them in estimating quantity take-offs, shop drawings, technical drawings, engineering, coordinating the building component fabrications, and then ultimately manufacturing and shipping the product ready for installation,” said Mark Mrkalj, owner and president of ACM Panelworx.
That early involvement has helped the company build relationships across a wide range of project teams, including architects, general contractors, building owners, and subcontractors. ACM Panelworx services across residential, multi-family, and commercial construction projects of all sizes. Serving a wide range of sectors, including finance, education, civic and government, healthcare, and other commercial and institutional markets. Their portfolio includes work for institutions such as the University of Michigan, University of Louisville, St. Clair College Main Campus, Isenberg at UMass Amherst, and Michigan State.
Since their founding, the company has reached several milestones, many tied to their ability to keep pushing design and fabrication advancement further. While the industry has shifted repeatedly over the past several decades, ACM Panelworx has remained focused on research, development, and technical innovation. “We were always doing very innovative jobs, but in the last 20 years, we’ve really put a lot of work into research and development,” Mrkalj said. “Even within the ACM world, we have always been on the edge of pushing the design features to have oversized panels, complex geometries, curved shapes, and figure out how to do more complex types of ACM projects – that just grew into other custom products that we would integrate within building exteriors.”
This work has included vertical and horizontal sunshades, multiple finishes, unique installation methodologies, natural metal components, and terracotta projects applied to façade designs. The goal has been to give architects and project teams greater flexibility while still delivering systems that perform. “This always puts us on the cutting edge – we’re always pushing the envelope, creating a higher impact to be able to offer greater design flexibility to our customers,” Mrkalj said.
“This always puts us on the cutting edge – we’re always pushing the envelope, creating a higher impact to be able to offer greater design flexibility to our customers.”
This willingness to take on complex design challenges has led to strong relationships with design partners and architects, including some of the leading firms in the world. One example is the company’s work with Foster + Partners on the Comcast Technology Tower in Philadelphia, where ACM Panelworx contributed to a complex sunshade system on a project that went on to win multiple awards.
The company also worked with BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group on the Isenberg, UMass project which required design assistance and the integration of natural copper wall panels. The panels had to transition into inverted, domino-like shapes, requiring the team to completely rethink the glass interface for the curtain wall to ensure proper drainage. Almost a decade later, the building continues to perform as designed. The project went on to win the global 2020 Prix Versailles award from UNESCO for its building envelope, marking a significant recognition for ACM Panelworx and its design council. “With our design ingenuity and being on the cutting edge, architects are drawn to that, and that has helped cultivate many projects for us that are very identifiable throughout North America, and have been acknowledged through multiple awards,” Mrkalj said. “As a group, we gain career satisfaction from seeing those successes throughout the years, where we remain at the forefront of the industry.”
Sustainability has become another important milestone for the company. ACM Panelworx places strong emphasis on recycling waste products and using materials that can be recycled, including wood crates that are machined into wood chips. The company also focuses on minimizing waste by producing systems with long lifespans and reduced environmental impact. “That’s why we love the composite panel project – it incorporates multiple recycled materials in its composition, a lot of which can be recycled,” Mrkalj said. “I do love a product that’s able to recycle materials in order to provide form and function to a building and create unique shapes and building envelopes.”
The company’s project portfolio reflects that blend of technical ambition, sustainability, and design. At the Amway headquarters in Ada, Michigan, ACM Panelworx, alongside General Contractor, Rockford Construction, were involved from the beginning to help renovate the campus into a sustainable and innovative space featuring wood-inspired elements and a distinctive timber structure. “We had a little bit of everything that we fabricated in that job; things went from the exterior into the interior, which is a pretty inviting design,” Mrkalj said. “We had ACM panels, a custom sunshade assembly with the wood look, aluminum sunshades, stainless steel on the vestibule, as well as a lot of graphical perforated panels inside the building that provided a very artistic feel to the interior.” The project also allowed ACM Panelworx to apply advanced digital methods, including 3D scanning. Over the past several years, the company has developed the ability to use 3D laser scanning during construction to measure and fabricate components more accurately, improving fit and speeding up installation. This approach has become increasingly important as building envelopes become more complex and tolerances become tighter. The design assist effort also complimented a biophilic design for the Amway World Headquarters, Ada, Michigan, which went on to win multiple awards.
Another major project was the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan. As one of the tallest buildings in Grand Rapids, the structure carries significant historical importance. Rather than demolishing the structure, the project team worked to re-clad and modernize it, preserving the 1960s building while extending its useful life. For ACM Panelworx, the project reflected a broader commitment to reuse rather than replacement and solidified their ongoing relationship with Rockford Construction.
In Detroit, ACM Panelworx is working on 1133 Griswold Street, an Albert Kahn building that forms part of the city’s ongoing transformation. The project aims to restore the building’s original character, including the appearance of carved limestone facades reminiscent of the 1920s. Because those materials are now extremely expensive, ACM Panelworx developed a different approach. “Working alongside the architects and developers, we took on the ambitious thought of recreating a limestone exterior completely out of aluminum and composite metal products – it looks amazing,” Mrkalj said. “We fulfilled the architect’s vision beyond what they thought it was going to look like.” The project, led by General Contractor and Developer: RKP Group, and designed by Architect: Kraemer Design Group, marks the second historic restoration of the building, with ACM Panelworx helping reinterpret the original design intent through modern materials and fabrication methods. “To be involved has been a privilege for us, and we’re very pleased that it’s turned out to be part of Detroit’s revitalization,” Mrkalj said.
The company has also worked on the GM Innovation Lab for electrical batteries in Warren, Michigan, designed by Ghafari, a building envelope designed with multiple curved elements Mrkalj described as “intense.” Like many of ACM Panelworx’s projects, it required a highly skilled team with architectural knowledge and a deep understanding of how building envelope components integrate seamlessly with one another.
For Mrkalj, that team is central to the company’s success. ACM Panelworx’s staff brings strong architectural backgrounds and technical expertise, allowing the company to collaborate effectively with designers and project partners. Research and development remain at the forefront of the business, supported by ongoing material testing and a commitment to maintaining high standards. The team is also drawn to work that requires problem-solving and originality. “We gravitate to those unique projects; they make our day more interesting,” Mrkalj said. “We live and breathe it.”
Looking ahead to 2026, ACM Panelworx is focused on digital execution and continued expansion. For Mrkalj, digitization represents one of the most important shifts facing the building envelope and construction industry. “I think there’s a massive shift in the industry to digitize the building envelope and construction – that’s simply going to elevate the quality of our buildings going forward,” he said. With 3D scanning and digital coordination becoming more central to their work, the company is positioned to continue refining how complex exterior components are designed, fabricated, and installed. At the same time, Mrkalj is looking toward a future in which buildings more fully integrate natural elements. Inspired by Singapore’s approach to green assemblies and urban vegetation, he sees significant potential in combining construction and nature more thoughtfully. “I think that’s the biggest driver of what we see with continued research and development in new and sustainable building products,” he said. “Singapore is a world leader in integrating green assemblies within its construction projects. I’ve taken a strong interest in integrating vegetation into our buildings, bringing more green to them. “That idea of slimming the line between nature and development – there has been, for me, too much of a stark contrast between the two. You either have these concrete-and-steel jungles, or you have rural areas. I do believe those two environments have to mesh in construction going forward, and we need to somehow incorporate natural elements into cities, towns, and buildings, using the designs nature does so well. Brutalism is a thing of the past.”
For ACM Panelworx, that future is not separate from the past. It is a continuation of the same approach that has defined the company for decades: solve the technical problem, support the design vision, and keep pushing the building envelope forward.
