A first EPD, and a smart place to start
Congratulations to AD Systems. In October 2026 the company published its first-ever Environmental Product Declaration, for the AD Systems ExamSlide™ Sliding Door System. The listing describes ExamSlide as a surface-mounted, top-hung commercial sliding door system for healthcare and clinical spaces. Those are rooms where cleanability, accessibility and reliable operation matter most.
This is one EPD, not a big batch. It covers a single product system, not the whole portfolio. AD Systems offers ExamSlide in several versions (full-flush wood, full-lite glass and plastic laminate) on the same top-hung hardware platform. Starting with the best-known product line is a sensible way to begin, a bit like a band opening with its biggest hit.
The declaration is valid until October 2031. The EC3 record does not yet name the program operator or the LCA consultant behind the study, so we can't credit them here. Once that metadata shows up, specifiers will see the full chain of custody that makes a third-party verified EPD worth trusting.
Who AD Systems is and why healthcare cares
AD Systems began as Aurora Systems, Inc. in Everett, Washington. It designs and builds high-performance interior and storefront door systems, with a focus on sliding and acoustic solutions. Allegion bought the company in March 2018, so it now sits next to brands like Steelcraft, Republic and LCN. Its main lines are ExamSlide, OfficeSlide, InsetSlide and a group of specialty systems.
Healthcare is where ExamSlide earns its keep. AD Systems says the surface-mounted design saves up to 30 square feet compared with a swing door. It also lists soft-close dampening, three-sided acoustic seals and an optional patented drop seal for patient privacy. Its published case studies include Altru Health System, Intermountain's McKay-Dee cancer center and Providence's PacMed clinic. That makes it a familiar name for design teams on outpatient and acute-care projects.
Why an EPD matters now
Buildings account for 34% of global CO₂ emissions, and materials like cement and steel drive 18% of building emissions (UNEP GlobalABC, 2025). Large healthcare owners increasingly set embodied carbon targets for their projects. Doors and frames are part of that math, even if they aren't the heaviest line item.
Under LEED v5, the Building Product Selection and Procurement credit recognizes product-specific Type III EPDs as a qualifying criterion (USGBC, 2025). More practically, when a product has no EPD, design teams often have to model it with conservative generic data, sometimes with an added penalty factor. A verified EPD replaces that guesswork with real numbers. That makes the product much harder to swap out when the carbon budget gets tight.
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How rivals stack up in the EPD directory
We checked EC3 for the manufacturers ExamSlide most often competes with on manual architectural sliding door packages. Krown Lab, Raydoor and C.R. Laurence have no EPDs listed at all. Hufcor, which competes in interior openings and partitions, shows seven EPDs that have all expired and none current. In this lane, AD Systems isn't catching up. It is going first.
The neighboring categories look different. Horton published two Smart EPD declarations in June 2026, but they cover automatic sliding and swing operator systems, not manual surface-mounted doors. Spain-based Klein has a current EPD for its sliding glass door systems through EPD International, which matters more in Europe than on a North American exam room schedule. Within Allegion, the Stanley Access brand holds EPDs for automatic sliding doors, including the Dura-Care 7000 ICU model.
The parent company is no newcomer either. Allegion has a sizable library of EPDs for steel doors, frames and hardware, which we track in our overview of EPDs for door hardware in the United States. What's new is that the sliding door specialist now has a verified declaration of its own.
What this changes in specs and bids
For a healthcare architect putting together a door schedule, a manual sliding door with a product-specific EPD is still rare. In the competitor set we reviewed, ExamSlide is the only one. Specifiers who need EPD-backed products to hit a carbon target or a LEED v5 threshold now have a clear option that doesn't require extra justification.
This also changes the sales conversation. Without an EPD, the pitch tends to slide toward price. With one, AD Systems can lean on acoustic performance, space savings and verified transparency all at once. Manufacturers rarely see the projects they quietly lose to an EPD requirement, so it's hard to measure the upside. One healthcare tower can still put dozens of exam room openings in play.
Visibility is the next milestone
We looked for the new declaration on AD Systems' website and in Allegion's online EPD library, which already includes an AD Systems brand filter. At the time of writing we could not find the ExamSlide EPD posted in either place. The ExamSlide product page and brochure don't link to it yet either.
That's an easy fix with a real payoff. Specifiers often check a manufacturer's product page first, and a PDF link next to the CAD files and spec sections saves them an email. We recommend adding the EPD to the ExamSlide page and the Allegion library, and mentioning it in the spec section language so it carries through to submittals.
The road from one EPD to a portfolio
One declaration is a strong opening, and the obvious next candidates are OfficeSlide and InsetSlide. Each new EPD gets easier because the data pipelines, bill of materials logic and plant energy figures are already set up. The heavy lifting of the first study pays off again with every product after it.
The lesson for other door and opening manufacturers is that being first is still possible in many specialty niches. AD Systems has entered the transparency arena in a category where its closest rivals haven't yet. That head start will last as long as the competition keeps waiting, and the one-EPD teams willing to accomodate a second and third will widen it.
