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Moving to North Carolina this fall, I found a house in place I never expected to live – a planned community. They’re very popular for retired people, but I’m not retired. Even so, the house checked nearly all of the boxes on my search list, and the benefits of this planned...

When engineers Cal Jureit, Walter Moehlenpah, and Bill McAlpine witnessed the impressive launch of the IBM System/360 in July 1964, they surely suspected that computers could bring relief from the increasing burden of special engineering requests. Even though none could afford the System/360,...

When we talk about tolerances and adjustments to suit the manufacturing process, we acknowledge that building a metal plate connected wood truss is part art, part skill, and mostly perseverance. Plate embedment is very dependent on that process, and we are very dependent on plate embedment for...

Spec sheets for truss assembly machinery describe the press: tonnage, roller diameter, table length. They say less about the software, yet on an automated table the software decides where the pucks go, where the truss sits, how much of the table is in use, and what happens when the next truss...

In truss manufacturing, productivity depends on more than cutting lumber quickly — it depends on delivering the right material to the right table in the right sequence. Enventek’s SpeedStack software brings order to this critical handoff, helping plants combine the efficiency of...

Elon Musk’s five rules for improving a process end with automation. That order deserves attention from every executive considering new equipment or software. When labor is difficult to find, costs are rising, and customer commitments are harder to meet, technology can look like the obvious...

Ask a designer why a shop avoids a particular web configuration and you may get a very specific answer. The production crew finds it awkward to assemble. A certain cut creates problems. The preferred alternative uses material the shop always has on hand. You may also hear, “That’s...

Silence. It’s one of the worst things a factory owner can hear Monday morning. Instead of the air compressors humming to life, saws calibrating, and forklift back-up alerts echoing throughout the floor, the only thing felt is the deafening reality of a stalled line. If you’ve...

In 1984, I read a book called “The Goal” by Goldratt & Cox; the theory of constraints articulated in the book was formative in my thinking as an Industrial Engineer. I was surprised to learn that my son’s co-op employer gave it to him as required reading a couple of years...

As the fourth quarter unfolds, component manufacturers and industrial operators face a critical strategic window. Balancing year-end tax planning with ongoing liquidity requirements is a delicate undertaking. For businesses looking to expand production capacity or replace aging machinery right...