Library

Life is unpredictable. I know you’ve heard that before, but it bears repeating…and repeating. As we grow older, we think we know stuff. That’s natural. It started when we were children – every time we learned something, we knew we were a little smarter and, by the same...

The path of factory innovation is leading us to automated systems rather than true robotics. Though industrial robotics has been used for 30 years in our industry, it has served mainly as a forerunner to later systems. Its earliest commercialization, the robotic arms of the Koskovich component...

With the resurgence of new home construction we have seen unprecedented interest and growth in our outdoor equipment division.  There are certainly many ways to accomplish the conveying, stacking and banding of the truss package. Numerous truss plants continue to stack trusses manually,...

Well, I just returned from the SBCA Open Quarterly Meeting in Las Vegas. It was almost historical. This was the first time that I can remember the OQM being in Las Vegas. It seems a place that has a way of drawing greater attendance for any event and this was true for the OQM. A great time...

The call for more designers, salespeople and just about every other admin personnel is getting louder by the day. There are not enough hours in the week to meet sales demands. What if you could provide your team with tools that would give them more time? This way, you could save money by having...

As a general rule, when you cut lumber to length, the lumber grade is unchanged. In those cases, care should be taken to transfer that grade verification along with the cut lumber. This can be done with a lumber crayon, segregation, tagging, or many other suitable ways. Ripping lumber,...

Oregon is one of the strongest building markets in the country, and Oregon Truss is preparing for the next chapter of our future. Thanks to our founder Wayne Beebe’s foresight to plan for expansion, we have a brand new factory that enables us to maintain normal lead times while our...

Part 4 in our TIMWOODS Series Shigeo Shingo, who is considered the world’s leading expert on manufacturing practices and the Toyota Production System, wrote “humans are animals that make mistakes.” But how often do we make mistakes in our lumber yards, millwork, and...

While it’s well known that wood products offer a wide variety of environmental benefits – typically less embodied energy, lower air and water pollution, and a lighter carbon footprint than other commonly used building materials – it can often be a challenge to translate this...

For a few months now, I have detected an uneasiness among lumber buyers. Near term expectations are bullish, however, there is an underlying sense of caution. Something is just not quite right in the housing sector. I believe I know what it is. Winds of Change Several years ago, when...