Home Building Technology, Part I: Wall Panel Beginnings Joe Kannapell As we start 2025, we have surpassed the 125th year of offsite wall technology, so it seems fitting to return to the beginning and describe its early progression. Surprisingly, this includes the Ready-Frame® technology that is currently being marketed by Builders FirstSource, as well as the... Read More January 2025 Issue #17306 Page 10
Full Steam Ahead for 2025 with Spida Wendy Boyd It’s no secret that 2024 brought a number of challenges for the construction sector across the world. However, as I’m writing this, I’m reflecting with pride how the expertise, hard work, and adaptability of our team ensured we continued to deliver high-quality machinery with... Read More January 2025 Issue #17306 Page 19
Free Your Mind, Free Your Factory: The Hidden Upside of Lean Frame Manufacturing Ed Serrano What do a former First Lady and today’s most forward-thinking frame fabricators have in common? More than you might think. Consider this quote, “The more we simplify our material needs, the more we are free to think of other things” – Eleanor Roosevelt Eleanor... Read More January 2025 Issue #17306 Page 64
Building on Better with Advanced Automation Casey Harless The beginning of a new year is a great time to consider optimizing your production line, and Stiles Machinery is here to help. Stiles has been at the forefront of the United States woodworking industry for over six decades, partnering with manufacturers to provide efficiency-focused solutions... Read More January 2025 Issue #17306 Page 70
Wall Panel Technology, Part IX: More Panel Automation From American Suppliers Joe Kannapell Handling studs and plates to build walls is easy, but handling oversized sheets of OSB and sheathed wall panels is not. Fortunately, two inventors in the Midwest have lightened the load. Automated Sheathing Saw: Since he began his career at Monet DeSauw 30 years ago, David Ohnesorge has been... Read More December 2024 Issue #16305 Page 10
Providing a Complete Customer Solution at Spida Wendy Boyd Since Spida Machinery began over 40 years ago, we’ve consistently adapted to ensure our products meet market demands, grown our team and expertise, and focused on ways we can continuously improve. We’ve looked at ourselves and asked hard questions, identified areas that needed... Read More December 2024 Issue #16305 Page 17
How Investment Bias Can Cost Your Company Millions Todd Drummond It appears I may have opened a can of worms with my last article, “A Case Study for Transforming Profits Through Employment Practices.” The article was a summary of the session I led at BCMC, “Case Study —Building Material Supply & Truss Manufacturing.” The... Read More December 2024 Issue #16305 Page 26
Inspiration for Automation in 2025 Edmond Lim, P.Eng. After the wonderful success that was BCMC 2024, I decided to take a quick holiday…to Japan! Having never visited that fascinating country before, I was excited to see what I might find. [For all photos, See PDF or View in Full Issue.] While waiting in line for the Ubako and Owakudani... Read More December 2024 Issue #16305 Page 48
A Year of Growth and Innovation: Vekta Looks Back and Ahead Ed Serrano WARNING: the following text is not intended for consumption by old-school fabricators and plant managers – especially those without a desire to evolve alongside new and developing technologies However, if you are showing any of the following symptoms, you are advised to read on... Read More December 2024 Issue #16305 Page 60
What Equipment Does Your Future Hold? Marco Gagnon With 2024 coming to a close, we look at the year that was and the years to come in equipment development. This past year saw our company bring out two new pieces of equipment in its product offering. These pieces were added to a line-up that already included our successful BCE-Gantry, BCE-Finish... Read More December 2024 Issue #16305 Page 66