Home Building Technology, Part VII: Carol Sanford’s Quantum Leap Joe Kannapell, PE Carol Sanford came of age during the 1920s, inspired by his inventive father, during one of the most inventive periods in American history. He grew up in Canton, OH, then a center of steel and stamping industries. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati and an architectural school in... Read More July 2025 Issue #17312 Page 10
Beyond the Booth: Real Conversations, Real Solutions at BCMC 2025 Wendy Boyd In the world of frame and truss manufacturing, there aren’t many events that gather the industry in quite the same way as the annual Building Component Manufacturers Conference (BCMC). It’s a touchpoint – not just for showcasing machinery and equipment, but for sharing ideas,... Read More July 2025 Issue #17312 Page 17
The Time for Improvement is Always Now Todd Drummond The summer build season is upon us, so the familiar daily time constraint challenges are back. Yet this summer build season is not like the past few years. In many regions, sales are not as strong, so margins are dropping to keep the sales volume needed to remain profitable. During the winter... Read More July 2025 Issue #17312 Page 24
To Precut or Not to Precut? That is the Question Casey Harless Close your eyes and imagine yourself walking through a component manufacturer’s facility. As you do this, some will see a facility with a relatively well-automated wall panel line, in which full sheets of OSB, gypsum, ZIP, etc. are being applied to the wall in line and the router on the... Read More July 2025 Issue #17312 Page 56
Striking Gold with Posi-Strut in Carson City Landon Boucher A large part of what MiTek’s Design Engagement team does involves meeting with Structural Engineers, Architects, and Real Estate Developers to advance the use of components. We guide them on best practices early in design so that when construction documents arrive at the truss... Read More July 2025 Issue #17312 Page 62
Utilizing Stack List and Release Groups Simpson Strong-Tie Staff Often, software users will not realize the full extent of features available to them in a program. Our CS Director™ and CS Truss Studio™ both offer extensive options, including the ones discussed here. You can create stack lists in both CS Director™ and CS Truss... Read More July 2025 Issue #17312 Page 114
Now’s the Time to Pause So You Can Look Ahead Wendy Boyd For many in the structural building components industry, the past few months have been quieter than usual. This has been caused by a combination of factors including economic, regulatory, and operational. I was talking to a customer recently and he put it like this: “where we’re... Read More June 2025 Issue #17311 Page 19
Prefabrication Scalability: Where to Begin Kevin Guest In today’s rapidly evolving housing market, the demand for diverse housing types—affordable, low-income, modular, multi-family, and general residential construction—is greater than ever. This growing demand highlights the need for scalable, efficient building solutions. Enter... Read More June 2025 Issue #17311 Page 54
Feed 2, 3, 4, or 5 Saws with the JAX Gantry Kathryn Pedde For the first time, a modern machine used in many other industries has proven itself in a truss plant. In other industries where it works in hundreds of plants, the JAX gantry transports tires, crates, and cases of Jack Daniels whiskey. In a truss plant, JAX moves 1 to 13 sticks of lumber from... Read More June 2025 Issue #17311 Page 60
New IFC Export: Better Collaboration and Visualization Alpine Team Alpine continues to innovate with the latest version of the IntelliVIEW Suite, now offering IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) export to improve collaboration, visualization, and accuracy in Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflows. IFC export enables seamless data exchange across... Read More June 2025 Issue #17311 Page 125