Joe Kannapell, PE

Home Building Technology, Part XVI: Roller Equipment Alternatives

Joe Kannapell, PE

It’s about time that a serious contender challenges the dominance of the roller gantry. Its life has been extended with lasers and auto-puck systems, but no upgrade so far has taken the hammer out of the hands of assemblers, its greatest drawback. The only alternative, the vertical press,...

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May 2026
Issue #18322
Page 10
Wendy Boyd

From Blade to Data: Can Cutting Become a Measurable, Optimized System?

Wendy Boyd

Walk into most structural component manufacturing facilities across North America and you’ll see a familiar contrast: highly sophisticated design software upstream, increasingly automated assembly downstream — and somewhere in the middle, cutting processes that still rely heavily on...

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May 2026
Issue #18322
Page 29
Edmond Lim, P.Eng.

Dump and Chase is Just-in-Time

Edmond Lim, P.Eng.

In hockey, “Dump and Chase” is highly effective depending on how deep the puck is dumped into the opposing team’s defensive zone, and how hard the dumping team will chase and fight to get back possession of the puck. The strategy is to physically punish the defending team and...

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May 2026
Issue #18322
Page 58
ROGworx Team

Come Meet the ROGworx Badger

ROGworx Team

We know how great the Badger EWP Processing Center is, and now you can come see it in action too. We’re pleased to offer LIVE demos in Emporia, VA, Lavonia, GA, and Columbia, MO. Just contact us to schedule a tour. Here are a few reasons why you should check it out: The Badger...

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May 2026
Issue #18322
Page 67
Todd Drummond

Profit Leaks Where Work Is Not Visible Enough to Control

Todd Drummond

When business gets tougher, hidden weaknesses stop being minor frustrations and start becoming profit leaks. Leaders cannot afford recurring quality issues, unclear job status, missed follow-up, or managers spending hours chasing information that should already be visible. Most companies do...

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May 2026
Issue #18322
Page 75
Joe Kannapell, PE

The Last Word: John Houlihan’s Contributions

Joe Kannapell, PE

A quiet and unassuming man, John Houlihan was ushered into our business by the charismatic Dave Chambers, and together they built the foundation for today’s labor management practices. It helped that Chambers’ plant, Imperial Components, was close to the site of the Hawthorne Study,...

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May 2026
Issue #18322
Page 180
Wendy Boyd

The Material Yield Opportunity

Wendy Boyd

Structural building component manufacturers across North America often track metrics like walls, floors, and trusses shipped each day, labor hours per unit, machine uptime, and on-time delivery. These numbers are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. There’s a quieter...

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April 2026
Issue #18321
Page 29
Edmond Lim, P.Eng.

Catch the Lumber, Then Smell the Roses

Edmond Lim, P.Eng.

I’ve been to Boston a few times, but like most business and installation trips, it usually goes the same way: fly into the airport, drive a few hours, get the work done, and head straight back home. There’s never any time to actually pause and “stop to smell the...

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April 2026
Issue #18321
Page 40
Todd Drummond

It’s Not a People Problem, It’s a Clarity Problem

Todd Drummond

Good people show up. They work hard. They care. Yet output still stalls, quality still slips, due dates still move, and managers still spend too much of their day answering questions, expediting work, and solving the same problems again and again. Because when work is unclear, effort gets...

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April 2026
Issue #18321
Page 50
Kathryn Pedde

Moving Lumber Keeps Getting Easier

Kathryn Pedde

When we launched JAX over 2½ years ago, we knew we were building something special even though JAX breaks no new ground in technology. JAX uses a proven industrial-grade material handling system combined with vacuum-operated lumber pickup heads, which can be configured in multiple ways to...

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April 2026
Issue #18321
Page 62
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