Part XIV: Whole House Launched Pacing nervously outside the truss office, our best software “brain” was physically sick. Another failed demo could end his career. He worried because, after 6 frustrating years, our $50 Million OptiFrame program may not be ready for primetime. And...

At a recent TPI 3rd Party Audit, the In-Plant Inspector (IPI) and I were inspecting trusses coming off the line as is normal in an audit. A stacked truss caught my eye, mainly because the top plate did not line up with the plate on the opposite side of the truss. Upon careful examination, indeed...

The wood products industry has taken great leaps in generating greater awareness regarding the advantages of wood products in construction; however, people often overlook wood’s good performance in building energy efficiency. With pressure mounting to combat carbon emissions and reduce the...

Bucket lists are mentioned regularly today, which got me to thinking – what about a bucket list for structural engineers? ASCE and others have put together lists of engineering wonders of the modern world, so those seem like a good start for sights to see. But for a practitioner, I’d...

Why aren’t your trussers designing walls and EWP too, as we said they would twenty-five years ago? To pave their way, we would deliver more intelligent (“IntelliBuilt”) and optimized (“OptiFramed”) software, and builders would provide flawless “BIM”...

Part XIII: The Unfinished Whole House By purchasing Alpine, ITW/Truswal strengthened their chances of outflanking MiTek/TrusJoist in building the whole house. At the time of this acquisition in early 2006, we at MiTek had poured many millions into our efforts and had little to show for it....

The work the American Wood Council (AWC) carries out makes it easier for code officials, engineers, designers, and builders to ensure that wood products are used in accordance with the most up-to-date consensus-based building codes. Two AWC publications that support the code and design community...

In 2009, Simpson Strong-Tie participated in an unprecedented research event to highlight the importance of earthquake-resistant wood construction. The event, the world’s largest earthquake test, was a collaborative Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation project. It teamed...

Part XII: Walls Get in the Way Just because two CEOs agree to build a computer model of a house in 3 years doesn’t mean it’s feasible. And barely a year into the agreement between TrusJoist and MiTek to merge software, we realized that we couldn’t do it. Meanwhile our...

On a recent Quality Assurance Audit at a large facility, we witnessed a floor truss builder carefully spacing out his floor truss webs in the allotted space available with precision and care. He was very meticulous. I asked him why he was doing that and he explained that his in-house inspector...