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Elon Musk’s five rules for improving a process end with automation. That order deserves attention from every executive considering new equipment or software. When labor is difficult to find, costs are rising, and customer commitments are harder to meet, technology can look like the obvious...

Ask a designer why a shop avoids a particular web configuration and you may get a very specific answer. The production crew finds it awkward to assemble. A certain cut creates problems. The preferred alternative uses material the shop always has on hand. You may also hear, “That’s...

A veteran designer recently laid out a hard truth about the component world that most general managers prefer to ignore. They pointed out that sales reps routinely make significantly more money in shorter periods of time, often with far less technical understanding of the product they just sold....

The Structural Building Components Association (SBCA) and National Framers Council (NFC) will bring component manufacturers, framers, suppliers, and other industry professionals together in Charlotte, North Carolina, December 8–10, 2026, for their final Open Quarterly Meeting (OQM) of the...

There is a quiet transformation happening in the management offices of North American truss plants. When owners and general managers audit their design rooms, they usually look through a single tactical lens: Today. On paper, the immediate challenge seems straightforward. You scan the queue, see...

I recently talked with Lenny Sylk and Dick Rotto, two of the most consequential figures in component manufacturing. They are men whose legacies are worth knowing, even a half century distant from their industry-founding work.  Both were consummate entrepreneurs, with the guts to start...

There is a persistent bottleneck in North American truss plants. As operations expand, the need for a dedicated Design Manager becomes critical. Owners and general managers naturally turn to their top-producing Senior Designer, offering them a promotion to lead the department. Yet, increasingly,...

Every project begins the same way: a set of plans, a stack of details, and thousands of decisions waiting to be made. Somewhere between the architect’s vision and the completed structure lies a process filled with interpretation, calculation, coordination, and estimation. For decades,...

There is a strange double standard in how component manufacturing plants allocate capital. Owners and general managers often view sales and production as the ultimate profit centers, treating the design department as a necessary evil: a cost center eating overhead without generating tangible...

By July, most manufacturing leaders already have a good idea how the year is going. They know where orders are strong. They know where labor is tight. They know which customers are creating pressure. They know which departments are struggling to keep up. But the more important question is not...