Todd Drummond

Retaining Profits Amid Margin Compression

Todd Drummond

What was widely expected has finally happened. Years of very profitable high sales led to vast increases in capacity to meet that demand, but now we have declining sales volume—the classic too much supply versus not enough demand to maintain margins. Some like to call this margin...

#16301 Cover image
August 2024
Issue #16301
Page 24
Todd Drummond

Reliable and Profitable Incentive Programs, Scheduling, and Pricing

Todd Drummond

Suppose you want an effective incentive program that improves productivity, saves your company labor cost, and rewards your most valued production crews with additional wages. Perhaps you also want to improve the accuracy of your production scheduling that allows for a proper understanding of...

#13265 Cover image
August 2021
Issue #13265
Page 32
Todd Drummond

Costly Errors from Lumber, Leadership, HR, and BF/Man-Hour

Todd Drummond

The new 2021 build season is upon us, and everyone seems to be excited about the 2021 opportunities that seem apparent with the robust build economy. Many companies had their most profitable year in 2020, yet others struggled, stating that commodity pricing and covid were their major negative...

#13261 Cover image
April 2021
Issue #13261
Page 29
Glenn Traylor

Where is Your Focus on Manufacturing?

Glenn Traylor

Quality, Productivity, and Speed are intertwined and impact each other. Most managers create this Venn diagram in their mind [for image, See PDF or View in Full Issue]. We often hear: “First we need to work on efficiency before we can focus on quality.” “We can’t...

#13261 Cover image
April 2021
Issue #13261
Page 39
Todd Drummond

Theory of Constraints with a Practical Truss Design Solution Example

Todd Drummond

Theory of Constraints (TOC) is not often clearly understood, and it can be confused with Just in Time (JIT). Below is a simplified explanation with some examples about TOC that many should be able to relate to their operations. TOC is an offshoot of lean manufacturing principles. Every...

#13260 Cover image
March 2021
Issue #13260
Page 47
Todd Drummond

Preparing for the 2021 Build Season

Todd Drummond

Despite all the turmoil of the skyrocketing lumber prices, pandemic, and elections, the building industry is doing very well. Hopefully, your company is doing very well, and now your attention is focusing on potential growth for 2021. Most companies are looking for modest tweaks to their current...

#12256 Cover image
November 2020
Issue #12256
Page 43
Paul Dean

Harnessing Technology for the LBM Industry

Paul Dean

I’ve been in the lumber and building materials industry for most of my career and have always had an interest in technology. It seems not too long ago when I was running seminars to display this “new thing” called the internet to dealers; at the time, nobody knew what was going...

#12253 Cover image
August 2020
Issue #12253
Page 104
Todd Drummond

Three Conditions for Smarter Margin Application to Make Healthier Profits

Todd Drummond

Establishing a proper margin to maximize profits for your roof truss component sales is not as easy as most people think. Most do not have a clear understanding of how small changes make a significant impact on the company’s profitability. Making the most profits possible, no matter what...

#12251 Cover image
June 2020
Issue #12251
Page 24
Matt Layman

Lumber Briefs: Always Be Buying Lumber

Matt Layman

In the day of a CM’s and framer’s life, lumber buying is considered the most enjoyable and easiest task to perform. Buying lumber is a huge ego booster. By your own admission, lumber is 40–50% of the cost of producing the finished product. I find it simply stunning how very...

#12247 Cover image
February 2020
Issue #12247
Page 104
Todd Drummond

Small Investments Can Garner Huge Gains for Productivity for Your Sales Team

Todd Drummond

Last month’s article, “Investment in Employee Training, Not Just Equipment,” produced a lot of good responses from many readers. Now it is time to offer real solutions to help your company improve productivity and reduce costly errors for your sales team and also all of the...

#11245 Cover image
December 2019
Issue #11245
Page 27
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