Jerry Koskovich, inventor of the first robotically controlled truss equipment, passed away March 17, 2026. Jerry was a singularly gifted entrepreneur who started from scratch in the truss industry as a TPI QC inspector in Minnesota in 1973. While doing his inspections on the shop floor in many different plants, he noticed that cutting and assembly equipment was sitting idle much of the time. He also noticed the increasing complexity of the product being built, which dramatically reduced the repetition and further increased the idle time of equipment. When plant managers encouraged him to automate the component saw, he took on the challenge, one for which he was well prepared.
Jerry also exercised his engineering skills by doing forensic work for his customers, especially when record snow falls caused truss collapses. This gave him a detailed understanding of how the various truss engineering programs interfaced with the shop, which would prove to be invaluable in his future endeavors in automating cutting. And, it cemented relationships he had with his customers.
In the late 1970s, Jerry began working on a redesigned component saw, which he believed was the greatest source of bottlenecks in the plant. He had the distinct advantage of having observed nearly the entire range of competitive offerings through many years to guide his approach. Over the following five years, he built and delivered two saws to component plants. Unfortunately, after careful evaluation, Jerry realized that his saws delivered only incremental improvements, not markedly different from what the large machinery companies had delivered over the last two decades. At the same time, he saw that the use of computers was fundamentally transforming industries, and he began thinking “outside of the box.”
Jerry then did what great engineers do, by following the foundational steps in structured problem solving: understanding the given and doing a thorough analysis to find the optimal solution. He already had learned through keen observation, and by building saws himself, the limitations of conventional mechanisms in angulating blades and adjusting their centerlines. He had also recognized that automating setup would nearly eliminate the quality issues he had seen during his inspections that resulted from both operator errors and lack of regular recalibration. Then, he exercised his masterful ability to engage sophisticated electronics suppliers and a high-tech contract manufacturer to partner with him in developing his saw. Together, they took on the risk that replacing complicated mechanisms with robotically controlled cutting heads would prove to be successful.
Before he went to market, Jerry leveraged the strong relationship he had developed with a local truss plant to secure a beta site to work out the bugs. When he knew his Auto-Omni saw was ready, he had the confidence to place one in Lenny Sylk’s Shelter Systems plant, one of the most demanding operations in the country. Even then, Jerry completely changed the industry’s standard one-week on-site installation practice. Instead, he had the saw operator and a maintenance person come to his operation to learn how to care for the saw, after which they disassembled the major components and loaded them for delivery.
As I wrote in “Sixty Years of Machines, Part XVII: Automation Takes Hold,” much more impressive than only the saw were the brains of the operation – Jerry’s and the Auto-Omni’s. Imagine that a sole entrepreneur put together his own PLC – Programmable Logic Controller – before General Electric’s was even marketed. Jerry Koskovich made this happen without the backing of any large entity. He assembled a remarkable group of suppliers that designed the control electronics and created custom circuit cards to drive the saw. I doubt that Lenny Sylk or the other Auto-Omni takers appreciated the technological genius inside this first automated saw – if they knew the level of complexity, they may have doubted Jerry’s ability to provide support. Perhaps that’s why I never found mention of PLCs in old Auto-Omni ads.
As Jerry ramped up sales, he used his persuasive genius to bring highly professional people into all aspects of his fledgling organization. This enabled him to invent the first auto-fed linear saw and a drop-in auto-puck system, which have lived on in MiTek products after Jerry sold his business to them in 2005.
Jerry Koskovich set a high bar for other equipment suppliers, which greatly stimulated their innovation, and the benefits continue to accrue for all component manufacturers. The Shelter Systems Limited plant in Maryland has successfully operated Omni saws for 28 years, with minimal downtown, as have many others. As a further testimony to his effectiveness, Jerry determined how to selectively harness the advantages of robotics 40 years ago, which today’s much larger and more sophisticated suppliers still struggle to address. Few other individuals have had a more positive impact on so many people and on the entire industry than Jerry Koskovich. He will be sorely missed but always remembered.