Today’s technology has made life easier for the truss designer and others in the truss fabrication process. In the early days of the truss industry, we used, reused, and modified existing designs to create new designs using paper, pencil, and a handy Smoley’s Book. Soon we graduated to line input, sending our design requirements to a mainframe computer that would create our cutting. We would get our drawings back by fax machine or UPS. This led the way to PCs giving us the tools to design from the office. Our HP pen plotters hummed with action, creating our drawings right before our eyes. With additional RAM and speed, we created our own truss drawings using DOS, Windows, and then integrated software. The power of computers led us to sending files to automated saws that set up angles and lengths in the order we wanted the lumber cut. It was a major advancement of technology. We started out designing one truss at a time and now with the proper software we could design one house at a time. The innovations of sending cutting to an automated saw reduced errors and sped up production. Compared to the early days of the truss industry, we had traveled light-years.
Fortunately or unfortunately, we’ve also created a mountain of paperwork. Attempts have been made to reduce this, despite the reluctance of many component manufacturers to abandon having a piece of paper in hand for certain tasks. Our powerful computers and database management allows us to address the paperwork challenge as we leverage our electronic capabilities. But, with this new technology and a dedication to eliminating paper, could we be losing verification intervals that used to be built into the process? Why hasn’t technology with proper documentation been applied to other areas of the industry? What is holding us back?
If we were to have a discussion with industry leaders, some would press the importance of documentation. Others would say paperless is the goal without concern for documentation. Is there a way to document without generating paper?
On a recent audit of a truss plant’s in-house Quality Assurance program, I witnessed a situation that should not have happened and probably would not have in the “old days” when multiple checks would have prevented it from occurring. The truss builder was building a truss with No.3 lumber in a web that required No.2 southern pine. Upon inspection, we saw the bottom chord also had No.3 stamped on it. Looking around, I realized that the builder had nothing around him, no paperwork and no screens that showed him lumber grade requirements. He had a laser helping him position the members of the truss but little else. Now I know what you are thinking. All builders should know that we don’t use No.3 lumber in chords…. What about the web? Would he have known? What about the lumber catcher? Did he have the proper information? How about the sawyer? Well unfortunately, at this plant they are so automated that the only one checking grade is the lumber picker. And he’s a robot. We won’t even talk about “crowning” boards. In this situation, thank goodness for a Quality Assurance Program.
Paperless implementation must provide the right information at each step of the manufacturing process and especially at the table. It’s the checks and rechecks by different eyes that catch problems.
This is also a great argument for having a 3rd party visit your plant on a regular basis. Industry-focused audit teams can provide industry insight and updated practices. Regular reviews will provide regulatory compliance while benefiting from best practices shared by the auditor. (For a list of specific benefits, see my previous article, “Quality Assurance, Safety, and the Benefits of a Non-Biased Audit.”)
With all the technology available today, it’s imperative you don’t forget that documentation is still necessary and important for the manufacturing process to improve. The process of documentation provides a mechanism to measure and seek out areas for improvement. Otherwise, you will be repeating the same errors over and over.
It’s great to embrace technology, but remember to carry the importation information along the way. Now there is a new technology available to do the In-House inspection task with less paper. The photograph [see PDF or View in Full Issue] shows the documentation of a critical plate placement inspection. The image is created from the jobs database and provides the inspector all the information he needs to inspect this plate. This important information is being created so it can be cataloged and shared with production, thus improving the process. This is available using the Digital QC software that is free to all SBCA members regardless of the 3rd Party auditor they use.
This doesn’t remove the need for your 3rd party inspection, but rather it helps everyone involved.
Because it’s available to all members, you can still have your onsite audits using your Digital QC for your in-house inspections without losing the value and benefits of quarterly inspections by your 3rd party inspector. They will continue to provide and maintain the confidence that comes with their recommendations for improvement, built on a foundation of sharing their industry expertise.
Embrace technology, but don’t forget that documentation is still necessary and important for the manufacturing process to improve. Failing to identify problems before they get to the jobsite increases risk, increases costs, and can result in losing business.
An ANSI/TPI 1 3rd Party Quality Assurance Authorized Agent covering the Southeastern United States, Glenn Traylor is an independent consultant with almost four decades of experience in the structural building components industry. Glenn serves as a trainer-evaluator-auditor covering sales, design, PM, QA, customer service, and production elements of the truss industry. He also provides project management specifically pertaining to structural building components, including on-site inspections and ANSI/TPI 1 compliance assessments. Glenn provides new plant and retrofit designs, equipment evaluations, ROI, capacity analysis, and CPM analysis.