Recently after receiving a phone call from a client, I reflected on our conversation. I was a little caught off guard with the direction the conversation took and felt like I needed to make a few issues clear. And, it has led me to reflect on boundaries and guidelines – why they exist and how they can shift over time.
The call started out as a basic call: “I need some assistance on a project.” My response was OK, what is it that we need to address? The caller explained that, during in-house inspections, it was determined that some lumber was substituted incorrectly, resulting in non-conforming lumber grades in some trusses. I asked: “How many trusses are we talking about?” The response: “Why does that matter?” I responded: “Well, depending on the quality of trusses, it would impact the potential solution.” My client responded: “Well, I have no idea how many trusses… I’m not sure how many jobs are involved. All I know is that my guys have been substituting #2 Southern Yellow Pine for drawings that called for #1.”
My first priority was to get a handle on the scope of the problem. Is it a problem with trusses in the yard? Trusses just built? Were the trusses delivered? Installed? Each of these scenarios could require a different solution.
The photograph of the errant white line on the pavement is a good metaphor for this situation [for image, See PDF or View in Full Issue]. The manufacturing plant has correct protocols in place, but over time they were not followed successfully. Initially this road accurately followed the gradual curve of the highway. Eventually though, because of a soft area under the roadbed, the road pushed out toward the shoulder, creating a bulge in the white line. Although the line has remained intact, it is no longer a good indicator to a driver as to where to aim his vehicle. Within the context of the road, the line provides a guide to the driver to keep his vehicle out of the ditch, but anyone looking at the line will know it no longer defines that driving lane.
In this plant, there are four production individuals who had the opportunity to verify and catch an improper substitution of lumber.
- The lumber picker
- The sawyer
- The catcher
- The truss builder
Then, if all that failed, the in-house inspector should have caught the problem on their weekly inspections. Statistically speaking, three inspections are supposed to be adequate to catch this sort of error. But is that enough? My answer might surprise you.
- Even though five individuals failed to catch this situation promptly, that does not mean the frequency of inspections should be increased unilaterally. Consider this:
- Manufacturing that is solely dependent on an inspection to catch problems would require a 100% inspection.
The ANSI/TPI 1 Chapter 3 procedure does not require 100% inspection. It does not need to require this type of inspection.
The reason is because the Quality Assurance Program is more than just inspections. It’s a review of procedures and processes that take place in the truss plant. It’s a review of the lumber selection process, the process of the catcher and sawyer. It involves walking through the entire plant identifying problems and areas that can create problems. This is specifically why in-house inspectors must do their job. It’s to check the process, not a specific truss inspection. The same is true with the third-party inspector. Without boots on the ground, scanning the shop floor, viewing lumber inventory, walking the aisles, the QA process is critically flawed. There has got to be a perspective view from different angles to get an accurate grasp of the situation.
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.