This month, we get a sneak peek at a greenfield truss plant that drank from the same punch bowl as some established truss plants to Feed the Beast! Previous articles have highlighted existing truss plants that have literally banked on Enventek’s proven in-line lean manufacturing system to power continued profitable growth.
We began our journey with United Truss in 2014 and, as my October 2022 articles attests, it has since become “The Most Automated, Most Toured Truss Plant” in North America.
February 2022’s “Threading the Needle with a High Rise Lumber PickLine” article describes how an existing truss plant has overcome its extreme building and yard constraints by investing in our complete system from picking lumber to assembling trusses on their existing tables.
September 2022’s article, “Incremental CapEx ROI and Plant Tours,” recaps R&K’s incremental CapEx investments starting in 2014, culminating in a triple Lumber PickLine, two autofeeding RetroC saws, 200 autofill carts, and PlantOne TVs over all truss jigs. [For all images, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
Here we have an early drone snapshot of United Edge Structural Components of Smiths Falls, ON (no relation to United Truss, Innisfil, ON). The truss and panel plant will be fed lumber from bunks of lumber on the 150 ft lumber PickLine, collated onto 44 ft of live deck autofeeding the Amazing RetroC with 56 autofill lumber carts. No lumber catchers required. It is a total plant two-person sawing operation.
A lumber PickLine preserves working capital by requiring just a part-time forklift/driver to replenish picking lumber from nearby dense lumber storage. A lumber PickLine is not lumber storage. A lumber PickLine is current truss production lumber. A one-person lumber picking system is an operating cost savings advantage. And, it’s especially advantageous in the winter. Prior to a snow storm, you just need to ensure that the PickLine is stocked with the lumber needed to continue cutting while it’s snowing. The lumber picker can readily uncover lumber, pick the lumber, and cover up the lumber bunk again. There’s no need to plow the entire yard.
Any worker can pick lumber. Using a WiFi tablet, just follow the picklist. The PickLine will keep count of the pieces as they pass through the sensor array, check the lumber width, and verify the length of each stick of lumber picked against the picklist.
Keeping culled lumber outside results in fewer re-cuts and guarantees consistent sawing efficiency and productivity. If a bad piece gets missed (see second piece from the right in the photo), by the time it gets to the sawyer (who has the final QC check), the sawyer can readily grab a replacement board while the RetroC continues to cut. Furthermore, the sawyer can have a quick teaching moment with the lumber picker at the same time.
The real magic happens with the autofill lumber carts placed behind the Amazing RetroC component saw. The sophisticated SpeedCatch batching software will organize the lumber in multiple carts for an entire batch of trusses for left and right of table. The collated piece organization will help your truss builders build trusses just by reducing the number of steps and saving the time hunting for pieces.
Our training wheels protocol teaches improvement steps like this. Here, the left-most cart is facing the table the wrong way, which will require piece “8W” to be helicoptered. Also, the plates should not have been placed on the table as shown. The plates should be dealt out in pairs at each joint per truss, having been pre-picked collated for left to right of bottom chord and right to left of top chord.
With our organization and optimization, no job is too complicated. Where a typical plant will struggle, our system will keep production running smoothly as we Feed the Beast!
No more “mini batches” are needed in our system. It produces real batches for real truss production just the way it should be. A truss build order like the one shown would bring most saws to a crawl. Here, we need only 16 autofill carts to hold and collate 278 pieces of lumber to build seven unique trusses for a total of 20 trusses. The RetroC with SpeedCatch will essentially batch-cut this truss order and the carts will end up in front of the tables to build the trusses organized as if the lumber was “cut-by-truss.”
What starts at the PickLine ends at the table with trusses produced smoothly and professionally. You’re certain to see improvements in your QC and your bottom line.
When you’re ready to see these efficient and effective systems for yourself, let us know! Inside and out, LimTek Process Organization Technology will help you squeeze out more truss production and deliver quality trusses with shorter lead times to better service your customers by organizing your truss fabrication processes to maximize your investment in automation. https://limteksolutions.com/#solutions