The true story of how Alpine revolutionized saws
In early 2000, sales of truss equipment began to taper off. By the end of the year, the Equipment Division had reduced its employment by more than half and had shrunk its occupied floor space by 40%. The most dramatic reduction took place in Equipment Engineering where 75% of the staff was laid off, and development of new machines was totally suspended. The situation was depressing, especially in light of the fact that connector plate business through that period held to levels near previous years. We were never able to fully understand the dynamics of all that. We simply tried to play the hand we were dealt.
Throughout 2001, we continued in the lull. But by this time, we had resized the division so that we could get by with the meager volume of business that was available.
Near the end of 2001, Randy Yost started talking about a new saw that was beginning to appear in the Florida market. It utilized a feeding concept that was unheard of in the automated component cutting business. The lumber went through the machine lengthwise. We had been discussing the concept of linear feed through an entire truss operation for two or three years, but never had the resources to pursue it commercially. It was intriguing because it offered many ways to improve the process of building trusses, but there was concern that the industry would not accept it. It soon became obvious that our concern was ill founded. The new saw in Florida began to sell exceedingly well.
Throughout the lean times, Dan Rupe and I had many discussions about how we could distance ourselves from our competition. For the most part, advancement of products in our industry had been a tit for tat affair. One of us would introduce an improvement and make a really big deal out of it. Then the other would try to “one up” them with additional improvements. It was a game of inches. One day, they would gain an inch. Another day, we would. Dan opined that we needed something that would “take them out of the game.” It occurred to me that an expansion of the concept of the Florida saw might be the way to do that.
In late February, I sent Dan an email outlining two things we could do to put some distance between us and our chief competitor. One was a “one up” over them with our flagship product, the AutoMill RS. At the expenditure of a lot of time and money, we could convert the saw to the premier motion control technology, servo control. But the other was a “do everything” saw with the possibility for adding many features in the future that would dramatically enhance not only cutting but material handling and truss assembly. It all was based on the simple concept of linear feeding of lumber through the cutting operation. The linear feed provided constant flow through the saw, was ideal for the overwhelming trend in the industry toward the “onesy twosy” truss volumes, made it possible to mark the members with much more information that would aid in truss assembly and truss installation, offered the possibility of producing output volumes that would rival the AutoMill, and would cost less. Talk about taking the competition out of the game! This puppy began to look like the key to our future.
In April, I wrote a development proposal for the saw entitled The Alpine Linear Saw – The Future of Truss Component Cutting. It detailed the progressive development of the product from a version much like the Florida saw to an all encompassing “do everything” machine. Time lines, budgets, and payback analyses were included along with product configurations, options, estimated pricing, and even a projected sales volume – pretty gutsy for an engineer to project sales volumes. In late May, the proposal was presented to several members of Alpine’s Executive Team and Division Sales Managers. President Cronje told us to get started on the preliminary work and said that he would present it to the Board at their meeting in June. “And”, he said, “it would be really good if you could have it ready for BCMC.” Gulp!
While we were waiting for the Board to meet, Rupe started to get cold feet. He wasn’t really sure this “new fangled” saw would make a big splash in the market. He didn’t want to have all his eggs in one basket. He wanted us to try to inch ahead of MiTek with an overhaul of the AutoMill RS so that we could compete with the new diagnostic features of the Cyber AT “just in case.” Oh Boy! Another project! And he wanted it by BCMC. Good Grief! And we were going to have to do it with the money we had requested for the linear saw development because he was sure the Board would not approve two projects. Geez, Boss!!! Gimme a break!!!
On June 24, I received an email from Karl Bickel with the official authorization to go forward with the project and try to have it by BCMC. The countdown officially began that day. And 105 days later at 3:00 AM on October 11 (a full 4 hours before we had to release them for shipping), we had BOTH machines ready for the show. A final accounting had not been done, but preliminary information indicated that we were on budget too. Absolutely unbelievable! Here’s how it was done.
Several things had to be put in place if we were even going to have a chance at success. First, we had to draw heavily on expertise and resources outside our own organization. The downsizing of the previous year had left us with an extremely lean, but very mean, staff. However, we didn’t have all the skills necessary for these projects and we didn’t have enough man hours available of the skills we did possess. So, we partnered up with two of our vendors who had been talking with us for some time about each of these projects. Both of them offered access to as many of their resources as we might need in order to meet the goal of having the machines at the show. Both of them had some passion for the projects for which they were chosen. And both of them clearly understood the goals and were committed to “do whatever it takes” to meet them. And believe me, they did just that. In the last 6 to 8 weeks, you could not tell which of the people working on the projects were on Alpine’s payroll and which were on our vendors’. They were side by side with us with dirt on their hands and sawdust on their keyboards.
Second, we had to create teams to work on each project. The team leaders were Tim McAdoo (ALS) and Kenneth George (AutoMill SC) from engineering, and Jeff Gee (both machines) from our computer department. In addition, we had a volunteer from the IT department. Brian Westfall worked tirelessly on the computer end of the SC. The remainder of each team was composed of people from our vendor partners on a full time basis and people from various departments in the Equipment Division on an as needed basis.
Third, we had to “clear the decks” for our own staff so they could devote full time to the projects. The lean times had caused us all to start to wear several hats. All but two of those hats had to be either put on the shelf or worn by someone else. We made it clear to everyone in the Equipment Division that our future depended on the successful completion of these projects, and that they would need to be prepared to respond to project emergencies and fill in some gaps (especially in customer service) that we had been attempting to help with. In a word, we had to make it possible for the project teams to FOCUS on the projects to the absolute exclusion of everything else. That’s really hard to do, but, for the most part, we managed to do it. It required the help of nearly everyone in the division at one time or another. Often, that help required that they work overtime to get their regular job done, or that they learn how to deal with problems they had never worked with before. We sent messages out to everyone and had meetings to emphasize the importance of everyone pulling together to make this happen. The result was amazing. We had our “moments,” but for the most part everyone worked really hard to supply the needs for the projects and to handle the diversions that normally befall us in Engineering and Programming. As an example of how well it worked, our Customer Service staff would walk right by our programmers who were hard at work on the projects and seek my permission to ask a software question so they could help a customer. And in the few times I had to say “no,” they found some other way to solve the problem.
The focus agenda extended to other things as well. We moved the software developers out of their offices to a remote section of the plant. We put “I’m not available” messages on their voice mail. Vacations for everyone were put on hold. Saturdays became part of the work week, then evenings, then Sundays. We created what we called November Lists that included projects which needed doing, but could wait – albeit with some pain – until later. We hired a temporary engineer to help with those things that couldn’t wait until November, and to supplement the work of the team leaders where necessary. We placed both machines in an air conditioned area of the plant, so that creature comfort of the teams was never an issue. As a result of the pleasant conditions, help – even volunteers – was always readily available.
Because of the preliminary work that had been going on since Chris gave us the provisional OK, we were able to place orders for all the purchased parts for both projects by July 2. By then, the race was on. Our engineers worked long hours getting designs completed for parts that had to be manufactured. The Pro-Engineer design tool we had been using for several years really paid off during this time. We never had to worry about whether parts were going to fit or if there was room for everything. ProE made it possible to fast track this part of the project without those concerns. All we had to do was use our expertise to make sure everything was going to function properly.
About the middle of July, it became painfully obvious that we were going to need fabrication help in building the ALS especially. Our Production Department was so busy by this time that they could not spare anyone to help more than a few hours here and there. Tim made the comment to me one morning that he wished we had Juan back. Juan Garcia had worked as a fabricator in our R&D department before the crunch. He, unfortunately, was a casualty in all the layoffs that took place. That same afternoon, Juan called Tim and asked if we had any work he might be able to do. Right then, I knew we were going to make it. The stars were lining up in our favor. Everything was falling in place. Nothing could stop us now.
There were going to be times when I had cause to rethink this apparently happy destiny, however. As soon as we mounted all the motors and gear boxes on the AutoMill SC, for example, we found that they would not hold their position when the power was turned off. Gravity would cause many of them to “relax” and gently fall against something else. This was not acceptable. We had to change motors and gear boxes at many locations on the machine. These changes required removal, redesign, re-fabrication, and reinstallation of the mountings for these devices. Three weeks down the tubes. Then there was the time that a very expensive, very long lead time part on the ALS was improperly connected to its power source. It issued a large puff of smoke and quit working altogether. The lead time on the part was such that we would not have been able to get another one before the show. Amazingly, our vendors were able to repair it. Even though the two vendor partners we had are normally competitors, they worked together on this little fiasco and fixed it in two days. Not to be outdone in the disaster department, Tim came down with a severe case of kidney stones and was in and out of the hospital for a week. Adding additional anxiety was the catastrophic failure of the power supplies for the servo racks on the SC. Parts AND people had to be flown in from Israel to fix that one.
There was all of that and more in the potential disaster department. But through it all, everyone, and I mean every single individual, maintained a very strong we-are-going-to-make-this-happen attitude. In the face of the very worst circumstances, there was only concern about how we would recover and get back on track. No one ever even considered the possibility that we might not make it. Focus, dedication, and unbelievable energy were our constant mantra.
About a month before the deadline, I began writing the “T minus” messages for each project. Each day, I would recap the day’s events and set interim goals for the next few days. These messages went out to all the team members on each project. They were called “T minus” messages because the subject line of each was T – 33, T – 32, etc. where the number was the days we had left before we had to ship to the show. These messages were very frank. If we had missed a deadline or made a mistake, it was admonished. If we had a success, it was applauded. Sometimes there were words of encouragement, other times there were questions about how to solve some problem. Always, there was communication.
Three or four weeks before the deadline, I moved out to the area where we were working on the machines. By this time, all the team members were all over the machines all the time. Many decisions had to be made on the spot. There wasn’t enough time for someone to hunt me or anyone else down so they could ask a simple question. We needed everyone in the same place so we wasted no time in the communication and decision making process.
Ground zero for all this activity was a long way from the office. It was also a long way from the coffee pot, and the snack and soft drink machines. To further economize on wasted time, and to keep people’s minds off their tummies while I worked their butts off, refreshments and snacks were supplied in bountiful quantity. On top of all that, the vendor on the SC project started buying lunch for everyone on that project so we could have a brief time during the day to discuss progress and set interim goals. All of these things added to an extremely strong espirit de corps among all the team members.
All the ingredients for a successful effort were present. The goal was very clearly defined. The decks were cleared so that all team members could focus exclusively on meeting the goal. The teams were ensconced in a special and comfortable area because they were engaged in a special and important endeavor. Creature comforts were provided because this was nowhere near business as usual. A natural espirit de corps evolved from all this that created an unstoppable momentum toward reaching the goal. None of these things were forced, contrived, or shallow. They were all genuine. There were no cheering sessions at the beginning of the day. No speeches about maintaining a positive mental attitude. No assignments to read uplifting articles. This was real, in your face, hard work toward a very clear target. Everyone signed on for the ride and everyone knew the consequences – at the end we, as a group, would either be a hero or a zero. And we all knew that zero was not an option. At 3:00 AM on October 11, we all signed some pieces of wood that had been cut by the ALS and that no other component cutter on the face of Mother Earth could cut, and left them on Rupe’s desk with the following note: WE ARE READY. No team member ever seriously doubted that we would do that.