How Important are Construction Tolerances? Glenn Traylor Back in the days before Autoset C®, Matchpoint®, and Wizard®, truss set-ups and the truss profile were dependent on the truss builder’s ability to accurately jig the truss being built using cross reference information and data. For example, a heel to peak measurement was taken... Read More March 2020 Issue #12248 Page 41
Preparing Fast and Accurate Bids with STITCHER Alpine Team Alpine’s STITCHER software makes a big difference for A-1 Roof Trusses providing rapid turn-around of bids—and much more The Product / The Speed STITCHER is a unique software tool developed by Alpine to free component estimators and designers from repetitive tasks and to speed... Read More March 2020 Issue #12248 Page 66
A Case for Innovation in the Building Industry Craig Savage For years, I’ve been interested in why the residential building industry has been so slow to innovate. Other industries constantly innovate. The U.S. automobile industry, arguably pushed along by Japan and European car makers, continues to advance its products and production methods.... Read More March 2020 Issue #12248 Page 72
The Hiring Zone: Future Roles for Senior Truss Designers Today, senior designers working in the office are involved not only with designing day to day projects, but also with providing training, solving problems for lower level designers, and working with customers. Their experience and knowledge are invaluable in many respects. But, consider this:... Read More March 2020 Issue #12248 Page 100
Are You Creating a Culture of Quality? Glenn Traylor On a recent trip to Japan to observe construction manufacturing methods, I was struck by the amount of time a plant manager spends on the production floor. Comparing this Japanese methodology to our truss industry, our plant managers and upper management spend relatively little time engaged in... Read More February 2020 Issue #12247 Page 40
What If You Ran Your Factory Like a Chick-fil-A? Gary Fleisher I love stopping at Chick-fil-A, not only for the food but also to see how organized and disciplined every store is. The food isn’t bad either. It occurred to me that there must be a secret to their success that modular home factory management could use to ramp up their sales... Read More February 2020 Issue #12247 Page 96
The Last Word: Vertical Presses — The World Record Joe Kannapell Forty years ago, a frenetic fray raged over the World Record for truss production. While CMs across the country competed, the two main players, Littfin in Minnesota and Dickie Vail in Louisiana, produced numbers that may never be equaled. The massive trophy, displayed today in the lobby of... Read More February 2020 Issue #12247 Page 133
How Do Your Trusses Stack Up? Glenn Traylor Do you vertically stack your trusses or horizontally stack them? How does the method impact quality? How does it impact safety? Do you know the arguments for either preference? Almost as if it was a regional inclination, some areas of the US vertically stack their finished trusses and some areas... Read More January 2020 Issue #12246 Page 40
All Things Wood: Unpredictable Nature and Cause of Cracks at Gypsum Panel Ceiling Joints Perpendicular to Framing Frank Woeste Introduction In some arid parts of the Southwest, the occurrence and recurrence of cracks at taped gypsum panel (drywall) joints between panels in residential projects have been reported in trade magazines since the mid-1990s. In some homes of a project, one or two cracks or ridges appear at... Read More January 2020 Issue #12246 Page 60
Inspecting Trusses—You Never Know What You Might See Glenn Traylor Recently, I was asked to divert from my normal 3rd party agenda to make a special truss inspection. Although this seemed a little unusual, on occasion I am asked to do this sort of thing, so I didn’t pay it any mind. Normally, it’s a peculiar joint condition or a difficult plate... Read More December 2019 Issue #11245 Page 38