Wall-Bracing Alternatives to Help Designers and Builders Navigate the Lumber Shortage Simpson Strong-Tie Staff As lumberyards continue to recover from pandemic-related supply issues, there’s been an ever-increasing shortage of building materials, creating many challenges for building contractors. These shortages have impacted availability of wood structural panel sheathing and, as a result, our... Read More July 2021 Issue #13264 Page 126
The Last Word: The Last Word on Commercial Trusses Joe Kannapell With surging housing demand, 1981 was much like 2021. Yet, in the midst of overflowing residential orders, a gutsy CM decided to take a chance on a different line of business. His painful memories of housing’s boom-bust cycles, and his Harvard education, told him to diversify. Ricks... Read More July 2021 Issue #13264 Page 145
Advertiser Forum: What Does “Expert” Mean? Anna Stamm I freely admit that I have watched more than my share of house-hunting shows. My favorites fall into two categories – seeing homes (and prices) in US cities where I would consider moving next and seeing homes in international locations where I know I’ll never go (e.g., Southeast... Read More June 2021 Issue #13263 Page 6
Sixty Years of Machines, Part XIX: Automation Battles Joe Kannapell An automation battle was brewing in the late 1980s, but the first skirmish wasn’t over machinery. It was over software. Software that would minimize more than just the manual labor, but also the “thinking” done by machine operators. The time finally arrived when, after decades... Read More June 2021 Issue #13263 Page 10
Machinery Choices are a Big Decision Wendy Boyd Spida Machinery is a Global business, drawing on all our production centers for the best of ideas, production diversity, research, development, and supply. While Frame, Truss, Wall builders, and Component Suppliers in different countries are navigating their own patch of turf for future... Read More June 2021 Issue #13263 Page 17
True Leadership Todd Drummond There are so many challenges leaders face within our industry today that are ever-changing and, quite frankly, unprecedented. Whether your position of leadership is overall, departmental, or team level, the challenges are never-ending. Too often in our industry, people are in a position of... Read More June 2021 Issue #13263 Page 29
Can Designs Be Modified During Truss Manufacture? Glenn Traylor The simple answer to the title question, can designs be changed during manufacturing, is yes. But, the situation is rarely straightforward and simple in reality. The better question is: What considerations are necessary when making modifications to the design while manufacturing a truss? To... Read More June 2021 Issue #13263 Page 41
Management Software YOUR Way Tracy Roe In this series of articles focused on job management, the main theme has been adaptability. Component fabricators shouldn’t be required to adapt their operation to a piece of software. Instead, the value is in a software solution that adapts to their needs. No two component manufacturing... Read More June 2021 Issue #13263 Page 52
Automating Production with a Direct Delivery System Ed Serrano If you Google images of “automated production lines,” the results are filled with pictures of robot arms and conveyor lines. What you won’t see – people. Why? Because in automated production lines, humans tend to touch the work in progress as little as possible. Why?... Read More June 2021 Issue #13263 Page 58
Industry Software: What you need to know Chris Scott Software used to be an afterthought, using whatever software your truss plate provider had. In the past, most companies thought software was given to them for free with their machine purchase, when in actuality it was rolled into their pricing. Whether you used Comsoft’s Wall Builder... Read More June 2021 Issue #13263 Page 65