Credit has been tightening in our industry over the past year, making it challenging to obtain financing for new or used equipment. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in March of 2023, followed by the failure of First Republic Bank in May, caused a seismic shift in our...

We take pride in actively working with industry and our customers to ensure the machinery and equipment we manufacture is fit for purpose, effective, and continuously improving. One such example of this is in wall sheathing. While machinery for sheathing wall panels has been around for a number...

Do you think your plant is too small to be able to capture additional efficiencies? Or, maybe you’re satisfied with the growth your plant has experienced and you think you’ve attained an effective production system. Whether your plant is small, large, or somewhere in between, you can...

If you are considering financing equipment at this juncture, you may be concerned about where interest rates are headed. You may be wondering if perhaps it might be better to wait until rates drop before you take that step to finance. Darrell R. Spence, an economist with 31 years of...

The demand for wall panel equipment after World War II was unprecedented, even to this day. Industrialization was in the air, and factory-built wall panels became the gateway, even before roof trusses. Most of the action was in the affordable housing sector, driven by the mobile home, modular,...

As all prefabricated wall panel manufacturers know, you are always trying to predict the amount of wall panels required for your business daily. You need to know what their true cost is and when they will be delivered to your customer, and all of this needs to happen efficiently and on time....

How does a component manufacturer determine what fabrication tolerances should be used during truss design? To answer that question, we first need to clarify what is meant by “fabrication tolerance.” Per ANSI/TPI 1–2014, the guidance is 3.3.2 Fabrication Tolerance. All...

“Are you crazy? We are not going to move our saw! We cannot afford to shut down for weeks to turn things upside down.” Those are words I’ve heard more than once, but it turns out I am not crazy. Saws can be moved and the process improvement can be accomplished in days and not...

As you look to finance new or used equipment for your business, look beyond just the interest rate to find opportunity. Traditional banks may have their “Loan Sales,” but brokers can provide promotions offered by their numerous funding sources that far outshine what a bank can...

Over the last few weeks and into the next few months, we’re busy outfitting a new Truss, Frame, and Floor Manufacturing site with Spida machinery. All of our installations with customers are something special, and they are all unique with their own set of requirements to make the install...