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
Millennials Creating a Modular Housing Evolution Gary Fleisher Contrary to what we Boomers think, Millennials are no longer children. Born between 1981 and 1996, they are in their twenties, or even late thirties, and already entering the single family home market. Millennials will outnumber Baby Boomers in 2020 and they’re a market segment... Read More March 2020 Issue #12248 Page 105
Get Plugged Into Your Structural Steel Designs with the Yield-Link® Plugin Tools Brandon Chi With the introduction of the Simpson Strong-Tie Yield-Link® moment connection for steel construction, the engineering and software development teams at Simpson Strong-Tie created multiple design tools to support users in their specification of the Yield-Link technology. These tools range... Read More March 2020 Issue #12248 Page 126
The Last Word: The Last Word from 2020 IBS on Floor Cassettes Joe Kannapell A few CMs have already heard the “buzz” about floor cassettes from the annual International Builders Show (IBS). A good portion of January’s Show dealt with offsite construction, and prebuilt floor sections are of major interest. At one of the Show’s seminars, we... Read More March 2020 Issue #12248 Page 143
Better Tools for Wall Panel Design Tracy Roe At Eagle Metal, our business has been built on relationships. We pride ourselves in listening and responding to the needs of our customers. Having served the component industry for more than 30 years with high quality connector plates, structural design software, engineering services, and... Read More February 2020 Issue #12247 Page 62
Maximizing Wall Panel Design Productivity and Accuracy John Croll As a wall panel designer, there are two critical performance metrics to hit: efficiency and accuracy. In a competitive component manufacturing landscape, maximizing designer productivity on both quotes and orders is paramount to running a successful business. Quickly generating an... Read More February 2020 Issue #12247 Page 68
Industry 4.0 – What’s the Hype? Ed Serrano Not so long ago, the concept of “lean manufacturing” was embraced and implemented worldwide for manufacturing. But these days, lean manufacturing is old news. Today, you need to be on the “Industry 4.0” bandwagon if you want to survive into the next decade. Governments,... Read More January 2020 Issue #12246 Page 47
Small Investments Can Garner Huge Gains for Productivity for Your Sales Team Todd Drummond Last month’s article, “Investment in Employee Training, Not Just Equipment,” produced a lot of good responses from many readers. Now it is time to offer real solutions to help your company improve productivity and reduce costly errors for your sales team and also all of the... Read More December 2019 Issue #11245 Page 27
How to Ensure Your Choice of Linear Saw is a ‘Cut’ Above the Rest Ed Serrano Investment: [ɪnˈvɛs(t)m(ə)nt] NOUN: a thing that is worth buying because it may be profitable or useful in the future. Automating your truss and frame plant is an investment in your business and your future. Today, the American market has the benefit of having a number of linear saw... Read More December 2019 Issue #11245 Page 45
Epilogue to 50 Years of Truss Design Innovation: Designing Great Software Joe Kannapell Reviewing our 50-year journey tells us much about software. Now let’s recap how good software becomes great: 1. Continuity of development: Note our three distinct programs, each one totally rewritten to tackle larger objectives. Yet each was based on 15+ years of experience with the... Read More November 2019 Issue #11244 Page 8