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In a prior life, many moons ago, I experienced different programs when it came to employee reviews and evaluations. Some were formalized, and others happened only when you had enough guts to ask your boss for a raise. Two companies that I worked for had programs which stood out in my mind as...

Does everyone do year-end performance reviews to discuss how you did on your project objectives and professional development goals? I love meeting with my team to recap all their amazing accomplishments for the past year, discussing long-term career plans and figuring out the steps we will take...

Disrupters have destroyed retail chains (Jeff Bezos at Amazon.com), threatened the car industry (Elon Musk at Tesla), and are now targeting the component industry (Bill Gates et. al.)? Mr. Gates and leading venture capitalists have placed separate bets totaling nearly a Billion dollars that they...

As we bid farewell to last year and welcome the new year, I always like to reflect on accomplishments (and try to learn from mistakes) before heading back into the daily grind. Events of 2017 While a lot of us led fairly routine lives last year, I know a few people who did exciting things...

With the New Year comes new International codes, IBC and IRC 2018 (referred to as the I-Codes), and fortunately, few changes to truss designs. These changes are the result of the revised design criteria contained in ASCE 7–16, which IBC 2018 relies upon. Very few jurisdictions will...

As discussed last month, this year will we be providing a series of product comparisons in each issue. The guidelines we have used in assembling this series are: Each product will be limited to only the information available to customers via the internet A comparison of standard...

Understanding construction loading is important as it relates to the acceptable practices in terms of staging and storing construction materials prior to installation. What does “construction loading” mean? This term describes materials and people that are present during the course...

Let us assume that you are having problems with a truck’s transmission and it must be repaired or replaced. The local mechanic explains the hourly rate for service and that the cost of any parts needed to fix the transmission is extra. The hourly charge he is billing is to cover his...

When you look at this photo, what do you see? The photo is an actual picture taken during a plant audit, but just imagine this was taken at your truss plant. In the photo, the second side of the floor truss is set up in the floor machine with the connector plate positioned and ready to receive...

While speaking at a recent conference, I was asked a really good question from one of the executives of a Component/LBM company. His question prompted me to think about how I would start 2018 off in my articles. The question was: “Our company does not have an incentive program in...