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The US economy entered the fourth quarter of the year poised for additional growth but with an air of uncertainty and the remnants of pessimism about jobs, wages, and energy prices. Both global and domestic headwinds remain in place to intensify tensions as political divisions take center stage...

You’ve accepted an offer for a new job. Congratulations! But before you made that decision, how many opportunities did you actually consider? Was it the best opportunity available to you, or simply the first one that met your immediate needs? These are questions worth asking because...

A veteran designer recently laid out a hard truth about the component world that most general managers prefer to ignore. They pointed out that sales reps routinely make significantly more money in shorter periods of time, often with far less technical understanding of the product they just sold....

It’s that time again. The 2026 Florida Building Code 9th Edition will take effect on December 31, 2026, bringing with it updates that could affect how structural components are designed, analyzed, and documented throughout the state. For engineers, truss designers, and component...

The 2026 Florida Building Code adds prescriptive corrosion-protection requirements for fasteners, connectors, and metal plates near saltwater coastlines. Here is what changed, which options fit the requirements, and what to do next. At a Glance Effective December 31, 2026, new Section 1711...

Need to improve your truss plant production? AI may be the answer for you. Using information and knowledge you already have, you can work with AI to streamline your production workflow with a few basic prompts. One of the best things about using AI is that no prior training is required....

The Structural Building Components Association (SBCA) and National Framers Council (NFC) will bring component manufacturers, framers, suppliers, and other industry professionals together in Charlotte, North Carolina, December 8–10, 2026, for their final Open Quarterly Meeting (OQM) of the...

The shape of today’s truss plates was greatly influenced by their little-understood production processes. While these processes involve proprietary methods, their underlying technology was conceived decades ago in the tool and die shops and the punch press plants across America, and both...

Believe it or not, I started in this industry 26½ years ago, back when SBCA was still the Wood Truss Council of America. For 13 years, I had the privilege of supporting members and chapters, personally assisting in the start-up of 9 chapters, doing direct administration for 22 chapters,...

This month’s article returns to a topic begun last month in “Inside Early Truss Design”: the movement of design technology from the drafting board to the computer. During this period, the only tools available were engineering theory and painstaking manual work. Specialized...