Measure the Tempo of Your Operation Ben Hershey My wife Dianne and I were recently going through some of our old family photos and I came across this photo of Dianne’s Dad, Jack Hendershot, as a teenager on his bike delivering ice in the early ’50s. For those who may not know, before the advent of refrigeration and freezing... Read More July 2019 Issue #11240 Page 22
Linear Saw Optimization to Turn Costs into Benefits Ed Serrano Before buying a linear saw, several common questions will be asked. What is the price? Speed? Accuracy? Most potential customers enquire about support and on-going maintenance. Occasionally, the topic of spare parts and availability is broached, and sporadically someone may throw in a question... Read More July 2019 Issue #11240 Page 66
The Hiring Zone: Opportunity Knocks Just a couple of years ago, I went back to the commercial modular/classroom/mobile office plant where I had my first GM job in the ’80s. I was 27 then, am much older now, but one thing hasn’t changed much, technology. The stations had the same kind of equipment, home build when... Read More July 2019 Issue #11240 Page 80
Modular Construction Makes Inroads in Multi-Family Sector Tom Hardiman Permanent modular buildings are considered real property, built to the same building codes and requirements as site-built structures, and can be financed, sold, and depreciated in a similar manner. As such, the markets for permanent modular construction are similar to the markets for site-built... Read More July 2019 Issue #11240 Page 86
The Last Word: The Second Wave of Automation? Joe Kannapell Are we seeing the onset of a wave of CM automation or is this déjà vu all over again? Are other CMs following the startups chronicled earlier on these pages: Blueprint Robotics (May 2017) or Katerra (Feb 2018)? Big money is driving it, the big wigs are behind it, and high tech machines are... Read More July 2019 Issue #11240 Page 113
Celebrating 50 Years of Truss Design Innovation, Part XI Joe Kannapell Part XI: A Whole House in the New Millennium We truss designers were outfoxed by an unlikely pair of moguls who knew nothing about truss design. Gene Toombs and Tom Denig, CEOs of MiTek and TrusJoist, without our prompting, announced in 2001 that their companies would join forces to design... Read More June 2019 Issue #11239 Page 8
How Your Plant Can Benefit From a Spida Extruder Wall Panel Framing Line Chris Scott Powered by people, a manual line in an average component plant is composed of a rough opening station, a subcomponent station, a framing station, a squaring station, and a sheathing station. In the configuration, typically 8 people are on this line, and 1000 LNFT of output is the average goal... Read More June 2019 Issue #11239 Page 14
Celebrating 50 Years of Truss Design Innovation, Part X Joe Kannapell Part X: Windows Works Its Magic When David McQuinn recommended Windows to MiTek’s management in 1990, few expected that Microsoft could compete with the two giants of the computer industry: Hewlett Packard and IBM. HP was the dominant provider of engineering computers. For a decade, its... Read More May 2019 Issue #11238 Page 8
Celebrating 50 Years of Truss Design Innovation Joe Kannapell Part VIII: Layout Without Windows At BCMC in Jacksonville in 1990, the PC had begun to “steal the show,” especially that of the upstart A.C.E.S. Their layout program was a quantum leap over the decade old work of C&G Micrographics on the Apple Computer. It also had several... Read More March 2019 Issue #11236 Page 8
Celebrating 50 Years of Truss Design, Part VI Joe Kannapell Part VI: Desktop Engineering Rocks the Design World One man, an accomplished CM, set out to ramp-up the efficiency of truss designers in the Eighties: Mr. Leonard Sylk. He did it by pioneering the in-house computer, and its user-friendly software. By use of this tool, he envisioned a plant... Read More January 2019 Issue #11234 Page 8