The pandemic environment has affected many things. Perhaps surprisingly, one of the effects derives from the Fed’s desire to assist the economy in any way possible. In particular, interest rates which were already at historical lows are now even lower. As a result, monthly payment quotes...

My name may seem familiar or even confusing to some since I share it with my father. We, like every father and son, have our similarities and differences. We share drive, integrity, honesty, and the significance of one’s character. We do have differences as well and one of them is how we...

One glaring gantry glitch, truss plates falling off, still needed to be addressed in the early 1990s. Missing bottom plates interrupt production, or worse, compromise quality. Sometimes an uneven table surface is the cause. But often the gantry mechanism is to blame. Tolerances are surprisingly...

Decades ago, I learned the value of a dollar as many of us did from our parents and grandparents. At that time, our industry was predominately family businesses. I don’t recall discussing age, however as we grow older, age is simply a number. That was never more evident in our family...

As housing boomed in the mid-1980s, truss plants needed better equipment. Among those was Heart Truss and Engineering in Michigan. Heart was also benefitting from booming auto plants nearby. Their production head, Bob LePoire, pondered how to keep up. Bob’s boss and Heart’s...

In the wake of troubled times, I’m filled with hope and renewed energy as I review the month that was and all of the things that have been accomplished for Spida Machinery worldwide. Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don’t fight them. Just...

Packfeeders. Bunk Feeders. Call it what you will, but if you’re like most sites, the idea is nothing more than a pipe dream that quickly disappears once you start to ponder where you might put it. To get any real benefit from them, the perception is that the system you need to carry a lot...

It seems some people are upset that I made such a public statement with my latest advertisement – “Pairing a Linear Saw with Two Workstations with Each Having Two Assemblers will Cost Your Company Millions in Lost Net Profits.” Specifically, I’m talking about linking...

As technology advances year after year and Alpine equipment becomes more sophisticated, it’s critical to understand some best practices when troubleshooting equipment. In a perfect world, equipment would never break down and therefore never be a need to troubleshoot. Unfortunately, we...

The roller gantry had two major obstacles to clear in the 1970s, both erected by its inventor, Carroll Sanford. Both were delineated in hard-to-evade U.S. Patents. The first was on the machine itself and the second was on the connector plate that it required. The simplicity of the gantry machine...