BCMC Innovations Joe Kannapell The quickening of innovation will be on display at BCMC this month, and, undoubtedly, so will be the uptake. Suppliers use this platform to launch new products, sometimes rather humbly. Art DePauw sold his prototype “automated” saw to two industry giants, Charlie Barnes and Dave... Read More October 2017 Issue #10219 Page 6
BCMC Factory Tour Sean Hubbard This year’s BCMC is going to be unparalleled to any other trade show for Square 1 Design & Manufacture Inc. With over 5,000 square feet of floor space, we have decided to bring the manufacturing to you. LIVE WALL PANEL MANUFACTURING ON THE SHOW FLOOR! The Spida Wall Panel Extruder will... Read More September 2017 Issue #10218 Page 12
The Last Word: The Last Word on Prospection Joe Kannapell What is driving the quest for automation besides the obvious? Surely it is not our preoccupation with the past, because that would recall the recent near-depression, and painful past calamities. Rather it is prospection, looking ahead, that explains much of our behavior, according to... Read More July 2017 Issue #10216 Page 99
Robotics, continued Joe Kannapell Automation is advancing around the world, but will it yield the quantum leap promised? And how big a margin will it provide over conventional processes? Let’s first assess how various systems affect non-direct-labor inputs to the production process. Later we’ll balance these against... Read More June 2017 Issue #10215 Page 6
Resurgence of Panelization? Joe Kannapell What future does the Blueprint Robotics factory in Baltimore portend for housing construction? This huge German plant certainly rivals Pulte’s former facility in the same market (shuttered in 2008). And it may even eclipse the robotics/automation going forward in multiple truss plants IF... Read More May 2017 Issue #10214 Page 6
Robotics in the LBM & Component Industry Ben Hershey A book I read in 2015, “Rise of the Robots,” by Martin Ford, talked about the threat many people see that robots present to the employment marketplace. At the time, I was working with several different equipment manufacturers and clients on their automated/robotic equipment... Read More May 2017 Issue #10214 Page 48
Truss Robotics Joe Kannapell The path of factory innovation is leading us to automated systems rather than true robotics. Though industrial robotics has been used for 30 years in our industry, it has served mainly as a forerunner to later systems. Its earliest commercialization, the robotic arms of the Koskovich component... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 6
Truss Stackers Sean Hubbard With the resurgence of new home construction we have seen unprecedented interest and growth in our outdoor equipment division. There are certainly many ways to accomplish the conveying, stacking and banding of the truss package. Numerous truss plants continue to stack trusses manually,... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 8
Growing Forward with Oregon Truss Mike Bugbee Oregon is one of the strongest building markets in the country, and Oregon Truss is preparing for the next chapter of our future. Thanks to our founder Wayne Beebe’s foresight to plan for expansion, we have a brand new factory that enables us to maintain normal lead times while our... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 34
The Future of Closed-Wall Panels Joe Kannapell The linear saw and auto-jigging reduce plant labor but they don’t increase the selling price of components, like the Blueprint Robotics panelization does, in spades. And, as more plants automate, component sales dollars may actually be eroded by price-cutting in a flat housing market. Is... Read More March 2017 Issue #10212 Page 16