Anticipation and Optimization Edmond Lim, P.Eng. A greenfield truss plant is a rare opportunity to implement processes as designed within start-up constraints without the push-back of change by existing plant personnel. It is a breeze to teach and train new people to follow our process organization technology as laid out in a brand new plant.... Read More July 2023 Issue #15288 Page 46
Four Examples of Process Improvement Considerations Todd Drummond Right now, many CMs are waking up to the increased pressures of a slowing home-building market, and all the capital investments they have made are just not going to be enough because all their competition has done the same. Now that the new build season is ramping up to full swing, the ones who... Read More June 2023 Issue #15287 Page 27
A “Feed the Beast” Hat Trick Edmond Lim, P.Eng. A Gordie Howe hat trick is accomplished when a player gets a goal, an assist, and a fight in a hockey game. A “Feed the Beast” hat trick is accomplished when a team of machinery wranglers installs a Lumber PickLine to feed a 3rd party automated saw, a standalone auto-feeding... Read More June 2023 Issue #15287 Page 48
Spida Machinery’s Automated Apollo Saw—Features Tony McCoy Last month’s article, Spida Machinery’s Automated Apollo Saw—Evolution, talks about the development of Spida saws from the CSS to the Apollo. For decades, Spida has been known for cutting-edge technology in our cutting equipment. This month, I’d like to take a closer look... Read More May 2023 Issue #15286 Page 17
Will ‘Too Little, Too Late’ Define Your Company? Todd Drummond Building history facts: Before the 2008 financial crash, there were about 2,100 wood truss and wall panel component manufacturing (CM) companies across North America. The vast majority of the locations were independently owned and operated. When the worst of the effects of the recession finally... Read More May 2023 Issue #15286 Page 27
Incremental CapEx and Accelerated ROI Edmond Lim, P.Eng. Dealing with the industry’s long machinery lead times actually has given everyone an opportunity to get creative, to stop procrastinating, and to complete those naggingly important process improvement projects — even though that’s easier said than done! This month, I am... Read More May 2023 Issue #15286 Page 50
Advertiser Forum: Rationalizing Our Habits Anna Stamm To some degree, we are all creatures of habit. We all have routines that we repeat on a regular basis. What differs between us is how many routines, how much repetition, and how much they do or don’t matter to us. So occasionally, it’s good to step back and evaluate whether our... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 6
Spida Machinery’s Automated Apollo Saw—Evolution Tony McCoy Back in the fall of 2001, when I was a component manufacturer, Bevan Lines, Director of Spida Machinery, came to a sales meeting in Southaven, MS, to introduce our sales team to the first automated pull saw in the truss industry — the Computerized Spida Saw, better known as the CSS. The... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 17
A Message of Caution to New Component Manufacturers Todd Drummond This message is for the new component manufacturers (CM) who have recently and will shortly be entering the component manufacturing industry for wood trusses or wall panels. First, welcome to the industry – it is very rewarding, but I must caution you about this new endeavor. It is not for... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 25
A Tailor-Made Lean Lumber Picking Solution Edmond Lim, P.Eng. The implementation of a Lumber PickLine is a quick study in lean manufacturing tailor-made for each component plant’s building constraints and saws. A Lumber PickLine can semi-automatically feed any linear saw or any component saw. A saw that is fed lumber from a PickLine is a just-in-time... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 47