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As a new year begins, now is the time to ask: do I need a 3rd party auditor? If you don’t have one, then you need to take a hard look at your business. As companies in other industries have learned too, using a third party to conduct all audits throughout an organization (or supplementing...

As we all plan for a productive and profitable 2024, I would like to celebrate three 2023 Feed The Beast success stories: a multi-million-dollar plant expansion, a complete saw shop makeover, and a plant renovation. All three of these projects implemented some or all of Enventek’s...

It’s hard to believe that it is already the New Year, but we had another successful year at Panels Plus in 2023. Despite some ups and downs in the housing market and all the buzz around high interest rates, we had our busiest year on record. The incredible value that our wall panel and...

According to the research team at Goldman Sachs, we can expect healthy growth in 2024, with the economy growing by 2.1%. Most of the problems that would lead to higher inflation, such as an overheated labor market, are gone. And as a result, the probability of a recession in 2024 is much...

If you haven’t considered BuyMetrics yet, I have one more reason for you to check it out in 2024 – our new Commodity Analysis and Visualization Module. This new module will give BuyMetrics’ clients the power to control their own market analysis and measure their own...

In manufacturing, continuous process improvement is critical to maintaining profits and quality. Transforming and enhancing operations, however, demands more than good intentions; it requires a dedicated change agent focused on ensuring the program is implemented and ingrained into ongoing plant...

In “Cost-Saving Measures and Memorable Debacles,” I discussed the problems encountered on a site where the owner was acting as general contractor for his new house build and problems that ensued when an inexperienced framer was tasked with installing a complex truss roof. In that...

Webb Analytics’ monthly people roundups have tracked changes involving 1,241 folks at hundreds of LBM operations this year. Thousands more jobs that we didn’t spot likely have changed hands, in part through help provided by construction supply’s leading recruitment and...

A splice is the point where two chord members are joined together by a metal connector plate to form a single member. It can occur at a panel point or between panel points depending on the specific design of the truss and the preferences of the truss manufacturer. While the program checks all...

Mass timber buildings use cross-laminated timber (CLT) or mass plywood panels to create horizontal diaphragms to transfer wind and seismic forces into the vertical elements of the lateral-force-resisting system. Spline connections resist shear forces at the panel joints, which I discussed in...