Design, Sales, and Admin Labor Shortages? – Give Them More Time by Automating Your Communications! Todd Drummond The call for more designers, salespeople and just about every other admin personnel is getting louder by the day. There are not enough hours in the week to meet sales demands. What if you could provide your team with tools that would give them more time? This way, you could save money by having... Read More April 2017 Issue #10213 Page 26
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
Growing Interest – Wall Panels Sean Hubbard Our team is often asked how a single operator can produce over 1000 lineal feet of wall panels. The answer comes from both the process flow and the material flow. We know, when an operator leaves their workstation, production is lost. Production can be lost at their station as well as other... Read More March 2017 Issue #10212 Page 8
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
Component Manufacturing a Cash Cow Division Todd Drummond In the wood truss component industry, we have the independents, who are not associated with lumberyards, and then we have those who are owned by lumberyards. What I found striking is that the lumberyard owned and operated component manufacturers (CMs) consistently make far less money than the... Read More March 2017 Issue #10212 Page 26
Inventory Could be Costing You More Than You Think Ben Hershey Part 3 in our TIMWOODS Series Our friend, TIM WOODS, has been busy in many LBM and component operations and, as we continue our series, he has been seen sweeping “Inventory” down several operations’ drains. Inventory is another waste word in our TIMWOODS acronym for the... Read More March 2017 Issue #10212 Page 50
Growing Interest in Wall Panels Sean Hubbard Each and every machine, employee, and environment has unique limitations. It’s knowing how to exploit the strengths of each that will contribute to the success of the company and the success of each product line. We recognize the strengths of unconventional wall framing for the North... Read More February 2017 Issue #10211 Page 8
German Robotics in U.S. Housing Joe Kannapell German invaders have landed on our shores intent on leapfrogging our component industry. Their huge investment and their unconventional processes are now being tested on a jobsite not far from their high-tech, 200,000 sq. ft. Baltimore plant. Their name, Blueprint Robotics, invokes a... Read More February 2017 Issue #10211 Page 13
Off–site Designing and Sales: The Three Biggest Obstacles Todd Drummond What once was frowned upon has now become very common. Off-site designing and off-site sales individuals or teams can be a very good way to expand your company’s capabilities. The biggest driver of its emerging acceptability is the fact that the pool of talent is larger when looking... Read More February 2017 Issue #10211 Page 24
Transportation Waste is More Evident Than You Think Ben Hershey Part 2 in our TIMWOODS Series When we last left off in our series, I introduced you to my friend, TIM WOODS. TIM WOODS is actually an acronym for the eight deadly wastes (Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Over-Processing, Over-Production, Defects, and Skills). While the acronym... Read More February 2017 Issue #10211 Page 44