Thirty years ago, equipment installations looked considerably different. Often, the equipment was installed using the customer’s maintenance staff and even the truss building crew. Working with new crews on a weekly basis, who were skilled in component manufacturing but had limited...

The old joke is: “What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence? Time to get a new fence.” So what time is it when your floor trusses look like this? It might be time for a new floor machine or at least some attention. In the photo [See PDF or View in Full Issue], the floor...

In the 1990s, a storm began brewing in the component business. It started on the Eastern Seaboard when Carolina Builders bought a truss plant in Tidewater, Virginia. Later, it gained strength when Builders Supply & Lumber (BSL) opened a series of greenfield plants. And finally, it reached an...

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...

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...

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” Apparently, she never worked in a truss plant, where I think everyone will make them all at least once. But humor aside, let’s take a look at the...

The roller gantry dominates today’s truss production, but it hasn’t always done so, despite the fact that it hasn’t changed much over sixty years. The reason for its relatively slow ascendency is found in its origins and in its adaptations over this period. And along the way...

Back in the days before Autoset C®, Matchpoint®, and Wizard®, truss set-ups and the truss profile were dependent on the truss builder’s ability to accurately jig the truss being built using cross reference information and data. For example, a heel to peak measurement was taken...

More CMs are “doing it right the first time” via vertical presses, taking advantage of their flexibility and the quality of their production. But few realize that some of the most successful plants in our industry started with table presses. These presses have always had the...

Forty years ago, a frenetic fray raged over the World Record for truss production. While CMs across the country competed, the two main players, Littfin in Minnesota and Dickie Vail in Louisiana, produced numbers that may never be equaled. The massive trophy, displayed today in the lobby of...