Design Connections: Resolving Our Inevitable Mistakes Geordie Secord I once had the sales representative for a software company looking to secure our business tell me that, in his view, being a truss designer (or panel designer) was like taking a never-ending math test in which any score less than 100% was failure. He was certainly of the “old school”... Read More November 2022 Issue #14280 Page 90
Including Meaningful Process Improvement on Your Capital Investment Checklist Todd Drummond Time and time again, TDC has witnessed too many companies spending millions on capital investments to achieve marginal improvements while others spend far less and achieve spectacular results. It may feel obvious that adding a saw or auto-puck table will significantly enhance output, but the... Read More October 2022 Issue #14279 Page 24
Building a 100-Year Company Michael Fagan On September 20, A-1 Industries, a leading manufacturer of pre-engineered wood trusses in the Southeastern United States and the Caribbean, celebrated our 45th anniversary with the launch of a new corporate video and a special day of appreciation for our employees at the Fort Pierce, FL and... Read More October 2022 Issue #14279 Page 102
Four Commonly Held Practices That Cause Companies to Lose Millions in Net Profits Todd Drummond These four commonly held practices within the component industry (wood truss and wall panels manufacturing) are actually causing millions in lost profits. None of these practices should be acceptable, and all are correctable. Is your company ready to make lean manufacturing continuous... Read More September 2022 Issue #14278 Page 24
Here is What Happens When Continuous Improvement is More than a Slogan Todd Drummond As a change agent for lean manufacturing best practices, it is extremely satisfying when I see a company embrace best practices despite their challenges. Too often, it is stated, “we (I) cannot implement or do the suggested improvement practice because _____” from so many claiming to... Read More August 2022 Issue #14277 Page 22
Discussing Simpson Strong-Tie Work Culture on the TED WorkLife Podcast Karissa Louie Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist and bestselling author, recently featured Simpson Strong-Tie Vice President of Engineering Annie Kao on his TED original podcast WorkLife. Adam and Annie were joined by Berkeley Haas Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Jenny Chatman (full disclosure,... Read More August 2022 Issue #14277 Page 116
Capital Investments are Not Going to Be Enough When the Party is Over Todd Drummond The article I published in April, Record CM Building Industry Net Profits are Coming to an End Sooner Than Most Believe, predicted that the construction industry would start seeing negative market changes around August of this year. Wow, was I right about calling that one? The continued... Read More July 2022 Issue #14276 Page 28
Everybody Matters: Safety Never Takes a Holiday Marisa Scott June is National Safety Month, but at Simpson Strong-Tie, safety never takes a day off. We’re at it all year, day in and day out. The motto of the Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) department is “Keep Us Strong,” and that’s exactly what we strive to do. At Simpson... Read More July 2022 Issue #14276 Page 114
Three Simple Truths for Attracting and Retaining Talented Employees Todd Drummond Is your company having problems finding good employees to fill all the needed positions within your company? Are you thinking wage inflation is getting out of hand? Perhaps you should look at it from a different perspective. Multiple case studies have shown that companies with low employee... Read More June 2022 Issue #14275 Page 29
Advertiser Forum: Managing Uncertainty Anna Stamm It seems like every (Pick a word: day, month, year) we attempt to bring order to some chaotic part of our (Pick a word: jobs, homes, lives), only to be thwarted by something we didn’t foresee. Try as we may to maintain consistency, something always interrupts the balance. So, what can we... Read More May 2022 Issue #14274 Page 6