Innovation Through Legacy: Transforming Truss Design with Paragon John Holland What if the future of truss design isn’t just about developing better tools, but redefining the entire process from the ground up? On August 15, we publicly announced Paragon — a product that will change the way trusses are designed and built. A product that took years of... Read More September 2024 Issue #16302 Page 80
Insights and Innovations in Component Manufacturing Greg Bates The component manufacturing industry, specifically of roof and floor trusses, is undergoing significant transformation. To delve deeper, we spoke with Todd Drummond, a seasoned expert and long-time consultant with extensive knowledge and experience in the field of truss manufacturing. You can... Read More September 2024 Issue #16302 Page 88
The Last Word: Material Handling Bunk-to-Table Joe Kannapell, PE Adding the last links to the chain of material handling – bunk-to-saw and saw-to-table – is intricately executed by Hundegger at Sunpro’s major expansion in St. George, Utah – and it’s cool! Yes, here in the northeastern-most part of the Mojave Desert, the Clyde... Read More September 2024 Issue #16302 Page 154
Wall Panel Technology, Part V: Whole House Evolution Joe Kannapell, PE The dream of having a single person model an entire structure was admirable, but developing the software to do that turned into a decade-long struggle. Five years ago, I chronicled the development saga in my series on Fifty Years of Truss Design, Parts XI – XV. As the story told, the... Read More August 2024 Issue #16301 Page 10
BCMC 2024 is Around the Corner Alpine Team With only two months until the next Building Component Manufacturers Conference (BCMC), everyone is hard at work preparing for the show! BCMC last year was successful. We look forward to this opportunity each year to connect with our customers, industry professionals as well as showcasing the... Read More August 2024 Issue #16301 Page 47
Glued Trussed Floor Joists Tuomo Poutanen In this publication, I reviewed glued parallel chord truss joists (or glued-joint open web wood trusses) in the August 2021 issue and glued roof trusses in the April 2023 issue. This article focuses on parallel chord glued trussed floor joists utilizing the new G-technology,... Read More August 2024 Issue #16301 Page 84
Mass Timber for the Masses — How Simpson Strong-Tie Innovation Is Enabling More Efficient Construction Simpson Strong-Tie Staff Mass timber construction is taking the construction industry by storm, and there are no signs of it slowing down. Leading forecasts from Polaris Market Research project the global CLT market to triple from USD 1.1B to 3.7B by 2030. Innovations promoting cost reduction and efficiency are helping... Read More August 2024 Issue #16301 Page 120
The Last Word: The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Big Truss Plants Joe Kannapell, PE The way it was – In 1986, as Dick Rotto embarked on a nationwide expansion, he admonished his salesforce, “Trussway will never have another plant as big as our Houston location.” Rotto’s warning came at a time when there wasn’t enough business in the entire state of... Read More August 2024 Issue #16301 Page 154
Wall Panel Technology, Part IV: Software Evolution Joe Kannapell, PE The creation of wall panel software is like the creation of all software – experienced insiders do it best. That was true with Gang-Nail’s AutoPan in the 1970s, which Joe Cotton developed while building wall panels for his homebuilding business. It was also the case with Ted... Read More July 2024 Issue #16300 Page 10
Structural Connectors for Wood Framing – An Evolving Innovation Landon Boucher I love history, particularly the history of wood framing in the U.S. One segment of this category that has some confusion surrounding it is the history of metal connectors used to join two or more wood members to make a structural connection. There are many types of structural connectors,... Read More July 2024 Issue #16300 Page 64