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The most common cause of downtime for an automated saw is a lack of lumber on the infeed conveyors. Feeding a linear saw can be a very labor-intensive process. Operators will fatigue and naturally slow down over the day and loading mistakes can cost a plant significantly in lost productivity....

When I was young, the last thing I wanted to hear from my dad was “you don’t have much to complain about, back in my day....” Whatever it was, I was sure it had been embellished. Mom was much simpler, “Because I said so”. As I got older, I started to realize they...

As I mentioned in last month’s article, My Road to The JobLine, there was a time when I thought I had seen everything in the truss and component world. But here I am 37 years in, and architects, builders, and do-it-yourselfers still surprise and amaze me. The applicable building code...

Collect dozens of anecdotes from travels, panels, emails, and social media interactions, as I have recently, and three trends emerge to summarize the state of construction supply today: Dealers say demand remains strong, with only marginal easing of supply chain pressures. In contrast,...

Is offsite construction just a fad or is it going to become the new normal for the construction industry? Is it an untapped market for manufacturers and suppliers? If your business is selling building materials, does it even matter whether you sell to offsite facilities or companies that...

The U.S. economy starts the third quarter with some strong challenges that rattled the ongoing recovery in Quarter 2 and are likely to filter through to the next few months. Among them are lingering inflation, the prospect of several additional aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes, and...

As many communities and potential homeowners struggle with housing affordability, tiny houses have emerged as part of the solution. Assuring these tiny houses deliver the same level of safety and efficiency of other permanent housing solutions is essential. Local building codes and the...

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,...

When $20 Billion behemoth Builders First Source (BFS) launched a robotic truss line in April, CMs were surprised that they would select House of Design (HoD)’s first truss machine, and the industry’s first robotic floor truss line. Remarkably, after just over 3 months, they’ve...

A few years ago, my neighbors left their teenage daughter home alone on a Friday night…so of course she had a party. It wasn’t the kind of epic party you see in the movies, but it was fairly loud around their pool that night. I wasn’t surprised by any of that, but the surprise...