Library

Board foot has been used for decades in component manufacturing, and it still serves its purpose for sales reporting, legacy KPIs, and corporate roll ups. There is no need to abandon it. But for scheduling, pricing, and determining how much work a plant can actually handle, board foot alone will...

In the middle of the largest residential construction show in the world, wedged between estimating software and the kitchen and bath aisle, our small booth was focused on one question: where do structural components truly fit in the future of homebuilding? The International Builders Show...

Although all of our companies are focused on their bottom lines, many of us also welcome opportunities to give back to our communities. TechWood had one such opportunity this year, when we partnered with Global Fireproof Solutions, Inc. to support the construction and renovation of a...

The biggest, deepest report on acquisitions, new-store openings, and closures in construction supply makes clear 2025 simultaneously was both the busiest and slowest year for M&A in this decade. Viewed by the number of facilities acquired, 2025 saw 56% more locations acquired than in 2024...

In off-site manufacturing, change is inevitable. What is not inevitable is losing money because of it. The change order is not red tape. It is protection. It protects the company, the client, the project schedule, and even the salesperson who worked hard to land the job. Consider how a...

My December article, “What Does Scope Creep Look Like in Truss Design?,” talks about extra trusses quietly added, parapets suddenly included, and engineering tasks drifting onto your desk because someone else didn’t handle them. None of these start out as big asks. They usually...

Every spring, a few dozen of the most MSR-savvy minds in the industry gather for something refreshingly different from the typical industry conference. No sprawling trade show floor. No overwhelming schedule. No wandering through crowds of people you might never see again. Instead, the annual...

When given a truss design project, the Truss Designer needs all of the loading parameters before starting work on it. This article will specifically discuss the Thermal Factor (Ct), which is part of the snow load calculations. As with any load parameter, using the wrong value will result in a...

Chapter 3 of ANSI/TPI 1-2022, the National Design Standard for Metal Plate Connected Wood Trusses, provides the component manufacturer with the Quality Criteria they must follow to ensure the metal plate connected wood trusses (MPCWT) they build meet the design assumptions. Section 3.4.2 Lumber...

CS Producer, Simpson Strong-Tie’s component manufacturing management solution, provides real-time truss plant feedback and production scheduling functionality, in a modern, user-friendly interface. Since its introduction in 2025, CS Producer continues to add new features and...