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So you won the order. Congratulations. The designs and the submittals were approved. Sounds great. The trusses were built with care and meet all of the necessary requirements. Awesome! Does it stop here? No, not really. The customer has not had a chance to really get a rock-solid impression....

I remember it clearly; I was in the Lounge at Portland International Airport when I got a call from Joe Kannapell. Joe was going to be sharing with the MiTek team in the next day that he would be officially retiring at the end of 2020; Joe has been a part of the industry for more than 46 years....

Our first installment of this series, Maximizing Your Equipment Investment, covered the communication and setup of saw and fabrication equipment. Our second installment, Optimizing Your Equipment Investment, took the process to the table. Next up, it’s time to explore the ease of use that...

Vekta is probably best known for our Razer linear saw, and the next product most associated with our company is the Vekta PackFeeder, a lumber infeed system that takes up less space and costs less than anything else on the market. But... Did you know that Vekta has a variety of products designed...

U.S. manufacturing is faced with two challenges in today’s market – an aging population and a shortage of workers, both challenging issues for component manufacturers. However, rather than focus on the negative, let’s focus on the positive note that the demand for building...

Every component manufacturer has actively implemented lean and best practices customized and optimized to their existing personnel, plant machinery, plant layout, yard layout, and plate supplier’s software. Most component manufacturers are operating as efficiently as possible within their...

No two businesses are alike. Even businesses that appear strikingly similar are facing their own unique sets of circumstances. So, with many different kinds of challenges and opportunities, shouldn’t there be different options available to implement changes and growth? Absolutely! One...

When you’re working on a jobsite, you never know what you might see or what might be coming next. As shown on this month’s cover, a recent project by Lowder Construction had us helping a neighborhood prepare for Oktoberfest (or at least I like to think of it that way). As you can see...

Back when I was a production worker, in an offsite construction plant, my “Boss” was the Department Supervisor or “Lead Man.” His boss was the Production Manager. The Big Boss was the owner. Simple, clean, easy to understand, until something goes wrong, or you need...

When we think of poverty, we think homelessness, food banks, and welfare. Chronic poverty was once compared to catching a grasshopper in a jar when we were kids. The jar had a lid with holes poked in it. For a while, the grasshopper jumped up and kept hitting his head against the lid. Then he...