An automation battle was brewing in the late 1980s, but the first skirmish wasn’t over machinery. It was over software. Software that would minimize more than just the manual labor, but also the “thinking” done by machine operators. The time finally arrived when, after decades...

Who will step forward to direct the increasing automation of our truss plants? Only the best qualified need apply. For example, people with the discipline of Dick Rotto, the in-plant experience of John Houlihan, and the analytical skills of Keith Fell. Each of whom possessed unique abilities...

Countless outstanding individuals have built this industry. Sadly, two of them have recently passed away: Don Butcher, co-founder of Heart Truss & Engineering, and Craig Aufderhar, Sales Executive of Trussway. Please read more of their exemplary personal lives via the links below. But also,...

Ten years after the Sanford Gantry stormed onto the scene, the DePauw Saw arrived without much fanfare. Their introductions said a lot about their inventors. Carroll Sanford was an ebullient architect, Art DePauw an unassuming machinist. If both men were alive today, they would relish seeing...

When I saw the article on ceiling separation, The Enduring Problem of Truss Partition Separation, written by my friend Frank Woeste in the November issue of The Advertiser, I was excited to read it. As Frank writes, this problem has been around since there has been a metal plate connected wood...

Clyde Fredrickson, a CM in the remote reaches of South Dakota, was determined to find a cheaper solution to the $250,000+ auto-jigging systems. So, he worked through several alternate ways to shorten setup times, like printing out Jigset coordinates, and moving pucks manually to designated...

Gene Toombs, the man who made MiTek, passed away suddenly September 25. He was 79 years old. When he came to us at age 49, there was no MiTek, just a conflicted company offering old software and obsolete machines. How could he help us, I wondered, when I first met him at our failing plant...

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....

Four roof truss innovators have changed our industry, from its beginning to the present day. Their names may be largely unknown now, but their work lives on and is worth assessing. The most notable is A. Carroll Sanford, whose machines are still cranking out trusses (see my March 2020...

As housing boomed in the mid-1980s, truss plants needed better equipment. Among those was Heart Truss and Engineering in Michigan. Heart was also benefitting from booming auto plants nearby. Their production head, Bob LePoire, pondered how to keep up. Bob’s boss and Heart’s...