Our Article Library

There is a classic business parable about a man who ran a highly successful roadside hot dog stand. He was hard of hearing and had poor eyesight, so he never read the newspapers, listened to the radio, or watched the evening news. Instead, he focused entirely on what he did best: making...

There is a persistent bottleneck in North American truss plants. As operations expand, the need for a dedicated Design Manager becomes critical. Owners and general managers naturally turn to their top-producing Senior Designer, offering them a promotion to lead the department. Yet, increasingly,...

As the building and construction industry continues to evolve, we strive to enhance and improve our understanding of the loads and conditions that we need to design for, the engineering tools and methods that we use in our analyses, and the materials with which we build. This advancement in our...

Every project begins the same way: a set of plans, a stack of details, and thousands of decisions waiting to be made. Somewhere between the architect’s vision and the completed structure lies a process filled with interpretation, calculation, coordination, and estimation. For decades,...

The structural building components industry has always been built on relationships. We share ideas, help one another solve problems, and come together when someone in our industry or community needs support. The SBCA Foundation provides a meaningful way to turn that spirit of generosity into...

I’ve had an upper hand in writing about wood components, having been immersed in this industry my entire professional life. My first job was testing connector plates, my second was writing truss software, my third was engineering trusses, my fourth was working at truss plants, and my fifth...

Can you feel the excitement building? Exhibitors are readying their booths, speakers are preparing their sessions, and in only a few weeks, the industry will be gathering in Columbus, OH for the Building Component Manufacturers Conference (BCMC). If you haven’t booked your travel yet,...

On my way to the component plants that supply The Villages, the most well-known planned community in Florida, I drove through the vastly expanding reaches of America’s last remaining bastion of true production building. When I entered the new 424-acre Governor Rick Scott Industrial Park, I...

The term “audit” generally induces visions of tax audits. You imagine endless questions and boxes of records, as you attempt to produce documentation to defend what you’ve done. Importantly though, these visions are not what should come to mind when you think of a quality...

Often, when we write about BCMC, it’s after the event – when we’re looking back and reflecting on the exchanges we had, the questions we were asked, and the ideas that stayed with us long after the show floor closed. This year, I wanted to write before the event, as we look...