How Do Your Manufacturing Errors Rank on the List? Glenn Traylor Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” Apparently, she never worked in a truss plant, where I think everyone will make them all at least once. But humor aside, let’s take a look at the... Read More April 2020 Issue #12249 Page 41
How Important are Construction Tolerances? Glenn Traylor Back in the days before Autoset C®, Matchpoint®, and Wizard®, truss set-ups and the truss profile were dependent on the truss builder’s ability to accurately jig the truss being built using cross reference information and data. For example, a heel to peak measurement was taken... Read More March 2020 Issue #12248 Page 41
Are You Creating a Culture of Quality? Glenn Traylor On a recent trip to Japan to observe construction manufacturing methods, I was struck by the amount of time a plant manager spends on the production floor. Comparing this Japanese methodology to our truss industry, our plant managers and upper management spend relatively little time engaged in... Read More February 2020 Issue #12247 Page 40
How Do Your Trusses Stack Up? Glenn Traylor Do you vertically stack your trusses or horizontally stack them? How does the method impact quality? How does it impact safety? Do you know the arguments for either preference? Almost as if it was a regional inclination, some areas of the US vertically stack their finished trusses and some areas... Read More January 2020 Issue #12246 Page 40
Inspecting Trusses—You Never Know What You Might See Glenn Traylor Recently, I was asked to divert from my normal 3rd party agenda to make a special truss inspection. Although this seemed a little unusual, on occasion I am asked to do this sort of thing, so I didn’t pay it any mind. Normally, it’s a peculiar joint condition or a difficult plate... Read More December 2019 Issue #11245 Page 38
How Smooth are Your Splices? Glenn Traylor Quality trusses with smooth splices help ensure quality ceilings and floor finishes, but several factors may affect their execution. It’s generally understood by most truss builders that, while creating chord splices on any truss, it’s important to maintain a flush plane surface... Read More November 2019 Issue #11244 Page 38
Do Lasers Tell the Whole Story? Glenn Traylor Lasers can be exact, but their data can be misinterpreted. Having the equipment is only part of the equation—it also must be used and understood properly. For example, the connection in the photograph [See PDF or View in Full Issue] was misallocated. The plate should have been dropped... Read More October 2019 Issue #11243 Page 38
Is This Happening at Your Plant? Glenn Traylor At a recent TPI 3rd Party Audit, the In-Plant Inspector (IPI) and I were inspecting trusses coming off the line as is normal in an audit. A stacked truss caught my eye, mainly because the top plate did not line up with the plate on the opposite side of the truss. Upon careful examination, indeed... Read More September 2019 Issue #11242 Page 38
Does the Manufacturing Facility’s Environment Affect Quality? Glenn Traylor Can quality be determined by examining the environment of the facility manufacturing the product? It seems like the two are unrelated, but, after evaluating hundreds of facilities, quality seems to be proportional to the environment of the manufacturing. By this, I’m not saying that brand... Read More August 2019 Issue #11241 Page 34
Compression or Tension Web Configuration—Which is Better? Glenn Traylor On a recent Quality Assurance Audit at a large facility, we witnessed a floor truss builder carefully spacing out his floor truss webs in the allotted space available with precision and care. He was very meticulous. I asked him why he was doing that and he explained that his in-house inspector... Read More July 2019 Issue #11240 Page 32