Wall Fabrication Solutions from Vekta Rob Bellian Skills shortages, increased costs, margin pressures, and continued demand for new builds across the housing market have in recent years accelerated the focus on automating the prefabrication of lumber wall frames, roof trusses, and lumber floors. Today, the prefabrication of lumber wall frames... Read More May 2023 Issue #15286 Page 50
Advertiser Forum: Rationalizing Our Habits Anna Stamm To some degree, we are all creatures of habit. We all have routines that we repeat on a regular basis. What differs between us is how many routines, how much repetition, and how much they do or don’t matter to us. So occasionally, it’s good to step back and evaluate whether our... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 6
Spida Machinery’s Automated Apollo Saw—Evolution Tony McCoy Back in the fall of 2001, when I was a component manufacturer, Bevan Lines, Director of Spida Machinery, came to a sales meeting in Southaven, MS, to introduce our sales team to the first automated pull saw in the truss industry — the Computerized Spida Saw, better known as the CSS. The... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 17
A Message of Caution to New Component Manufacturers Todd Drummond This message is for the new component manufacturers (CM) who have recently and will shortly be entering the component manufacturing industry for wood trusses or wall panels. First, welcome to the industry – it is very rewarding, but I must caution you about this new endeavor. It is not for... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 25
A Tailor-Made Lean Lumber Picking Solution Edmond Lim, P.Eng. The implementation of a Lumber PickLine is a quick study in lean manufacturing tailor-made for each component plant’s building constraints and saws. A Lumber PickLine can semi-automatically feed any linear saw or any component saw. A saw that is fed lumber from a PickLine is a just-in-time... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 47
Backwards Compatibility: Unlocking the Full Potential of Your Investment Rob Bellian Backwards compatibility is a feature that allows newer versions of software or hardware to successfully work with older versions. This point came to mind during my recent visit to one of our long-time Vekta customers. This plant in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, Australia has been operating... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 54
Glued Roof Trusses Tuomo Poutanen In my previous article, The Evolution of Glued Trussed Joists, in the August 2021 issue, I explain that glued trusses have potential in floors. The new G-joist has high resistance. The chord shear failure is eliminated as the web finger punches the chord. The web-chord glue area is big. The mean... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 94
The Last Word: LBMs and the Component Business Joe Kannapell The contemporary consolidations within the Lumber and Building Materials (LBM) business were prompted by consolidations within the home improvement retail industry. Home Depot started the movement in 1979, and its dramatic growth forced Lowes to follow it, converting its stores into mostly... Read More April 2023 Issue #15285 Page 136
From Pull Saw to PieceMaker Linear Saw Tony McCoy Immediately after I graduated from high school, my father, never one for complacency, sent me out to find a job for the summer. I remember walking into a local lumber yard looking for work. The gentleman I spoke with didn’t have a position, but he knew that the production manager at a... Read More March 2023 Issue #15284 Page 17
How One Wood Truss Industry Leader Uses Industrial Engineering Practices of Work Minutes to Excel Todd Drummond We can always learn things from industry leaders, whether we work with them directly or simply appreciate what they have accomplished. A perfect example comes from A-1 Industries and their commitment to using industrial engineering practices and work minutes. Although TDC has not performed... Read More March 2023 Issue #15284 Page 25