Chronic employee staffing shortages can be a blatant sign that a company’s employment practices need improvement. One should be very hesitant to blame external forces beyond a given reasonable period. Too many companies are simply blind to their overall company’s poor employee...

Let’s face some facts. Eventually your truss building equipment needs repair or replacement. Exactly when do you pull the trigger? When do you take the big jump? In a perfect world with endless resources, it’s an easy calculation—replace or repair the equipment when there is a...

That is a pretty bold statement coming from a guy who makes his living giving advice. After a lifetime of making mistakes, overlooking the obvious, and stumbling over attempts to be right, one might think all the big hurdles had been cleared. Not even close. In August, I learned perhaps the...

Working in our industry in several different roles and being around equipment for a long time now, I have seen what gets a piece of machinery a good reputation – it’s reliability. I have lost count of the number of times I have been talking to someone about the old Klaisler...

Mill cuts are common in our lumber today, especially with machine evaluated lumber, so it is important to know how they should be addressed and used in your product. Mill cuts are random saw cuts or planer cuts not intended to have been made. Sometimes they do not present a problem. Other...

In this follow up to our July webinar, Innovations in Strength and Versatility: Overview of the Strong-Wall® High-Strength Wood Shearwall, we answer some of the interesting questions raised by attendees. During the webinar, we discussed the new Simpson Strong-Tie® Strong-Wall...

Before the Cyber Saw was introduced, I saw its PLC “brain” control the machines on a GM assembly line. From the conference room at General Electric’s PLC factory, I was able to watch a live display of the automation systems it powered. While most were “Greek” to me,...

On a recent plant visit, we came across a situation that is hopefully rare. The truss builders had hand-cut floor truss webs at the table in several places because the webs provided with the cutting were mis-cut. The result: a truss that might “look” okay but would not be safe to...

With the economy in the United States on the rebound, truss designers are in unusually high demand. Unlike other professionals in the building industry, a truss designer is not required (at present) to have any formal education or any type of college degree. Fact is, there is presently nowhere...

There are so many challenges leaders face within our industry today that are ever-changing and, quite frankly, unprecedented. Whether your position of leadership is overall, departmental, or team level, the challenges are never-ending. Too often in our industry, people are in a position of...