The Last Word: Coming of Age at BCMC Joe Kannapell What I experienced at the truss industry’s first trade show was the bare bones beginning of fifty years of industry progress. But, at first glance in 1971, it didn’t seem so, as I found only a handful of 8x10 booths, tucked in the corner of the Louisville Fairgrounds. Yet plenty of... Read More October 2021 Issue #13267 Page 132
Advertiser Forum: New and (Maybe) Improved Anna Stamm Every time a company adds “new and improved” to the label of something I am buying, I have a moment of fear and frustration. I bide my time until I try using this “improved” product, whatever it may be, and then I will assess if the improvement is something I will... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 6
Sixty Years of Machines, Part XXII: Linear Saw Convergence Joe Kannapell In the 1990s, two small town entrepreneurs tackled vexing cutting problems, but from very different angles, and their innovations set the table for today’s linear saw industry. Jim Urmson, working in Mt. Dora, Florida, population 14,000, started from the ground up, aiming to automate his... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 10
Spida Meets Your Requirements Head On Sean Hubbard Recently, in lieu of my 15-year-old son destroying my personal vehicle while working through drivers education, I decided it was safer to purchase a vehicle specifically for him. For several months, I browsed the internet, visited car lots, and test drove cars. Eventually, this became such a... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 19
Solve The Most Pressing Problems with A Different Mindset Todd Drummond 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... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 37
Is Your Equipment Up to the Challenge? Glenn Traylor 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... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 47
Communicate Through the Cloud Tracy Roe It’s a simple fact—successful projects depend on good communication. What’s not so simple—there’s a tremendous volume of information that must be shared between multiple stakeholders in any construction project. Last month’s article, The 3D Model Everyone Can... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 54
Adopting More Efficient Ways to Solve Problems Chad Komnick For more than four decades, JL Schwieters Construction (JLS) has provided quality and dependability to the building industry. Brothers John and Leo Schwieters built the company in Hugo, Minnesota, and it has grown and built a reputation of reliability in the Twin Cities’ framing... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 60
Building Your Business with Alpine and STITCHER Alpine Team How do you get a new component manufacturing business up and running at a competitive speed as efficiently and quickly as possible, on the eve of a global pandemic, when you’re short on start-up capital? The two-part answer is simple: Alpine® and STITCHER®. United Southwest... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 70
My Favorite F Words: Fall, Football, and Fellowship Chris Scott We once again are at the end of summer, patiently waiting for the high temps to subside, the leaves to start changing, and Fall to officially begin. With the arrival of Fall, we get a new school year, football, Halloween, and so much more. One of the Fall events I have always looked forward to... Read More September 2021 Issue #13266 Page 75