For those concerned that interest rate hikes will continue, the Fixed Income team at the Capital Group believe the last hike of 0.25% in early May will most likely be its last of the cycle. Many economists share that perception. After 10 consecutive hikes by the Fed, inflation is cooling at...

Four distinctly different types of truss plates came onto the market in the 1950s, but only two made it into the 1960s: the short toothed and the long toothed, neither requiring nails. These two types continued to evolve over the next decade, although along distinctly different paths, and under...

Last month’s article, Spida Machinery’s Automated Apollo Saw—Evolution, talks about the development of Spida saws from the CSS to the Apollo. For decades, Spida has been known for cutting-edge technology in our cutting equipment. This month, I’d like to take a closer look...

May 1st means that early-bird registration has opened, so it’s time to start planning your trip to join us in Indianapolis for this year’s Building Component Manufacturers Conference (BCMC)! As a member of SBCA’s BCMC Committee, I always have a personal stake in the success...

Dealing with the industry’s long machinery lead times actually has given everyone an opportunity to get creative, to stop procrastinating, and to complete those naggingly important process improvement projects — even though that’s easier said than done! This month, I am...

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...

If there is a lesson to be learned from the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March, and the ripple effect that caused a run on Signature Bank, along with the staggering declines in the share prices of First Republic Bank and PacWest Bancorp, it is this: it’s unwise to depend...

Throughout the 1950s, plate manufacturers kept busy improving their plate designs, while they paid scant attention to the machinery that CMs needed to embed them. But, in the 1960s, they began focusing heavily on machinery and laid the foundation for developments that would shape truss...

Among our industry’s unsung heroes, Walter Moehlenpah takes a close second place behind Cal Jureit. Both built pivotal, pioneering businesses, Jureit through his truss plate and Moehlenpah through his truss machine. Yet Jureit was bound to have the upper hand, as he was the truss...

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...