Sixty Years of Machines, Part XVII: Automation Takes Hold Joe Kannapell The future of automation was on display at the 1988 BCMC, but few of us recognized it. Two leading truss plant owners did, however: Lenny Sylk of Shelter Systems and Dick Rotto of Trussway. Lenny’s purchase of the automated saw encouraged others to follow suit. Dick demurred on the... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 10
What It Takes to Provide Responsive Service and Support Wendy Boyd For Spida, our promise rests on service, support, and making sure you have the right machine for the job. We’re proud to say we offer responsive, boots on the ground service and support across the globe! Let’s face it – inevitably at some point in a machines’ life,... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 17
Costly Errors from Lumber, Leadership, HR, and BF/Man-Hour Todd Drummond The new 2021 build season is upon us, and everyone seems to be excited about the 2021 opportunities that seem apparent with the robust build economy. Many companies had their most profitable year in 2020, yet others struggled, stating that commodity pricing and covid were their major negative... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 29
Where is Your Focus on Manufacturing? Glenn Traylor Quality, Productivity, and Speed are intertwined and impact each other. Most managers create this Venn diagram in their mind [for image, See PDF or View in Full Issue]. We often hear: “First we need to work on efficiency before we can focus on quality.” “We can’t... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 39
Industry Ecosystems and the Future Ben Hershey Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I am sure you have heard that statement before, and I am sure you, like 4Ward, have pivoted/changed a program/created a new product/etc. and then seen a competitor imitate it. It might bother you, but most of the time, they just do not have the... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 46
Flexible Options for Managing Your Schedule Tracy Roe At Eagle Metal, our TrueBuild® software gives you many advantages in efficiency, including for the critical, yet sometimes overlooked, process of scheduling. Our Job Management software gives fabricators the options they need to make scheduling as simple or as complex as they want it to be.... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 54
eShop Simplifies & Modernizes Plant Management Software John Croll Alpine’s latest eShop Plant Management Software simplifies the user experience for shop employees and managers alike, while collecting robust production data to maximize operational decision-making. Plant Managers face difficult tradeoffs. On the one hand, they are responsible for... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 64
Championing the Design, Make, Build Approach to Construction: How Design Collaboration Leads to Greater Project Success Benjamin Tabolt In the spirit of working collaboratively to ensure project success, MiTek is championing the Design, Make, Build (DMB) approach to construction. This approach creates value-added relationships through the entire supply chain by encouraging integrated project delivery, wholistic design approach,... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 71
April Showers Bring May Flowers and Automation Chris Scott By April of each year, we’re ready to embrace the change Spring brings. Longer days, sunshine, warmer weather, baseball season, my corvette comes out of hibernation… the list goes on. Another change we’re fully embracing is the offsite manufacturing growth happening within... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 77
What Will Come From the Stimulus Money? Ray Fedorko In his March 22, 2021 piece in the Wall Street Journal, Jon Hilsenrath’s article title says it all: “Stimulus Checks Have Left U.S. Households Ready to Spend.” Apparently, a lot of study has gone into how the population spends their cash windfalls, and the trend is... Read More April 2021 Issue #13261 Page 82