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...

Entering the new Millennium, the linear fed saw needed to be reborn. Though CMs had boosted productivity with bolted-on improvements to their Metra-Cut type saws, they still couldn’t keep up with automated component saws. Yet they remained an essential part of the saw shop, even though...

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...

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...

In the Design, Make, Build (DMB) approach to construction, we’ve focused on the importance of collaboration. By bringing together the component manufacturers (CMs) and trades with the designers and architects early in the Design phase, they can provide feedback on what is possible around...

The simple answer to the title question, can designs be changed during manufacturing, is yes. But, the situation is rarely straightforward and simple in reality. The better question is: What considerations are necessary when making modifications to the design while manufacturing a truss? To...

If you Google images of “automated production lines,” the results are filled with pictures of robot arms and conveyor lines. What you won’t see – people. Why? Because in automated production lines, humans tend to touch the work in progress as little as possible. Why?...

The building construction industry faces several challenges created by traditional building methods. One of the bigger challenges is that each trade is largely siloed from the other trades on a project, which can lead to schedule conflicts and communication gaps. MiTek sees the Design, Make,...

As climate patterns continue to shift, an increasing number of communities around the globe are not only experiencing extreme weather events with increased frequency, duration, and intensity, but also some are experiencing these hazards for the first time in their histories. As a first line of...

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...