Does Fire Retardant Lumber Require Special Handling? Glenn Traylor Fire retardant lumber, also called FRTW, is used when a project has a requirement to reduce the structures’ ability to burn and to reduce the structures’ contribution to the spread of fire. Most fire retardant materials also reduce the development of smoke and the release of... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 33
Automation Elements That Can Benefit Any Size Truss Plant Edmond Lim, P.Eng. Do you think your plant is too small to be able to capture additional efficiencies? Or, maybe you’re satisfied with the growth your plant has experienced and you think you’ve attained an effective production system. Whether your plant is small, large, or somewhere in between, you can... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 42
The Interest Rate Watch Carl Villella If you are considering financing equipment at this juncture, you may be concerned about where interest rates are headed. You may be wondering if perhaps it might be better to wait until rates drop before you take that step to finance. Darrell R. Spence, an economist with 31 years of... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 53
Why West Fraser is the Most Trussed Name in Lumber Greg Bates As North America’s largest lumber manufacturer, West Fraser supplies the truss market with mechanically graded lumber, dimension lumber, and premium products such as Prime, Select Structural, and HiLine. Founded nearly seven decades ago West Fraser began operations in 1955 when... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 62
CS150 Reveals Biggest Revenue Drops at Dealers Since the Great Recession Craig Webb You have to go back to the Great Recession 15 years ago to find as many LBM dealers reporting sales declines as we had in 2023. But the reasons are far different, and so are the consequences. Three-quarters of the companies constituting the 2024 Construction Supply 150 reported revenue drops... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 72
Building Safety 101: Understanding the Basics for a Safer Tomorrow Ron Piester Building safety includes a wide range of best practices, including implementing fire suppression systems, conducting regular inspections on existing buildings, providing clear access to emergency exits, employing sustainable water and energy usage, and more. By understanding and adhering to... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 80
Enhancing Your Truss Design Team’s Performance with the JobLine Truss Design Skills Evaluation As a manufacturing manager, you understand the importance of having a skilled and efficient design team. If you’ve encountered our Truss Design Skills Evaluation, you know its thoroughness in assessing truss designers. This evaluation measures skills and experience across nine key areas... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 86
Design Connections: Profitability Metrics and Margin Dollars Geordie Secord In the busy world of prefabricated components, there are three conflicting metrics that owners and managers look at to determine operational performance – board feet of lumber, sales dollars, and margin dollars. I’ll start with what I believe is likely the most common but also the... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 92
Stitcher Gets a Makeover Alpine Team Imagine a looming deadline, a complicated 2D, multi-family floor plan. It will take days to get accurate measurements, manually. STITCHER® streamlines the process by capturing walls, openings, and intricate details with precision, transforming a 2D architectural drawing into a 3D model in a... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 100
Proper Loading for Solar Panels MiTek Staff As the “Green” movement progresses and energy prices go increasingly higher, more and more homeowners and commercial developers are looking to utilize photovoltaic panels (solar panels) to help get them “off the grid.” It may seem that designing for solar panels is as... Read More June 2024 Issue #16299 Page 108