What Tools Are You Using Ben Hershey I really enjoy local county fairs and local attractions, because they give us an opportunity to see cool things from the past or something related to the area (and our fair has fresh roasted corn!). Recently at our local fair, the Stanwood Fair, I walked into a building showcasing tools used by... Read More September 2019 Issue #11242 Page 28
The Last Word: Whole House Builders? Joe Kannapell Why aren’t your trussers designing walls and EWP too, as we said they would twenty-five years ago? To pave their way, we would deliver more intelligent (“IntelliBuilt”) and optimized (“OptiFramed”) software, and builders would provide flawless “BIM”... Read More September 2019 Issue #11242 Page 125
Does the Manufacturing Facility’s Environment Affect Quality? Glenn Traylor Can quality be determined by examining the environment of the facility manufacturing the product? It seems like the two are unrelated, but, after evaluating hundreds of facilities, quality seems to be proportional to the environment of the manufacturing. By this, I’m not saying that brand... Read More August 2019 Issue #11241 Page 34
The Importance of Our Leadership Actions Ben Hershey Recently, a Pastor at our church, Morgan MacPherson, shared a teaching from the Book of James talking about how our Actions Speak Louder. Though there was a lot of “meat on the bone” from what he shared, one of the additional thoughts I brought home was how important our actions are... Read More August 2019 Issue #11241 Page 42
Measure the Tempo of Your Operation Ben Hershey My wife Dianne and I were recently going through some of our old family photos and I came across this photo of Dianne’s Dad, Jack Hendershot, as a teenager on his bike delivering ice in the early ’50s. For those who may not know, before the advent of refrigeration and freezing... Read More July 2019 Issue #11240 Page 22
The Hiring Zone: Opportunity Knocks Just a couple of years ago, I went back to the commercial modular/classroom/mobile office plant where I had my first GM job in the ’80s. I was 27 then, am much older now, but one thing hasn’t changed much, technology. The stations had the same kind of equipment, home build when... Read More July 2019 Issue #11240 Page 80
Expect Margins and Lead Time to Decrease in Most Markets Todd Drummond Many of us have been in the industry long enough to clearly remember the pain of the ‘08 crash. Before the crash, everyone was very optimistic about their own growth potential because the building economy was on fire, which gave everyone a reason to expand their manufacturing capacity like... Read More June 2019 Issue #11239 Page 22
Empower Your Team to Success Ben Hershey When I recently started some restructuring work for a client, I saw a sign posted on the wall. As shown in the image [see PDF or View in Full Issue], it took a sad approach to giving 100% at work. How many of the associates on our teams show up to work on Monday with this attitude and energy... Read More June 2019 Issue #11239 Page 44
Celebrating 20 Years of Texas Trusses Joe Nolte It was April 1999 when my brothers, Travis and Jason, and I were given the opportunity to purchase a small, residential-only truss plant in Gatesville, TX. What was once known as D&A Roof and Floor Trusses became the first location of Noltex Truss. Jason and I worked together building and... Read More June 2019 Issue #11239 Page 66
Advertiser Forum: Strategy vs. Manipulation Anna Stamm It’s natural to strategize in our daily lives. We try to plan our actions to produce the optimal results. We may not be successful as often as we’d like, but we attempt to maximize our time and effort. So, what about the times when people take it a little too far? Embellishing or... Read More May 2019 Issue #11238 Page 6