Robotic – Automated Solutions for CMs Shane Dittrich Alpine & House of Design are Partnering to Bring the Latest in Automated Solutions to Component Manufacturers At a trade show last fall, my business partner and I met a third-generation owner of a truss plant. He was in search of ideas, perhaps a fresh perspective, new technology maybe?... Read More September 2020 Issue #12254 Page 64
Do You Know If Your Floor Machine Needs Attention? Glenn Traylor The old joke is: “What time is it when an elephant sits on your fence? Time to get a new fence.” So what time is it when your floor trusses look like this? It might be time for a new floor machine or at least some attention. In the photo [See PDF or View in Full Issue], the floor... Read More August 2020 Issue #12253 Page 35
How Can Member to Member Gaps Be Corrected? Glenn Traylor The Advertiser - June 2017 | Page #30 Compliance with ANSI/TPI 1–2014 requires maintaining member to member gaps at less than 1/8 inch. An exception would be for floor truss chord splices where the limit is 1/16 inch. While building trusses, the code calls for tight joints. In a... Read More July 2020 Issue #12252 Page 35
EPDs Give Consumers Environmental Assurance for Using Wood Products Robert Glowinski Imagine you’re standing in the bread aisle at your local grocery store, contemplating what loaf you should take home that day. If you’re like any of the millions of health-conscious shoppers, you’ll subconsciously turn the loaf over and read the nutrition label for a better... Read More July 2020 Issue #12252 Page 100
Are You Receiving Your Building Materials Properly? Glenn Traylor The largest expense in a truss plant’s operation is the lumber cost. It often represents 50% to 60% of the selling cost of the truss. With such a high percentage, most managers are always focused on saving lumber, optimizing lumber, and searching for the best price. Those aspects are... Read More June 2020 Issue #12251 Page 35
Better Component Bidding and Delivery with STITCHER Alpine Team It’s official—Alpine’s new STITCHER software has the industry buzzing—and even a brief examination reveals why Preparing construction component projects for bidding and ultimately for scheduling and production can be difficult, time-consuming, and subject to input... Read More June 2020 Issue #12251 Page 60
Integrated Closed Wall Panel Systems Greg Watson For many years, wood frame wall panels have been constructed on site by contractors, and, in more recent times, by component manufacturers too. The wall panels assembled by component manufacturers primarily are open panels. These consist of lumber studs at predefined centers sheathed externally... Read More June 2020 Issue #12251 Page 70
The Intrinsic Value of Hands-On Quality Assurance Glenn Traylor What makes up a great Quality Assurance Program? As you’ll recall, I listed 9 essential components for good QA in an article last year, “How Does a Fabricator Gain From a 3rd Party Audit?”. It’s no surprise that each one is rooted in the personal, on-site interaction that... Read More May 2020 Issue #12250 Page 37
How Do Your Manufacturing Errors Rank on the List? Glenn Traylor Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.” Apparently, she never worked in a truss plant, where I think everyone will make them all at least once. But humor aside, let’s take a look at the... Read More April 2020 Issue #12249 Page 41
Prep Time for Truss Job Bids Cut in Half…or Even More! Alpine Team Alpine’s STITCHER software delivers significant savings for APEX Technology’s bidding and design tasks The Product STITCHER is a unique software tool developed by Alpine to free component estimators and designers from repetitive tasks and to speed both bidding and production... Read More April 2020 Issue #12249 Page 68