Don’t Be Blind to Simple Truths for the 2023 Build Season Todd Drummond An article written and published by Russ Kathrein on LinkedIn, “The Eyes See What the Brain Believes,” struck a nerve for me. In summary, the statement “believe it when I see it” is more often than not false. As someone who has made a living assisting others for over... Read More January 2023 Issue #15282 Page 26
Turning Supply Chain Constraints Into Opportunities Edmond Lim, P.Eng. Looking back at my articles in 2022, have you noticed what several have in common? Consider the plants featured in these stories: United Edge Structural Components, “In-Line Truss Production Starts With Lumber Picking” (December) United Truss, “The Most Automated, Most... Read More January 2023 Issue #15282 Page 52
Building a Gold Standard Design Service Dave Walstad I’ve been in the truss business for 42 years, starting out as a Truss Designer and Architectural Draftsman for the family lumber company in Madison, Wisconsin. After relocating to Green Bay in 1986, I spent 10 years with Stock Lumber as Project Engineer and Plant Manager. Then, I left the... Read More January 2023 Issue #15282 Page 66
What Does It Take to Hire Good Candidates? Working as a recruiter for 30 years, I have seen everything from no jobs to no candidates, and everything in between. Now, with single family slowing and multifamily still strong, what do I expect recruiting will look like in 2023? Competitive yet manageable, especially if you understand the... Read More January 2023 Issue #15282 Page 82
The Last Word: The Current State of Robotics Joe Kannapell I’ve been covering the industry’s evolution toward robotics, but I’d like to stop for a minute and recall the days of corrugated fasteners. These clever clips proved themselves whenever trusses were flipped or ejected. Now, perhaps ironically, they still have a role to play... Read More January 2023 Issue #15282 Page 128
Innovation, Pride, Passion, Professionalism Wendy Boyd Generally speaking, I write most of the editorials for Component Advertiser – but when I was speaking to Tony McCoy, our Sales Manager from Texas and South Central, he asked if he could write an article from the heart, and I just couldn’t resist publishing his thoughts. Tony has been... Read More December 2022 Issue #14281 Page 19
Proof That Even the Largest Wood Truss CMs are Not Immune to Losing Tens of Millions of Dollars with Outdated Reporting Todd Drummond Despite the fantastic profits these past few years, some of the largest wood truss component manufacturers (CM) are losing tens of millions of dollars hidden in plain sight. Talk to any of the executives at these CMs, and they will be able to rattle off the EBITA or other P/L results, yet they... Read More December 2022 Issue #14281 Page 26
Creating Capacity Through Efficiency Tracy Roe With today’s high-demand market conditions, capacity is everything. Capacity constraints are widespread across our industry and have been for a while now. Many have added the capacity they can afford in the form of additional equipment. Some have been fortunate enough to add labor to... Read More December 2022 Issue #14281 Page 46
In-Line Truss Production Starts With Lumber Picking Edmond Lim, P.Eng. This month, we get a sneak peek at a greenfield truss plant that drank from the same punch bowl as some established truss plants to Feed the Beast! Previous articles have highlighted existing truss plants that have literally banked on Enventek’s proven in-line lean manufacturing system to... Read More December 2022 Issue #14281 Page 54
Supply Chain Optimization Rob Bellian With the COVID-19 virus still a live threat, the state of the disruption to supply chains continues to be severe as a number of regions and economies emerge into a very different world. As everyone in business knows, supply chains are critical to supplying goods and services quickly, safely,... Read More December 2022 Issue #14281 Page 64