I’m always amazed, and irritated, when people expect an instantaneous answer. In these days of instant electronic communication, the fact that replies could be immediate is often conflated with the thought that they will be immediate. This leads to unnecessary aggravation for everyone...

A trending DIY post shows a long sequence of nail holes alongside a wall-mounted TV with a caption that says, “I knew that stud was in there somewhere.” Meant to be a humorous poke at the times when we’ve attempted new projects, it reveals how sometimes we might not have been...

The most popular outlook for 2023 that I have heard is uncertainty. Nobody has a clear picture of what the new year will bring for our industry. Large investments have been made in talent, equipment, and infrastructure to capitalize on the increased demand over the past two years. What about...

Once again, Virginia Tech will be offering its popular two-day course on topics related to wood construction. This year’s course, to be held on April 26–27, will focus on practical code-conforming design of wood structures based on provisions of the 2018 National Design...

If I compare the truss layout and design software used in the early 1980s to what is available today, it’s mind boggling. Actually, comparing layout software wouldn’t be possible since the first layout software at our company didn’t show up until around 1989! Up to that point,...

When someone in management starts complaining about how the problem is “we need change but people don’t want to change,” I wonder how deeply they’ve evaluated the real dynamics in play. If you simply dismiss employee resistance as “resistance to change,” then...

Now more than ever, every process, every motion, literally every minute counts for a component manufacturer. The saying “Time Is Money” couldn’t be more true in our industry. Ultimately, a component manufacturer is simply selling time. They are selling the value they add to raw...

A recent truss and EWP project had so many site-related problems, it must go down on my list of most memorable for all the wrong reasons. Like many of you, I’ve certainly experienced challenging jobs in the past, but it seemed like the stream of problems just never ended. As is often...

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...

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,...