We suppliers had to escape the bind that Jerry Koskovich’s automation portended. We had been chastened by our CMs’ excitement viewing his Auto Omni Saw at the 1988 BCMC. Then we were shocked shortly thereafter when one of our leading customers, Tom Nomeland at Superior Truss (now UFP), ordered Jerry’s seventh saw. Around the same time, our overseas CMs were clamoring for our response. In short, our customers wanted automation, and all we had was a good, but still manually operated, upgrade of Art DePauw’s saw. We had to act quickly, while we still had a few openings.
Our greatest opportunity was Jerry’s price-point – most CMs balked at paying $135,000 for the unconventional Omni versus $65,000 for the proven Easy Set. We had set out in the late 1980s to develop a semi-automated saw in the $100,000 range. Our resulting product, the Easy Set 2000, debuted in 1990. The 2000 required data entry on a touchscreen but wasn’t capable of downloading cutting parameters. Many CMs, foreign and domestic, were OK with manual data entry, since the 2000 worked with any software, and didn’t require computer networking. Some even questioned whether the Omni’s PC interface would work well in sawdusty plants. We touted the reliability of our industrial touchscreen interface that distinguished the Easy Set 2000 from the 1000. Otherwise, the mechanical frame of our saws were nearly identical, expediting production in our new 50,000 square foot plant.
Our secondary opportunity was Jerry’s reliance on outside vendors to put together his saw. Though he found an excellent machine shop nearby at Lou-Rich Industries, he sourced his electronics package and robotic assemblies elsewhere. He owned no facility to bring these parts together. And he had to develop a process from scratch and had to rely on his vendors to coordinate inputs. Jerry couldn’t perfect this overnight, and while he was developing reliable production systems, we gained the advantage of much shorter lead times.
By offering a lower price and quicker delivery, we sold dozens of Easy Set 1000’s each year in the early 1990s. Our success with the 2000 was mixed – while we sold a few overseas, our semi-automated saw didn’t catch on domestically until Ron Bergeron installed one in 1993. Ron quickly maximized the 2000’s output by using two operators: one to key-in the cutting and the other to load the lumber. When his renowned Century Truss plant was feeding truckloads of lumber daily through his 2000 saw, word traveled quickly throughout our industry. Soon Easy Set 2000 orders began to overtake still robust 1000 sales.
We could easily have been lulled into complacency as Easy Set orders filled our plant. Most CMs I called upon seemed content with our Easy Set offering and felt that the Auto Omni wasn’t affordable. Then BFS’s founders told me that they would accept nothing less than full automation. And our overseas CMs emphatically concurred, since their substantially higher labor costs justified larger capital investments. As they increasingly toured U.S. truss plants and attended BCMC Shows, their demand for full automation had to be addressed. We had to continue to catch up and perhaps overtake the Auto Omni’s increasing momentum, especially with the improving business climate we began to experience.
Then, 1991 was a true inflection point in both the economy and in saw competition. The precipitous decline of the last eight years had devasted standalone truss machinery suppliers, making them ripe for acquisition. In that pivotal year, Alpine purchased the oldest component saw manufacturer, the Clary Corporation, and their Master Saw brand. About the same time, they also bought Speed-Cut, Inc. and their Timbermill cutter. They now entered the automation fray with two well-recognized brands and their experienced support staffs. Would the leading plate suppliers, Alpine and MiTek, be able to catch the upstart entrepreneur, Jerry Koskovich, who seemed to be far ahead? The battle lines were drawn, and the strong economic rebound of the 1990s assured a vigorous fight ahead.
Next Month:
Automation Battles
Since 1970, Joe Kannapell has worked as programmer, Chief Engineer, Marketing Manager, and Sales VP for MiTek, plus 7 years at truss plants, retiring at the end of 2020.