A David and Goliath struggle was brewing over the linear saw, and it was ready to boil over at BCMC in October 2002. It would pit Jim Urmson, a lone mechanic who was pioneering his first machine, against Alpine’s engineers, who had launched multiple winning machines. Though Urmson had stirred up Florida CMs and made his competitors take notice, Alpine was the first to respond decisively. And it all began with a phone call to their Director of Engineering, Dave McAdoo.
“If you can build an upgraded TCT saw, I’ll sell ten the first year,” Randy Yost told McAdoo. That was in late 2001, after Yost had watched TCTs delight many of his Florida accounts for almost a year. Yost was Alpine’s South Florida road warrior who understood the difficulty of his CMs’ work. While he was impressed with the speed of the TCT, he recognized that much of its output would have to be handled again to be bevel cut. He realized that if a single process could handle these cuts, he’d have many takers.
Yost’s call was music to McAdoo’s ears. Though he had successfully launched several new machines over the past ten years, equipment sales were currently in the doldrums, forcing Alpine to reduce staff and suspend development of new machines. He quickly realized that processing lumber linearly through a saw would have several advantages. This would be the best way to cut the “one-sies” and “two-sies” that were becoming the industry norm. And this would also permit additional marking to be applied to expedite the truss assembly process. He concluded that this could be the game changer that would put Alpine way ahead of its competitors, but only if his new management concurred.
Following the death of co-founder Charlie Harnden in 1998, Alpine was enduring the most difficult period in its 30-year history. Oddly, it was acquired by a South African entity, Dorbyl Ltd., that had no industry-related experience. After a short time, Dorbyl ousted Alpine’s head, Ron Donnini, and installed their own associate, Chris Cronje, as President. Dorbyl seemed to be intent on “flipping” Alpine, (which they did 3 years later), and would be inclined to veto any expensive new machinery project, especially one outside Alpine’s wheelhouse. It would take incredible justification to get the linear saw funded.
In early 2002, after considerable study, McAdoo proposed a dual approach to “kicking the competition’s ass.” One method would be to greatly enhance their flagship product, the AutoMill RS, and elevate it above the capabilities of the competition. The second method was to produce a “do everything” (linear) saw that could nearly rival the output of the best component cutters, though at a lesser cost. McAdoo believed that the latter product could fill his plant and become the key to Alpine’s future. After several months of very extensive justification, and back-and-forth discussion, management gave its conditional approval in late June 2002. But, McAdoo would have to deliver BOTH projects by BCMC, which was less than four months away. A highly unlikely prospect, given the new technology that needed to be incorporated.
The linear saw isn’t just a one-bladed version of a five-bladed component saw. That one blade has to articulate while it’s spinning at high RPMs. That means it needs a much beefier motor and support to resist the lateral forces generated by the inertia of that spinning mass. Urmson’s TCT only rotated about a single axis between cuts. McAdoo was proposing to rotate the saw about two axes to achieve a compound (plumb and miter) cut on a single pass, automating Florida’s most vexing cut. But he was also proposing an equally challenging cut that would delight CMs across the nation, and that had never been automated before.
“A scarf length that can be the full length of any length board” is what McAdoo was after, even with a 24-foot-long board. That requires moving the saw motor laterally while the piece is moving through the saw chamber, again having to overcome the opposing forces generated by the spinning blade. To further complicate the task, most wide members in trusses are cut from Southern Pine, which is the toughest of all species to cut accurately. To achieve a smooth and straight cut would require precise coordination between the motor that moves the saw blade laterally and the motor that feeds the lumber, in essence, a “coordinated cut.” To pull this off successfully would involve the high technology of motion control, that no one inside Alpine had mastered.
While CMs didn’t need a 24-foot “spear,” all had dealt with inaccurate butt-cuts, especially with long scarfs and raised heels. If McAdoo’s saw could master the butt-cut, AND coordinated and compound cuts, it would be the first “do anything” saw. But for Alpine’s linear saw to shine at BCMC would require a herculean effort. The clock was ticking, 105 days and counting, and jobs were on the line.
Special thanks go to Dave McAdoo and Jim Urmson for their generous contributions to this article
Next Month:
A Hail Mary Pass