Joe Kannapell

Wall Panel Technology, Part VII: A Deeper Dive into Automation

Joe Kannapell

Toll Brothers imported an automated panel line commensurate with their luxurious homes, or so they expected. Perhaps because the European economy was ailing in the early 1990s, Randek from Sweden, like the Makron company from Finland before them, offered Toll an excellent deal. But Randek was an...

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October 2024
Issue #16303
Page 10
Todd Drummond

Automation Worth Considering for the Building Industry

Todd Drummond

Automation within the building industry has been ongoing for decades but at a slower pace than other industries. So, what do we mean by automation? Let’s focus on two types: automation for building estimation and automation for roof truss manufacturing. Both will be discussed at the...

#16303 Cover image
October 2024
Issue #16303
Page 26
Ed Serrano

Revolutionizing Frame and Truss Manufacturing: The Power of Real-Time Optimization

Ed Serrano

In today’s fast-paced frame and truss manufacturing environments, efficiency and waste reduction are paramount. Traditional production methods often fall short in meeting the demands of modern businesses, paving the way for Real-Time Optimization (RTO) and Just-In-Time (JIT) delivery to...

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October 2024
Issue #16303
Page 58
Joe Kannapell

Wall Panel Technology, Part VI: Panel Equipment Innovations

Joe Kannapell

As automation and robotics are increasingly embraced, it makes sense to review examples of successful implementations from the pioneers of past systems. Interestingly, the first successful fully automated component assembly in the U.S. involved wall panels rather than trusses. However, in many...

#16302 Cover image
September 2024
Issue #16302
Page 10
Todd Drummond

Why Are So Many Companies Unknowingly Losing Millions?

Todd Drummond

Millions of dollars are being lost by many companies that don’t recognize they have a problem — Does your LBM company have more than $50 million combined sales? Quantified as a ratio of sales, according to Six Sigma case studies, the cost of poor quality, defined as waste,...

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September 2024
Issue #16302
Page 26
MiTek Staff

MiTek to Showcase Innovative Solutions at BCMC | FS 2024

MiTek Staff

As a global pioneer in the building components industry, we’re looking forward to presenting our integrated solutions suite at the upcoming Building Component Manufacturers Conference (BCMC) | Framer’s Summit 2024. Our booth at the event will feature best-in-class software, automated...

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September 2024
Issue #16302
Page 52
John Holland

Innovation Through Legacy: Transforming Truss Design with Paragon

John Holland

What if the future of truss design isn’t just about developing better tools, but redefining the entire process from the ground up? On August 15, we publicly announced Paragon — a product that will change the way trusses are designed and built. A product that took years of...

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September 2024
Issue #16302
Page 80
Joe Kannapell

Wall Panel Technology, Part V: Whole House Evolution

Joe Kannapell

The dream of having a single person model an entire structure was admirable, but developing the software to do that turned into a decade-long struggle. Five years ago, I chronicled the development saga in my series on Fifty Years of Truss Design, Parts XI – XV. As the story told, the...

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August 2024
Issue #16301
Page 10
Todd Drummond

Retaining Profits Amid Margin Compression

Todd Drummond

What was widely expected has finally happened. Years of very profitable high sales led to vast increases in capacity to meet that demand, but now we have declining sales volume—the classic too much supply versus not enough demand to maintain margins. Some like to call this margin...

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August 2024
Issue #16301
Page 24
Glenn Traylor

What Can We Learn From the Recent CrowdStrike Debacle?

Glenn Traylor

In the early morning hours of July 19, 2024, there was a major collapse of world commerce. According to the company CrowdStrike, a defect in a content update to its Falcon cybersecurity defense software for Windows caused a world-wide crash that impacted many businesses, most notably the...

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August 2024
Issue #16301
Page 33
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