Quality Assurance continues beyond the truss plant, so it’s important to keep that in mind as you’re preparing your products for handling and use by someone else. For example, this article poses the question: should component manufacturers (CMs) mark the ends of trusses? For that...

When your team is set up right, performance takes care of itself. In manufacturing, it’s easy to assume better results come from pushing harder – longer shifts, tighter schedules, more pressure on the floor. But the highest performing plants know something different: real performance...

Whether you’re facing a Polar Vortex, a Snowmageddon, or just another pending storm, a wintry winter forecast can strike fear in anyone. But the good news is that a Lumber PickLine will make it even easier for you to cope with these tricky situations. [For all photos, See PDF or View...

A Word of Introduction from Ed Lim: Charlie Vaccaro liked to use last month’s cautionary tale, “A Fable for Our Time,” as a lead-in to a speech he gave many times when invited as a guest team building and motivational speaker at component manufacturer and lumber yard sales...

Early in my career, I had the opportunity to teach woodworking. For five years at North Carolina State University, I served as both a student and a faculty member within the University Student Center. I arrived with extensive knowledge of woodworking, and during my first week, I met two...

As we start a new year, many frame and truss manufacturers are focusing on a familiar challenge – how to support their teams, maintain output, and continue delivering a quality product in a labor market that’s tighter and more competitive than ever. While technology and automation...

As we enter 2026, with the excitement of the holidays behind us, we ask ourselves, what do we need to do to ensure that the best is yet to come? In reflecting on the start of another year, we have asked ourselves, what do we need to do to succeed? How can we do things better? How can we be...

The OODA Loop, developed by U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd, stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. While often discussed as a tactical framework, its real value lies at the organizational level. The OODA Loop describes how companies perceive reality, interpret information, make decisions,...

Every truss manufacturer knows this moment. A job should be moving forward, but it isn’t. Sales thinks design has it. Design is waiting on information. Production is asking for answers. Someone opens a file only to realize it is outdated. Nobody feels negligent, yet nothing is...

Meetings are a necessary part of running any business. They can align teams, solve problems, and move projects forward. But in many organizations, meetings have quietly grown out of control. What once served a clear purpose has, over time, turned into a standing calendar block that exists simply...