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When we talk about tolerances and adjustments to suit the manufacturing process, we acknowledge that building a metal plate connected wood truss is part art, part skill, and mostly perseverance. Plate embedment is very dependent on that process, and we are very dependent on plate embedment for...

Spec sheets for truss assembly machinery describe the press: tonnage, roller diameter, table length. They say less about the software, yet on an automated table the software decides where the pucks go, where the truss sits, how much of the table is in use, and what happens when the next truss...

Silence. It’s one of the worst things a factory owner can hear Monday morning. Instead of the air compressors humming to life, saws calibrating, and forklift back-up alerts echoing throughout the floor, the only thing felt is the deafening reality of a stalled line. If you’ve...

In 1984, I read a book called “The Goal” by Goldratt & Cox; the theory of constraints articulated in the book was formative in my thinking as an Industrial Engineer. I was surprised to learn that my son’s co-op employer gave it to him as required reading a couple of years...

It was great to attend another BCMC this year in Columbus, reconnect with so many incredible people from across the country and around the world, and see the projects and innovations that continue to drive our industry forward. For nearly two decades, I have attended this show in a variety of...

Seeing everyone at BCMC and talking about how far we’ve come as an industry, I was reminded of what a visionary we had in Tommy Wood. Like FedEx founder Fred Smith, Tommy was born and raised in Marks, Mississippi — a small-town beginning for a man with big ideas. Lowell Thomas...

In 1919, Walter Gropius founded an art and design school in Germany that merged fine arts with craftsmanship and mass production. He established a cross-disciplinary approach and a philosophy that form follows function which has shaped modern architecture, furniture, and graphic design. An...

It had been a while since my last visit to BCMC, and I went to Columbus looking forward to catching up with people, seeing what was new, and spending some time around the equipment that keeps our industry moving. I eventually found nearly everyone I hoped to see, although finding my way around...

Do you know that you should never remove your grade stamps throughout the manufacturing process? The old joke, “can I be arrested for removing a mattress tag?”, is alive and well on the internet. The threatening language still confounds the naive. But, if you’ve lawfully...

Truss production has changed dramatically over the past few decades. What once relied heavily on manual jig systems, operator experience, and physically demanding processes has steadily evolved into a more connected, automated, and data-driven environment. Today, elements such as software,...