Frame and truss machinery has always competed on mechanical engineering design, and it still does. But, when you ask a plant manager where the day-to-day pain and gains in their plant actually come from, increasingly the answer is software. Throughput, uptime, operator experience — these...

Affectionately dubbed 3.0, the latest generation of Enventek’s NEXPLATE injects Formula 1-style velocity to truss build tables. Building on the foundation of version 2.0 — which debuted last year at the Building Component Manufacturers Conference (BCMC) in Omaha — NEXPLATE 3.0...

Two highly consequential labor-saving innovations were hatched at the 1993 National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Show at the Astrodome complex in Houston, Texas. Outside the Astrodome, two identical model homes were being framed side-by-side, proving the labor savings of components....

In hockey, “Dump and Chase” is highly effective depending on how deep the puck is dumped into the opposing team’s defensive zone, and how hard the dumping team will chase and fight to get back possession of the puck. The strategy is to physically punish the defending team and...

We know how great the Badger EWP Processing Center is, and now you can come see it in action too. We’re pleased to offer LIVE demos in Emporia, VA, Lavonia, GA, and Columbia, MO. Just contact us to schedule a tour. Here are a few reasons why you should check it out: The Badger...

A quiet and unassuming man, John Houlihan was ushered into our business by the charismatic Dave Chambers, and together they built the foundation for today’s labor management practices. It helped that Chambers’ plant, Imperial Components, was close to the site of the Hawthorne Study,...

Structural building component manufacturers across North America often track metrics like walls, floors, and trusses shipped each day, labor hours per unit, machine uptime, and on-time delivery. These numbers are important, but they don’t tell the whole story. There’s a quieter...

I’ve been to Boston a few times, but like most business and installation trips, it usually goes the same way: fly into the airport, drive a few hours, get the work done, and head straight back home. There’s never any time to actually pause and “stop to smell the...

Good people show up. They work hard. They care. Yet output still stalls, quality still slips, due dates still move, and managers still spend too much of their day answering questions, expediting work, and solving the same problems again and again. Because when work is unclear, effort gets...

Let’s face it: growth is exciting, scary, and a great problem to tackle. But in component manufacturing, increased demand can quickly expose pressure points on the floor. What once felt smooth starts to feel tight. Work in progress (WIP) builds up and becomes expensive. Teams must work...