According to Elon Musk, “Grok 4 is already at the intelligence of a PhD in every profession.” Anyone paying attention to the rapid developments in AI understands that this statement is not exaggeration—it is a warning. Within a very short period of time, AI systems will be able to match, and in many cases surpass, the technical reasoning of highly trained professionals across multiple fields. And yes, this absolutely includes the entire wood truss, wall panel, and structural component design industry.
But here is the uncomfortable truth: very few companies are prepared for what is coming.
Just as lean principles require trust, communication, and healthy management–employee relations to achieve real results, this new wave of AI requires leaders who are willing to rethink long-held assumptions about work, training, and the role of designers. Those who resist will struggle. Those who embrace the change—and manage their teams with clarity and purpose—will gain a tremendous competitive advantage.
Food for Thought
“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” — Socrates
Are you approaching AI as an idea to be understood—or as a threat to be feared? When you think about your design department, your training process, or your internal expectations, are you discussing ideas or defending habits?
If you believe things will stay as they are, or that AI will simply be “another tool,” you may be blind to the scale of the shift already underway. To begin this conversation honestly, here are three major red flags that reveal whether a company is unprepared for the coming AI-driven design era.
1. You assume design experience will always require years of training.
Imagine telling a new designer today: “You will not be fully productive until two to five years from now.” That has been traditional wisdom for decades. And for good reason—the software is complex, the building codes are involved, and the judgment required to produce accurate structural components only comes from repetition. But this belief is about to collapse under the weight of what AI can actually do.
A quick example: a structural engineer designing a bridge. A traditionally trained structural engineer may spend hundreds of hours designing a new bridge:
- Running load calculations
- Modeling stress distribution
- Iterating beam placement
- Evaluating failure points
- Checking code compliance
- Simulating wind, vibration, and traffic load
- Producing a final stamped design
Even with modern software, it is a multi-week, or months, process requiring deep expertise. Now imagine the same engineer working with an AI system trained on millions of structural examples—every past bridge design, every engineering textbook, every known failure scenario. With AI assisting:
- Inputs are entered: span, soil, codes, traffic
- AI instantly generates multiple load-optimized concepts
- Stress models and load paths are computed in seconds
- Code compliance adjustments are automated
- The engineer finalizes and approves
A process that once took 3–6 weeks can now be completed in a single day. Now ask yourself the real question: If one AI-assisted engineer can perform weeks of design work in a single day, what will happen to staffing levels in that engineering office? They will not need the same number of engineers. They will not need the same layers of review. They will not need years-long training cycles. This is not speculation. It is simple math.
Now bring that reality back to our industry: When AI can learn 30 years of truss and wall panel design experience in minutes—and perform most tasks instantly—the traditional training pipeline collapses. What happens when AI can:
- Optimize loads
- Suggest corrections
- Produce preliminary layouts
- Detect bracing or plate errors
- Size members and material optimization
- Apply every local code flawlessly
- And remember every builder preference forever
Still think new designers will need years? Clinging to a slow, outdated training model is a clear sign your company is not preparing for the new reality.
2. The Profound Impact on Truss and Wall Panel Design
When AI enhancement becomes a reality—not “if,” but when—the impact on component manufacturing design will be profound. Design times will collapse. Training cycles will shrink. Errors will drop. Productivity will skyrocket. Staffing requirements will fall. And here is the truth many in the industry whisper privately but won’t say publicly: The rollout of AI-assisted design is inevitable—but complex. Plate vendors who control the design software spend millions annually on development. They now face a harsh dilemma: They must innovate with AI to remain relevant. But rapid innovation risks obliterating the very revenue streams that fund them—especially overseas design services.
AI does not merely improve productivity—it destroys the economic justification for outsourcing thousands of design hours offshore. Why pay for slow, error-prone human labor when AI generates 80–90% of the work instantly? This is the plate vendors’ paradox: Move too slowly, and outside competitors surpass them. Move too quickly, and they cannibalize their own profits. So yes—AI is coming. But the rollout will be careful, monetized, and slower than the market demands.
3. You underestimate how much AI will reduce staffing, shift wage pressure, and reshape who survives in the design department.
Many designers are comforting themselves with false assumptions: “AI will help me, not replace me.” “There will always be the same number of design roles.” “Companies will still hire lots of new designers.” This is dangerously naive. When design time drops from weeks to hours, staffing needs fall. When training shrinks from years to months, wage pressure falls. When competitors adopt AI, every company must adapt to maintain profit margins. There will be no choice in the matter.
The greatest threat is NOT to senior designers—it is to new designers. AI eliminates the long learning curve that once justified hiring junior staff. Entry-level roles will be the first to disappear. The same challenge will hit new structural engineering graduates. A four-year engineering graduate traditionally learns through hands-on experience: calculations, modeling, trial-and-error, iteration, and code interpretation.
But if AI performs 80–90% of that work instantly, the traditional apprenticeship path evaporates. New graduates—both structural engineers and component designers—will face fewer job openings because AI now performs the “junior-level” work they were once hired to learn.
Meanwhile, experienced designers become essential during the transition. They will guide AI workflows. They will validate complex cases. They will ensure AI outputs match real-world construction practices.
Their judgment still matters—but primarily during the transition to full AI integration. The pipeline beneath them? New designers and young engineers? They will struggle more than any previous generation to enter the field.
The Bottom Line
AI will not just accelerate design—it will redefine it. Less rework. Fewer errors. Shorter training cycles. Faster turnaround. More predictable output. Higher profits are not guaranteed. (The easier the process becomes, the more commoditized the industry will grow—and the greater the competition, with fewer opportunities to meaningfully differentiate your company.)
If you want to strengthen your competitive position and prepare for the future, begin by prepping your workflow systems now for the coming AI-driven processes—not after your competitors pull ahead. Those who have relied solely on plate vendor management systems to run their operations will be the most vulnerable. But that vulnerability deserves its own full article.
There is no better value than TDC for guiding your company through this transition. TDC combines: lean-manufacturing best practices, industrial engineering principles, and proven and practical processes and strategies to match your needs…to keep your company competitive in a rapidly evolving marketplace. Read public testimonials from industry leaders here: https://www.todd-drummond.com/testimonials/. The future is coming faster than most people realize. With the right preparation, your company can be ready—and can lead.
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