The creation of wall panel software is like the creation of all software – experienced insiders do it best. That was true with Gang-Nail’s AutoPan in the 1970s, which Joe Cotton developed while building wall panels for his homebuilding business. It was also the case with Ted Dasher’s “The Plan” in the 1980s, which he conceived while prefabbing panels on jobsites. (For more on those stories, see Wall Panel Technology, Part III: A Dash of Software.) Unfortunately, both programs languished at a time when there was little incentive to update or replace them, even from the large suppliers. However, a few individual entrepreneurs kept the fire burning.
The Early Impetus – Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, more than a thousand component plants started up, but not many of them championed wall panels. Even if they built panels, they were still known as truss fabricators, and later, as truss manufacturers. Their industry association, the Truss Plate Institute (TPI), was obviously not focused on promoting panelization. But that was destined to change beginning in 1979, when the consummate industry insider, Lenny Sylk, broadened the mission of his company, Material Fabrication, Inc., to provide the entire structural frame, of which panels were a key element. Sylk renamed his company Shelter Systems, Inc., and, in 1983, helped found a new association, the Wood Truss Council of America (WTCA), dedicated to promoting all structural components. In 1985, he validated the labor savings of panelization by erecting a componentized house next to a stick-framed house. This convincing demonstration was later replicated at the National Homebuilders Show (now IBS), energizing the push for panels. And as was the case with trusses, all that was needed was strong advocates with serviceable panel programs. [For all images, See PDF or View in Full Issue.]
Wall Builder and Plant-Net – In 1990, a wall panel champion named Lowell Thomas Wood, known to most as Tommy, broke away from Ted Dasher and began his own business. Tommy had learned the basics of software and much more from Dasher, a brilliant engineer, but he learned even more traveling the country installing and training CMs on Dasher’s panel program. His unkempt appearance and rural Mississippi mannerisms endeared him to panel designers across the country. When he released the Wall Builder program, a knockoff of Dasher’s (for which he paid Dasher a settlement), he had a receptive clientele. He also carried forward the ingenious light bar, which guided placement of framing members using arrays of lights beneath the surface of the panel table. And when he launched Plant-Net, he was the first to give each crew member on the shop floor task-oriented computer displays. But, most importantly, he brought together an experienced staff, including Alison Karrer who had designed panels for integrated builders Ryland, Diversified, and a builder in Japan, and Clark Padgett, a programmer who had worked with Dasher.
A.C.E.S. – In the late 1980s, John Ilter, P.E., son of industry founder Mehmet Ilter, and Gilles Bouchacourt formed the Advanced Computer Engineering Specialties company to mainly develop truss software. However, they seized on the opportunity to write panel software with Ryan Homes, the largest manufacturer of wall panels, in the late 1980s. Ryan contributed significant expertise to the effort, especially with regard to options management. Programmers from both Ryan and A.C.E.S. collaborated to produce a program which became the property of both companies.
Panels Plus – In the early 1990s, Ed Heil, an accomplished Texas framer, moved his business to Baltimore and established a truss and panel plant. Though he had occasionally built panels on and off jobsites in the past, he became much more focused on their design when he began competing in a panel-savvy market. Ed quickly recognized the potential value of improved panel software. Even though he had no programming experience, he enlisted the help of a contract programmer and created a panel design program that he named Panels Plus. When he demonstrated the program at BCMC, he gained a significant user base. And to expand its reach, he also created a network for the shop floor called ShopNet, which is still in use today.
The Improving Climate – The sustained expansion of housing throughout the 1990s was a sharp contrast to the ratcheting recessions of the 1970s and 1980s, which had prompted panel users to revert to stick framing. This positive trend accelerated the demand for both panel software and equipment, especially in certain regions, and encouraged others to enter the fray.
As the decades passed, the notion of adding wall panels to truss manufacturing operations evolved from a risky idea to a solid growth opportunity. The early innovators had helped write the roadmap, but leveraging their tools meant that more was yet to come. Increased demand was further accelerated by the prospect of integrating the design of floors, roofs, and walls in a unified software package, teeing up the next software battleground.
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Whole House Evolution
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