Optimization is a crucial part of success and profitability in our industry. It is something that every component manufacturer works at daily in some form or another. At the same time, however, the word has so very many different interpretations that few have exactly the same approach. In this article, I want to explore a few of the most common interpretations of optimization. Perhaps reading this will provoke some thought around how you embrace the “Art” of optimization.
What do we optimize?
I want to start by discussing arguably the most common aspect of optimization — material. This is the first thing most new designers learn while they are being trained. They are instructed to look at each truss design for material lengths. If you are joint splicing, you are making sure those chord lengths are not odd. You are also taking a close look at web lengths. Can you shift a joint slightly to get that web under an even foot length? These are just a couple of examples, but the list goes on. These are the things that come to mind when most people think about optimization. There are even independent contractors in our industry today who do nothing but these material optimizations and rightfully so. As an example, if you spend just $2m per year on lumber and you can save an average of just 2% over the course of the year, that is $40,000. Is it worth your time to optimize? With average material prices near $1 per board foot, I think the answer is clear.
Now you have your job designed and ready for production. You just spent extra time optimizing everything about this job, but now you must build it. Do you optimize your work for plant efficiency? I feel like this may be often overlooked and hugely undervalued in our industry today. What is a truss plant after all? A truss plant takes commodity raw material and adds value by turning that material into a use-specific component. The value being added is in your plant. You might look at it as you are selling your plant time. You can and certainly should optimize your work for your operation. Progress has been made in our industry with automated saws and automated roof truss setup. Certainly, the setup is the most time-consuming portion of roof truss fabrication, so anything to automate that process has great value. But automation isn’t the answer for every fabricator. Fabricators can certainly look at things like batching and sequencing. Both will help get those trusses from raw material to finished goods more efficiently. If you are setting up manually, a lot of fabricators will separate their trusses by span. They will start with the longest span and the tallest truss within that span. They will build the peaked trusses, then step them down from there, shrink the span down to the next shortest and start the cycle over again. The fewer movements on the setup table, the better.
With floor trusses, the keys to efficiency in the plant are a little different. There is not a lot of automation in floor truss setup. It is a simple and straight-forward process as it is. Most efficient floor truss producers will limit the unique pieces. Unique pieces will slow down your floor truss production. Most use a standard panel length and thus a standard-length web for each floor truss depth. These webs are often pre-cut from fall-off and staged near the assembly area or even purchased pre-cut to length. End blocks are also pre-assembled and staged. It is very easy to use up a lot of short scrap by pre-assembling floor truss end blocks. Assembly sequence is typically longest truss to shortest truss. Using the same principle as roof truss setup, the less movement the better.
Lastly, let’s discuss optimizing in an area where some may have never considered looking. Have you optimized your estimating department? Most fabricators have a unique method to estimating. Often, these methods are the result of years of experience and proven results. The thing that most estimating methods have in common is that they are all different. Some estimate by designing the entire job including a placement plan and drawings. They may be in an extremely competitive market and feel like they need to be as accurate as possible. Others may look at a simple square footage number with or without some difficulty factored in. Some may even use a price book type method. Regardless of the method, make sure it is working for your operation and your market. Very few truss fabricators win every bid they send out. Some industry data suggest that quote conversion success rate numbers are in the 20–30% range. How much are you spending to win your one-out-of-every-four quotes? Some keys to efficiency in estimating are knowing exactly what your costs are and, more importantly, what makes one job more difficult than the next. Finding the balance is the key.
What tools help us optimize?
How can your software help you with any of these issues? Our TrueBuild® suite offers numerous solutions to our licensed fabricators. We have a powerful Match Webs tool in our Truss application. Match Webs allows a user to overlay several trusses on top of each other graphically and adjust webs across those trusses. Our Job Management software has functionality to allow actual labor costs to be entered by job. If a user wants to track pick, saw, setup, and fabrication labor separately, the software can handle that. If you want to track it, the software will let you compare estimated versus actual labor numbers. Our Batch Cutting application lets you virtually create your plant.
Through it all, your bottom line will rest on knowing what your costs are and identifying what makes one job more difficult than the next. TrueBuild® provides the tools you need to completely manage your operation and make solid decisions for every aspect of your business. Contact us today and we would be happy to show you these and the many other features designed to help you build more.