On August 4, 2026, John Chipman “Chip” Dean passed away at his home in Placerville, CA after a battle with cancer. Chip served component manufacturers for nearly 50 years, in a wide range of leadership and entrepreneurial roles. He took what he learned in his first eight years...

My monthly column, The Last Word, focused on a very hot topic for January, “(When) Will AI Overtake the Truss Industry.” Delving further into this burning issue, I turned away from random YouTube AI sessions and went to a better source, the School of Data Science at the University of...

Can truss software work well without being bundled with the purchase of truss plates? That is a 46-year-old question that many have asked over the years. While I haven’t evaluated the newest software-only offering, I did personally evaluate two prior offerings while I was working in a...