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Push (& Pull) to the Limit

A decade after it began operation, SBCRI is making a new push for industry-directed testing to benefit all component manufacturers.

Well Worth the Effort

Big C Lumber shared a lot with their guests and learned a lot as hosts. They offer a few tips for CMs looking to hold their own event. 

If You Measure It, They Will Come

BCMC Sessions Focus on Doing Business Smarter

Applying BCMC

BCMC session evaluations indicated that the BCMC Committee hit a home run in choosing the topics they did. Take a few moments to catch up on what you might have missed at this year's show.

Emerging from the Tunnel

  • A renewed sense of optimism was everywhere you looked on the BCMC show floor.
  • For the first time in six years, BCMC was exciting, encouraging and fun! Everyone was smiling.
  • The CM Roundtable is where the issues that will define our industry going forward are raised and hashed out. The next CM Roundtable is in Tucson. I guarantee it is worth the investment to attend.

Change Is Such Hard Work: Part IV of the “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know Series”

  • The truss industry’s innovative products and software form the link between new science-based discoveries and their application.
  • The mission of any professional engineering endeavor is to deploy innovative materials, designs or methods of construction that meet or exceed all regulations, protect the consumer and preserve free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade.

The Journey from Survive to Thrive Begins with a Single Step

For every step in your process, there is an industry best practice program developed with your operations in mind to help you succeed.

Truss Designers: The Marines of QC

Beyond spotting their own errors and minimizing headaches and guesswork for your production line, truss designers also have the ability to make or break your company through the quality of their designs.

I’m an Addict

  • The SBC Research Institute (SBCRI) acts as our industry’s “flux capacitor” and will transport us to a brave new world of construction we haven’t seen before.
  • The future is now and our industry only has two choices—we can each grasp at it individually, or we can hold onto it firmly through a collective effort.
  • One of the best places to get active in SBCA is by attending a component manufacturer’s-only roundtable discussion at a SBCA Open Quarterly Meeting (OQM).

Tips for Training New Truss Designers

  • A good place to start a training program is by covering basic truss industry terminology, along with your company’s terminology and approach to serving customers’ technical needs.
  • Example math and complete truss design problems using sample plans are a good way to coach new designers and bring them up to speed with your business practices.
  • Each new hire and, in general, all staff needs to know who is responsible for client communication at each stage of a project.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know, Part III

  • Innovation brings change that builds vigor and excitement in an organization or industry.
  • We should challenge ourselves to look for ways to innovate and foster the discomfort of change.
  • I am a proud supporter of the innovation revolution taking place within the SBC industry, and I invite you to join me as an advocate for change.

60 Years of Cascade

A man, a family and a community.

Bringing Stability Back into Our Truss Plants

  • The challenges of turnover leave some CMs hesitant about justifying the costs of training programs, such as SBCA’s TTT.
  • It’s worth implementing new strategies for retaining employees, such as reconsidering previous policies that may be hurting your company under current conditions. An example includes careful consideration when an employee makes a special request before automatically saying “no.” 
  • SBCA President Scott Ward calls on CMs to share their thoughts on employee retention; send suggestions to Emily Patterson. 

Pay Attention to the Grade Stamp

  • When a stick of lumber's dressed size is less than the minimum required dressed size, the grading agency includes the size in the grade stamp as required by PS 20.
  • Reduced dimensions can result in actual design overstress, unless the actual size is put into the lumber inventory of your software provider’s program.
  • It is incumbent on the purchaser to decide whether or not to use specially marked lumber; buyer beware if there is a downstream design issue and the grade stamp was not accounted for in the design.

You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know, Part II

  • When the IRC provides a solution that cannot be supported by testing of real buildings in a code-compliant application of braced walls, more accurate and technically correct engineered solutions will never be able to compete.
  • There is some resistance in the market to establishing standard factors for product equivalency or system performance because it may result in non-wood products graining an advantage over traditional OSB market share.
  • A top testing priority for SBCA is “Framing the American Dream III,” which seeks to test a typical stick framed roof and compare its performance to an identical engineered truss roof.

A Light in the Attic

Looking for an economical way to add square footage and an alternative to decreasing spans? Read on!

You Don't Know What You Don't Know

I had an interesting conversation recently with an engineer that I have known for at least 15 years.

Running Ragged? Look to SBCA

  • Everyone’s looking for good people right now, and SBCA’s WFD website connects CMs with job candidates; CMs can help this effort by posting openings and viewing resumés.
  • SBCA’s online training programs show new hires how our industry can become a career, and gives them the skills to quickly integrate and be productive at the plant.
  • BCMC and BCMC Build are the perfect ways to recharge and help us build an industry community where new ideas, strategies and friendships can converge.