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Article
2005 May
- The editorial focus of this issue is Design & Engineering Advancements.
- The market continues to drive component manufacturers to take on more building design functions.
- The truss manufacturing business is very challenging, yet has the ability to also be very rewarding through helping people and seeing the fruit of one’s labor.
Article
2005 May
- Positions in the Stark program at Marion Correctional Institute (MCI) are coveted among inmates.
- Inmates that participate in the program are promised the opportunity of a fresh start after they get out of prison.
- Stark leadership believes that the program addresses a chronic shortage of truss technicians in the industry while providing felons a chance to learn a valuable skill to apply as they reintegrate into society after their release.
Article
2005 May
- Whole house design continues to be the talk of our industry. What does it mean to your business?
- Today’s builders are actually land developers; the sooner they are done developing the sooner they get a return on their investment.
- Builders are increasingly asking for turnkey solutions to their primary land development problem: housing.
Article
2005 May
- Ronnie Wright was a bigger-than-life presence in the industry.
- Wright’s equipment was innovative and built to last. His commitment to quality and durability remain a lasting legacy.
- Friends, customers and family remember Wright’s humor, compassion and his one-of-a-kind personality.
Article
2005 May
- Wood allowable stress design, used extensively by the truss industry, does note change significantly in the 2005 NDS.
- One of the key features of the 2005 NDS is the work done to make the NDS more consistent in terminology and clarify sections that have been known to be confusing in the past.
- The 2005 NDS has very minimal impact on allowable stress design and has the added benefit of having a transparent approach to learning and using load and resistance factor design.
Article
2005 May
- Four acres and a cloud of dust is an apt description of Idaho Truss.
- Some component manufacturers choose to embrace and not resist the whole building design concept.
- One major key to success with respect to whole building design is being compensated for building design and engineering work.
Article
2005 May
- Positions in the Stark program at Marion Correctional Institute (MCI) are coveted among inmates.
- Inmates that participate in the program are promised the opportunity of a fresh start after they get out of prison.
- Stark leadership believes that the program addresses a chronic shortage of truss technicians in the industry while providing felons a chance to learn a valuable skill to apply as they reintegrate into society after their release.
Article
2005 May
- 2375 students have enrolled in the TTT Level I online course since August 2002.
- Version 2.0 is faster, easier to navigate, includes all dialogue text, and holds the user’s attention better with twelve different narrators.
- Version 2.0 breaks sections into smaller bite-size pieces followed by quizzes to reiterate and review material.
Article
2005 June/July
- One of the three educational tracks for component manufacturers will spotlight customer relations: Building Relation-ships for Business Growth.
- Industry veterans Mike Ruede, Joe Hikel and Craig Plummer will each present one session within the track.
- BCMC sessions and the concepts covered within them are created by component manufacturers for component manufacturers.
Article
2005 June/July
- Thirty states, Washington DC, the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the National Park Service and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted the IBC.
- Twenty-seven states, Washington DC and the U.S. Virgin Islands have adopted the IRC.
- While monitoring state, regional or local code activities may sound as fun as watching paint dry, the effect of bad code adoption can be profound.
- Our industry goal is to facilitate an effective monitoring process. The more knowledge we have, the more power we will have in shaping our industry’s future.
Article
2005 June/July
- WTCA recently became a member of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
- ALEC is made up of over 2,400 current state lawmakers.
- ALEC’s task forces give private enterprise a voice with lawmakers through drafting model legislation.
Article
2005 June/July
- This issue of SBC Magazine focuses on Legal & Legislative issues.
- The majority of the building components industry feels they have little or no control over things like the transportation regulations.
- Can local advocacy be worth the work? One WTCA chapter believes it is. Read Adventures in Advocacy to learn how they rallied for change.
Article
2005 June/July
- WTCA has created a spreadsheet program that is essentially a comprehensive CODE CALCULATOR.
- The goal of TLG has been to provide a standardized format that can be used:
- To quickly and easily define the loads to be applied to trusses and structural building components.
- By jurisdictions that require loading summary pages to be produced as part of the construction project submittal process.
Article
2005 June/July
- How does a man with no interest in politics end up hosting a plant tour for Senator Chuck Grassley?
- The benefit of being involved is there may come a time when you will get a chance to have a direct voice and make a difference.
- There are great opportunities to get involved in local political activities and serve on committees that are looking into issues that are vital to our industry.
Article
2005 June/July
- Trussway provides a perfect industry business case study on the high energy acquisition craze of the 1990s, what can go wrong and what one can learn from it.
- Centralization, thought to be a cost savings business approach, can potentially hurt a company’s customer service.
- Listening to and serving customer needs fully is always a great business strategy.
Article
2005 August
- Do you have a handle on the costs of operating your plant? Discover some of your peers’ methods with the Ideas for Understanding Your Manufacturing Costs track at BCMC 2005.
- Make sure your manufacturing staff doesn’t miss the Quick Response Man-ufacturing session, which will explain how to push product through your plant more efficiently.
Article
2005 August
- The focus of this article is to direct component manufacturers where to find accurate regional, state and metro information sources for crucial economic data and analysis.
- Economic conditions at the national level and local/regional level may are likely to exist due to factors such as demographics and weather.
- Regional economies and their trends can differ dramatically. Component manufacturers may find it necessary to adjust their business strategies from region to region.
Article
2005 August
- The 11th Annual MSR Lumber Producers Council held a workshop in early June.
- In one session, an industry panel discussed topics on labor, grade stamps, mold, the availability of 2x3 lumber and ANSI/TPI 1’s new repetitive member factor.
- In another session, Francois Robichaud of Forintek East Canada, highlighted the results of a lumber usage survey distributed to component manufacturers.
Article
2005 August
- Telling a good story, a technique called narrative teaching, can make your safety training meeting come to life.
- Look for interesting "props" that can drive home points in both a humorous and graphic manner.
- Always ask specific questions to get training interaction started. Avoid "war stories."
Article
2005 August
- In the last several years, linear saws have become quite popular with component manufacturers by offering greater flexibility than traditional component saws.
- Servo-driven motors are the technology behind linear saws. Servo technology continues to advance at a rapid pace in the building components industry.
- While linear saws are ideal for onesie-twosie set-ups, the standard component saw is the best type of saw for producing multiple accurate parts produced very quickly.
Article
2005 August
- The primary goal of The Load Guide is to provide a design load calculator for each uniquely loaded roof and floor structural component that anyone involved in designing a building can use as the basis of their design.
- A secondary goal is to help ensure that everyone involved in a construction project agrees on the applied loads.
- It is important to have the person responsible for determining the loads to agree to and sign off on the loads to be applied to each uniquely loaded roof or floor component. TLG makes it easy.
Article
2005 August
- This plant can store 103 trucks of material indoors.
- Can cut 35,000 pieces (165,000 board-feet) of lumber each day.
- In the future, Shelter’s goal is to be able to hire 315 full time employees with annual sales topping $110 million.
Article
2005 August
- One concept fosters a progressive view of the future of component manufacturing: If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
- This industry is nowhere as close as it should be to achieving a true state of “automation.”
- Things that were previously a component manufacturing focus are being weighed against enhancements that will improve productivity or cycle time in all areas of plant operations: billing to design to manufacturing to shipping.