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Given that our industry is in the component design and engineering business, which is closely related to the building design business, accurate and reliable engineering is central to every CM’s future success.
- Scott Ward first implemented In-Plant WTCA QC in 1998 and has more than a decade of experience with the program.
- He reflects on the benefits he first saw when implementing the QC program and how QC helps differentiate his business based on the unique quality of their production.
- The In-Plant WTCA QC program’s biggest impact for Ward’s company has been training employees and reducing customer product issues and related costs.
This is the story of how a fire, a yacht race and America’s third wealthiest citizen proved a boon for one Texas-based structural component manufacturer.
Ed Callahan, Jr. passed away on January 20, 2013, one day shy of his 80th birthday.
- CMs deal with customers with a wide range of skill sets, including those who have drawn their house plans on a McDonald’s paper napkin. I wish I were making this up!
- While CMs are not responsible for ensuring that customers brace jobs correctly, they can provide BCSI documents to help customers build a better building and stay safe.
- The BCSI book and B-Series Summary Sheets are a CM's saving grace, especially if the customer plans to install the trusses on their own or not hire an engineer of record.
- A repair may not be needed if, after adding the holes, visually graded lumber still meets an adequate grade according to the appropriate grading criteria.
- The Combined Stress Index (CSI) is the summation of axial and bending stresses divided by their respective allowable stresses, which represents the structural “efficiency” of the member; the CSI shall not exceed 1.00.
- Coordinating with trades before construction is a good way to avoid holes and notches in trusses, and the costly repairs associated with them.
High school students from the North Orange County Regional Occupational Program (ROP) Building Industry Technology Academy (BITA) worked alongside construction professionals to build this green home in Southern California.
- Ward shares an experience where a customer contract had the potential to severely damage a balance sheet.
- Don’t be afraid to admit that you do not understand contract language; if you do not, seek out legal assistance.
- SBCA’s ORisk program can help with contract fundamentals.
- Challenging times force hard and bold decisions that are risky. The survival of SBCA, BCMC, SBC Magazine and SBCRI were dependant on risk-taking.
- Private contract testing business through SBCRI led to the creation of the new and very valuable concepts of benchmark testing and code compliance tools called the Technical Evaluation Report (TER).
- The SBC industry can easily be the center of the universe for providing the structural framework of all light-frame construction and offering great value in engineering innovation.
- Safety training should never fall by the wayside, particularly when production picks up.
- It’s important to make an effort to maintain good housekeeping practices, even when you think you’re too busy to do so.
- Keeping your safety documentation up-to-date ensures you’re catching even the smallest concerns in your facility, and it helps you safeguard against serious safety issues.
Name: Micah Green
Company: Cascade Mfg. Co., Cascade, IA
Position: Project Manager/Estimator
Years in the industry: 9
From BCMC 2012 Educational Session: “Changing Codes & Planning Ahead”
From BCMC 2012 Educational Session: “Preparing for the Future of Hiring”
From BCMC 2012 Educational Session: “Metrics for Managers”
From BCMC 2012 Educational Session: “Lumber Production, Grading & Design Values Part 2: From Stick to Truss”
- WorkForce Development will need to be a corporate focus as the economy continues to improve.
- Showcasing the world of components, its unique characteristics and many career opportunities can be a powerful way to entice fresh faces into our industry.
- SBCA’s WorkForce Development website, wfd.sbcindustry.com, is a great tool for posting jobs and reviewing resumes, with new site enhancements coming soon.
- Examine each operational area for changes that could help improve overall economics.
- Make sure the design department is up to date on price changes of stock lengths of lumber, especially changes due to design value adjustments.
- Factor customer needs into optimization, along with producing a more efficient truss using less material and plant labor.
It was nothing but sunny skies (a first!) at the BCMC Build jobsite in New Orleans this October. In just one and a half days, a team of volunteers from the structural building components industry framed this three-bedroom home.
If you do a web search for current trends in U.S. urban planning, article after article will discuss similar issues. Urban planners face new challenges as a result of the recent economic downturn, and subsequent sluggish growth. A few examples include: a higher percentage of renters over owners due to foreclosures and defaults; delayed housing purchases by Generation Y; a growing desire for alternative transportation choices and shorter commutes; all coupled with a decreasing availability of urban land.
- SBCA President Scott Ward grew up in the business and credits industry pioneers for laying the foundation CMs can continue to build upon today.
- As the housing market improves, CMs need to focus on bringing new and skilled labor back into the industry.
- Technical schools, community colleges, high schools and wfd.sbcindustry.com are excellent resources for finding employees.
- The contractor should examine the trusses when they are delivered and determine if there is any damage that would impair the structural integrity of the trusses.
- BCSI recommends that trusses stored outside for more than a week be stacked on blocking and have a cover that provides adequate ventilation.
- The contractor is responsible for the construction means, methods, techniques, sequences, procedures, programs, and safety in connection with the receipt, storage, handling, installation, restraining, and bracing of the trusses.
In case you ever needed a picture to define the importance of diagonal bracing in the context of lateral restraint (i.e., top chord purlins as well), these photos of long span trusses say it all.
Meet Steve Baker from Plum Building Systems, LLC in Waukee, IA.
Apparently, the secret to surviving 50 years in the truss business is to begin by selling lumber, and then working your way into it. Heart Truss & Engineering in Lansing, MI, and Littfin Lumber (Truss) Company in Winsted, MN, are both celebrating half a century of success this year, and they share some common characteristics: one, they both hail from Midwestern states; two, their founders all started by selling lumber and building materials; and three, they all resisted the urge to expand beyond their means.
- President Steve Stroder looks back on the pace of change and some of the industry's top issues.
- SBCA took the tough stands that strong leadership requires to serve the best interests of all CMs when addressing the Southern Pine design value issue, which resulted in SBCA hosting the first Lumber Summit and the formation of the Lumber in Components Council.
- A revamped BCMC may very well turn out to be one of the best shows we have had in some time.
- Scott Ward takes on the leadership of SBCA and is the second father-son combination to serve WTCA/SBCA (Bob Ward President 1991, Scott 2013). The first pair was Don (1992 and 1993) and Ben (2009) Hershey.
- When comparing the energy efficiency of cold-formed steel and wood components, the R-value and U-factor are a good place to start.
- The R-value measures thermal resistance; it is the inverse of the time rate of heat flow through a building thermal envelope element from one of its bounding surfaces to the other for a unit temperature difference between the two surfaces.
- The U-factor measures thermal transmittance, the coefficient of heat transmission (air to air) through a building component or assembly, equal to the time rate of heat flow per unit area and unit temperature difference between the warm side and cold side air films.
No, this isn’t the latest haul from a fishing expedition; it’s actually trusses on their way to a jobsite. Northwest Building Components, Inc. in Rathdrum, ID, designed, manufactured and delivered the trusses for this project expecting to drop them off at the jobsite, which was a fishing cabin. Only when the driver arrived at the delivery location, a boat dock, did he realize this wasn’t a run-of-the-mill delivery.
Remembering the life and times of Bill McAlpine.