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As we wrap up last year and plan for 2017, it’s important to assess what SBCA has done in order to set goals for the future. I recently joined the SBCA officers for a few days of doing just that, meeting the SBCA staff in Madison, Wisconsin. We shared ideas and discussed the challenges we’re facing—it was most enlightening. I want to highlight a few of the issues we discussed with the hope of getting everybody’s perspective as to how we move forward.
TheTrussCo takes its workforce development efforts outside the box—and onto the airwaves.
Ric Thompson, a senior truss designer with Millard Lumber, is used to taking on a challenge. “I don’t do small jobs,” he said. “I only do monsters.” Still, some monsters are more monstrous than others. Ask him about BLUEBARN Theatre, and it’s clear that this project stands out.
Safety is often about statistics, inspections, reporting, paperwork…you get the picture. But Plum Building Systems in Osceola, Iowa has found a fun way to engage employees in the safety program: do-it-yourself safety posters.
Meet Jasper Diederiks, Sales Manager at Heartland Truss.
Eras of Innovation
As the industry heads into 2017 focused on solving workforce issues with greater manufacturing efficiency, it’s instructive to look back at the August 2006 issue of SBC Magazine, which featured an interview with Gene Woloveke, the inventive force behind the Idaco Machine & Equipment Company.
Articles
It’s hard to find the right words to describe the International Builders Show (IBS) held this past January at the Orlando convention center. Enormous? Chaotic? Bewildering? Maybe all three. That description sheds some light on why the housing industry is as fragmented as it is.
Sometimes it’s hard to start a conversation. You know what you want to say, you think you know how the person you’re talking to will react, and yet finding the words to get the ball rolling and respond to the questions you know you’ll get is tough.
Chris Cozart, director of manufacturing systems for Builders FirstSource in Denver, Colorado, believes everyone’s input is needed to build employee buy-in throughout the company and to successfully implement change. Metal plate connected wood trusses are sometimes used in applications or environments that require the trusses to be designed and constructed with chemically treated lumber. The two most common types of chemically treated wood used in trusses are preservative treated wood (PTW) and fire retardant treated wood (FRTW).
Last June, Truss Components of Washington started doing something unconventional: holding regular meetings of production, design and office employees. General Manager Chad Johnson and Production Manager William Blankenship reflected on their six-month-old experiment, sharing why and how they brought these groups together and what the meetings have accomplished.
“It’s too broad of a statement to say we post job openings on the internet. The type of position we are seeking determines where the ad is placed,” explained John Holland, of Clearspan Components, Inc. “For example, when seeking technical employees, there are all kinds of stratifications.”
SBCA’s library of technical design and installation best practices has been expanded over the past year to help CMs navigate a wide array of code-related challenges in their markets.
If you’ve been in the truss industry for any length of time, there’s one phone call you absolutely dread receiving: “We have a problem; your trusses collapsed!”
For this general manager, other start-ups were more of a model than other CMs.
Quality marks are not substitutes for grade marks—FRTW will include both!
Your company does it every day: load components and deliver them to jobsites. Ben Vadnais, assistant plant manager at Windsor Building Systems, has a few tips for keeping your loading and delivery operations running as smoothly and safely as possible.
In May 2007, SBC Magazine highlighted the uniquely curved trusses used for the “keeping room” of a custom home in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado.
The concrete podium of the mixed-used Mercer building sat out the recession. Now, the redesigned building is one of a handful of developments creating a new high-rent suburb of Las Vegas.
On February 7, 2017, the structural building components industry lost one of its leading advocates and innovators, Dwight Hikel. His contributions to the industry can be found today not only in the success of his company, Shelter Systems Limited, but also in the words and actions of many of the industry’s leaders who were his peers and fellow members of the Structural Building Components Association (SBCA).
In an industry that requires competition and innovation, one man separated himself from all the others for over forty years: Dwight Hikel. Many in the industry know his story but some may not. Shelter Systems Limited started out as a small, 14,000-square-foot plant in 1976 and has grown into a cutting edge, 120,000-square-foot truss manufacturing facility. That kind of growth doesn’t happen by accident.