A
Th e
Component Manufacturing dverti$er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$er
May 2020 #12250 Page #131
The Last Word Joe Kannapell - P.E. Senior VP, MiTek USA www.mitek-us.com
A Tale of Two Texas Trussers
arry Dix and I had to leave Texas to find jobs in the 1980s, as oil had crashed, and no one was buying our trusses. Back then, oil was $25. Today, they’re giving it away. Both Larry and I landed and recovered in Virginia, where government spending levels out the economy (we hope)! No guarantees though. Larry bought and merged two truss companies, forming Apex Truss, with very little capital, and made it through the last downturn. He foresees a “winter-like slowdown this summer.”
L
During that 2007 nightmare, several good people left our business to go into “safe” fields like healthcare. Well, here in Central Virginia, both hospitals just laid off many well-paid nurses and other health care workers. Even our local plumber is hurting. No field is totally safe. I told my kids that a military career would be safer but had no takers. Unfortunately, we all bought into a volatile business; this is the fourth major downturn in my 50-year tenure. But the chart above shows only a single drop (albeit a big one) in the last 30 years. No words can lessen the pain of today’s dislocations, except to say that we will rise as we always have. To weather this storm, CMs will need better managers, more aggressive salespeople, and more proficient truss designers. Let us persevere and continue, as 84 Lumber advertises, to “Build on what we know.”
PHONE: 800-289-5627
Read/Subscribe online at www.componentadvertiser.com
FAX: 800-524-4982