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Component Manufacturing dverti$ dverti $ er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$$er
July 2023 #15288 Page #132
The Last Word The Rise of the Floor Truss mong the first advocates for floor trusses were two men who would later create an acclaimed component plant. Dwight Hikel and Chris Joe Kannapell, P.E. Ditzel made early inroads at Fort McHenry Lumber, such that Ditzel declared in 1972, “I think we will be eventually doing 2-1/2 times the volume in floor trusses as we do in roof trusses.” They had spread the new product across the BaltimoreWashington region, and up the East Coast into New Jersey, prompting Lenny Sylk to partner with them and start up a plant that would become Shelter Systems of Maryland. (Today that plant, under Dwight’s son Joe, builds more floor trusses than any other, and easily fulfills Ditzel’s 2-1/2 times projection.)
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Other CMs across the country found that the floor truss business was relatively easy to enter. Jack Schmitt, the originator, summarized in 1972, “An investment of $15,000 ($110,000 today) in equipment and facilities puts him into the business…to produce $4,000 to $5,000 in floor trusses in an eight-hour shift.” No special saw was required if precut webs were bought, and very little extra floor space was required, as floor machines, especially early models, could fit in a narrow low-ceiled shed. The wind was also at the back of the industry, as houses kept getting bigger and floor spans longer. Builders, like Ryland Homes, were anxious to find an alternative to solid joists, as their diminishing quality was an increasing source of warranty expense. And builders already had roof trusses suppliers who would welcome the opportunity to provide a complementary product. But those suppliers would have to sharpen their pencils and show builders the other advantages, and to the forefront came many floor truss champions. The first floor truss was built at Triangle Components in Windsor, WI, by Jim Lee and Don Steffenhagen, both now retired but long-time fixtures in the industry. Jack Schmitt gained the patent and aggressively got CMs on board, whose successors still animate our industry, including Joe Hikel and Jack Dermer (Fort McHenry Lumber), Ben and Keith Hershey (Imperial Components in Chicago), Scott Lallathin (Truss & Panel in Ohio), and Darin and Jerel Phalines (Concord Truss in New Jersey). Arguably, the most influential early proponents were Dick Rotto, founder of Trussway, in the apartment sector, and Lenny Sylk, founder of Shelter Systems, in the single family space, proving that labor cost could be halved, but that was only one of the advantages.
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