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Component Manufacturing dverti$ dverti $ er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$$er
March 2023 #15284 Page #25
How One Wood Truss Industry Leader Uses Industrial Engineering Practices of Work Minutes to Excel
W
e can always learn things from industry leaders, whether we work with them directly or simply appreciate what they have accomplished. A perfect example comes from A-1 Industries and their commitment to using industrial engineering practices and work minutes. Although TDC has not performed consulting services for A-1 Industries, nor are they endorsing my services, their story reinforces a message that I cannot repeat enough – you must use reliable methods for basic unit measurement for pricing, scheduling, and shop efficiencies.
Todd Drummond
Recently, the Structural Building Components Association (SBCA, of which TDC is a member) published a video by A-1 Industries explaining their facility and some of their lean practices. A-1 is considered one of the premier component manufacturers (CM) for wood trusses. Mike Ruede, President and COO of A-1 Industries of Florida and A-1 Industries of Georgia, has served many years as a leader within the industry as part of the SBCA as a past president and in other prominent positions. As quoted by John Herring, CEO and Chairman of A-1 Global Holdings, Inc., “Using the latest state-of-the-art automation and our proprietary software, A-1 is in the top 5% of the country in single-site production for quality and efficiencies. Our facilities cover over eight acres located on 140 acres. We have room to grow, unlike anyone else in the industry. What sets us apart from all others is our people, our software, and our facilities. Our mission is to use technology to change the way America builds homes.” At the minute 3:30 mark in the video, Ruede begins to talk about how they measure every piece using man-minutes, which also can be defined as work minutes, reasonable expectancy (RE), or scheduled units (SUs), in which RE and SU represent 1/100th of an hour or minute.
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