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Component Manufacturing dverti$ dverti $ er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
Adverti$$er
October 2023 #15291 Page #134
The Last Word Can Crooked Lumber Defeat Robotics? robot visited the BCMC Show floor again this year, and, for the first time, really showed its stuff, picking truss plates like there was no tomorrow. And its dynamic demo couldn’t be missed, as House of Design (HoD) positioned their Nail Plate Picking Cell right at the exhibit’s entrance. Further down the aisle were Randek and Trussmatic, who both have successfully deployed their own plate pickers in truss plants around the world. And, not to be overlooked, was Jim Urmson’s implementation 14 years ago. Surely these collective achievements have proven that robots can successfully process truss plates. Whether robots can handle crooked lumber is another matter and has been a bone of contention since the first automated equipment came to BCMC.
Joe Kannapell, P.E.
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In 1998, Makron’s wall panel line was featured on the BCMC plant tour at Western Home Center in Cincinnati (see The Last Word from July 2019, The Second Wave of Automation?). While Makron’s extruder process had little in common with today’s robotics, it was one of the first European lines to be tested with American wood and to raise doubts that the line could handle its greater variability versus its European counterparts. This skepticism was underscored by the flood of “near perfect” German studs that arrived in panel plants in the early 2000s. Given that QC requirements are much more stringent for trusses than walls, CMs were rightly concerned that too many crooks and other lumber imperfections could impede the use of roof truss robotics. Further to this point were the differing views expressed during 4Ward’s discussion panel on robotics at the Show moderated by Mike Ruede, Jr. One panelist speculated that a new material could take the place of lumber, and another suggested that Weyerhaeuser will be growing better trees and producing better wood. Others hold out the promise of 3D printing. I asked whether automated culling could be carried out at the component plant to which HoD’s CEO, Shane Dittrich, cited the mountain of culls produced when this was attempted at Katerra’s failed plant. Given that Katerra was processing Western Woods, the chance of successful automated culling of Southern Pine at component plants seems impractical, and I would say futile. Modern Southern Pine saw mills already employ much more extensive means than could ever be duplicated at a truss plant, including sonar to assess strength and two- or three-dimensional vision technology to identify defects.
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