KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST A-1 NEWS

The past several weeks have presented an extraordinary crisis for our nation, our companies, our employees, and our families. It feels like every day presents new challenges to navigate and a new playing field with regard to government policies, regulations, and red tape. We have a lot of smart people at our company but, if I’m being honest, trying to wade through it all alone would have yielded less than ideal results.

120 people can get a lot accomplished when they are all fully engaged in an activity. In my last message (March 2020) I shared how SBCA’s strategic plan was drafted based on the responses from twenty-three percent (105) of the member and eight percent (52) of the non-member component manufacturers (CMs) we surveyed. Based on that robust input, the SBCA executive committee and standing committee chairs and co-chairs developed four strategic goals for the trade association over the next five years (to learn more about the strategic plan go to sbcindustry.com/strategic-plan).

There is a real opportunity for our industry to expand and enhance its role in the sup-ply chain. This is due to all the attention being paid to the systemic labor shortage in the construction industry and how offsite industrial framing, like the roof trusses, wall panels and floor trusses our industry produces, can effectively solve that pain point.

My goal as president is a simple one: It’s to help everyone sell more components. Looking at recent market share data in the 2019 Annual Builder’s Practices Survey, roof trusses account for 63.8 percent of all roof framing (Figure 1). That is a solid percentage of the market. However, when you account for the fact that in states like mine (Florida), where the roof truss market share approaches ninety percent, there are is still a lot of opportunity for growth. The best example is Texas, where the roof truss market share is considerably less.

Recovering from a cybersecurity attack can be costly and time-consuming. An attack in 2018 cost A-1 Industries approximately $1.4 million and took the entire operation offline for eight days. “It’s affected A-1 for a lot longer,” Mike Ruede, EVP & COO of A-1 says. He estimates the long-term effects “lasted more like six or eight months” and indicated that A-1 still occasionally comes across something that’s missing or broken as a result of the attack more than a year ago.

The Structural Building Components Association has been blessed with strong leadership over its history. Whether itʼs individuals like Greg Griggs, who recently completed his term as president and made the organization stronger than when he started, or our incredible staff team that has been with us for so many years, we have been able to thrive relying on experience and “gut checks.” This approach has allowed us to build a strong foundation on knowledge and best practices that we have used to create valuable tools for component manufacturers (CMs) and react decisively to issues that threaten market share of our products.

As I enter into the role of SBCA president for the coming year, I am convinced that we need to change how we look at our businesses and our employees. This indus-try has been around for more than six decades; we obviously know what we’re doing. A lot of innovation has gone into the design and manufacture of our products over that time as well. Yet, we continue to approach our customers like it’s the 1970s. It’s frustrating that we still need to convince our customers that our products are the best way to frame a building!

“Creative problem solving is key, just like when designing trusses, the answer isn’t always so clear. You have to evaluate the situation and come up with a solution to accomplish the goal.” That was part of Jason Smith and Travis White’s instructions to their designers at A-1 Industries (link is external) in Fort Pierce, Florida. Jason, a design trainer, and Travis, the company’s design manager, are providing opportunities to help their team stay sharp, think on their feet, and be prepared to handle design-related situations as they arise.