McCabe Lumber
Joe Tepe –Components – Division Manager, Co-Owner
Loveland, Ohio
McCabe

In recent years, the market for component manufacturing businesses has changed drastically. Our industry has become extremely competitive. The drop in construction has caused manufacturers to reduce prices as far as possible in order to “get the job.” During this time, we are forced to question our estimating techniques. We believe that a critical key to success is the ability to identify our true cost on every job that we estimate. We have to be aware of the point at which the job is no longer profitable.

Todd provided us with time standards which were specific to the equipment that we use. This information allowed us to estimate our jobs with a dramatically increased level of accuracy on each project, regardless of its level of complexity. The time standards also gave us the information to measure our production and establish target output for each workstation in our shop.

Todd also offered suggestions for lean manufacturing practices, marketing, quality control, production, and design incentives. We continue to implement his ideas, which have received positive feedback from our customers. Each has resulted in improvements to our operations.

I recommend Todd’s consultation to any truss manufacturer, even during this difficult market. The expense of the consult was money well spent in improving our profitability.