With four Washington state locations, Louws Truss has served the Pacific Northwest as a truss manufacturer for 70 years. Third-generation owner and President B.J. Louws doesn’t claim to be a technology guy, but his Burlington, Washington-based company is certainly pushing at the high-tech boundaries with a fully robotic truss manufacturing system, installed in 2022. B.J. Louws spoke with HBSDealer on a number of tech-related topics:
On robots in the truss plant: We were one of the first in the country to implement the sort of line that we have. We’ve got robots placing plates onto lumber and then being assembled by an even bigger robot with lasers and automated jigging and all that kind of stuff. And we’re going to be installing a second robotic line later on this year, so we're moving forward on this technology.
ROI of robotics: Yeah, it is expensive, but a lot of things are expensive now. So I’ve been interested in advanced manufacturing, robotics, lean manufacturing for a long time.
And our company has invested in the cutting-edge technology for a long time. Obviously we’re looking at our return on investment. I’m not in business as a charity. We want to make money and we want to have a return. And we think that this technology makes us more competitive in the marketplace.
The origin story: Before we invested in robotics, we had essentially reached the end of the line of advances in equipment that was available in the truss industry. That’s when we looked at what else was available globally.
Louws Truss Harnesses the Power of Technology
“I think that if any company isn’t thinking about technology, they’re going to get behind very quickly.” - B.J. Louws
