Truss QC Entering the Digital Age

In the SBCA booth at BCMC 2018, SBCA staff member Joe Schauer displayed how the SBCA Quality Control (QC) Committee’s initiative is a giant step forward in the area of component manufacturing QC. Josh Dermer of American Truss, which has been working with SBCA staff as a beta site, says, “The benefit this program will have to QC is huge. We’ll be able to gather more information than before without impacting production.” 

Using digital means inspectors will be able to quickly and efficiently inspect and document a plated joint’s quality (see digital edition for image). In addition to in-plant QC, the same joint can be inspected after shipping and after installation, giving comprehensive information about the truss’s quality throughout the handling process. 

While the demo at BCMC was performed on a laptop, the intent is to make the program compatible with mobile devices, enabling quick, on-the-spot processing. This is also an approach that will make individual joint analysis more affordable, allowing everyone to participate in the movement towards having a comprehensive QC process.