NVR Building Products Co. - truss cutting and building optimization

NVRpsilas homebuilding facility in Thurmont, MD realized that there is too much time wasted in double handling of the truss pieces as they move from the cutting departments to the framing departments. The Cybersaw cuts pieces of wood for the truss from longest to shortest which are sent to a catcher who loads them onto a cart. The catcher then rolls the cart to the framers, and the framers sort the pieces onto two or three carts representing the left side of the truss, the right side of the truss, and sometimes the middle. This resorting by the framers can take up to 45 minutes of non-value added time. After implementation of the solution, the team is anticipating a reduction in the amount of material handling by the framers. This reduction will decrease the framers setup time and increase their efficiency and will also provide ergonomic benefits. These ergonomic benefits include a reduction in the amount of times the operators bend down to pick up the pieces of lumber, less heavy lifting, and less traveling. Compared to the current process, the two final design alternatives are a new cart design and a new cutting scheme.