For over 30 years Bruce Jones has looked for continuous improvement in producing wall panels, often being the preferred component manufacturer (CM) framers want to do business with. His success is due largely to his willingness to educate his customers to use the product he supplies to their best benefit. “You can’t just build panels and leave them with a framer to install,” Bruce says. “You have to teach them layout and the concepts of the design of your panels while they’re in the field to make certain they’re installing it correctly.” One of these concepts is “control lines,” a specific dimension line to ensure walls, floors, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and even trusses align vertically to avoid mistakes and keep various trades and suppliers on the same page.
Bruce works to ease concerns that wall panels are a threat to a framer’s profit structure by pointing out framers are now installing, not framing. “They’ll need less employees, the work will be more efficient,” he explains. Asa result, framers can build more units.