TrussFlow Townville Plant Operations
Internal proposal · Plant operations system

Every board foot.
Tracked from the lumber truck to the jobsite.

TrussFlow is a shop-floor control system built for the Townville plant. It runs on the tablets, PCs, and TVs we already have, works alongside MiTek MVP, and replaces the Excel sheets, paper QC forms, and whiteboards with one live system: inventory, production, quality, maintenance, safety, labor, and delivery.

Prepared byJorge Carvajal · Shop Foreman
ForKeith Scott · General Manager
Built onExisting plant hardware + WiFi
ReplacesExcel · Paper QC · Whiteboards
01
Receiving
Lumber in, labeled & counted
02
Saw
Live BDFT & downtime codes
03
Tables
Job tracking & OEE
04
QC
Inspections & defect codes
05
Stacking
Banded packages tagged
06
Yard
Scanned to a location
07
Loading
Scan + photo manifest
08
Delivery
Proof, GPS & damage control
The gap today

We're producing,
but we're flying blind.

The plant knows total output. What it can't see is where the hours, the lumber, and the trusses leak out. Every one of these gaps is costing real money right now, and none of them show up in MiTek.

Inventory

Lumber lives in Excel

Receiving is typed into a spreadsheet. Nobody knows real stock until someone walks the yard. Material is rejected or sidelined with no consistent record.

→ Surprise stockouts · uncontrolled waste
Production metrics

MiTek shows volume, not losses

We get total BDFT, but no startup loss, no setup time, no downtime causes, no recut tracking. The saw is our bottleneck and we can't measure why.

→ Hidden capacity we're paying for but not using
Maintenance & safety

Paper forms and a whiteboard

Breakdowns travel by word of mouth. QC is paper. Near misses go unreported, so we only learn about risk after someone gets hurt.

→ Longer downtime · no leading safety indicators
Labor

BDFPMH is calculated on guesses

No-shows, late arrivals, and early departures aren't captured against production hours. Our efficiency numbers are built on scheduled hours, not real ones.

→ Metrics we can't trust or act on
The system

Eight modules.
One per stop in the material flow.

TrussFlow follows the same path the lumber does. Each module captures data where the work actually happens: by scanning a QR code, not by filling out paperwork at the end of the shift.

MODULE 01
Receiving & Inventory
Dock · Lumber yard · Picking

Every truck that arrives gets logged in under a minute, and every bundle gets a printed label that keeps inventory live until the last board is picked.

One-screen truck intakeReference, bundle count, pieces per bundle, supplier, PO, and date.2416SYP2-208 · 11 bundles · PO 45823
Auto-printed bundle labelsThe system generates a printable 3×4" label per bundle with full material info plus a scan code. Tag it, store it, find it.
Scan-out pickingWhen pickers open a bundle, they pull the label and scan it. Stock updates instantly: a live count, not a month-end guess.
Minimum-stock alertsEach reference carries a safety stock level. The moment it's hit, the OM gets an alert to reorder before the saw runs dry.
MODULE 02
Production Metrics
Saws · Tables · Office TVs

MiTek MVP keeps running the saws and tables. TrussFlow reads its job data and adds the layer MiTek doesn't have: live losses, real labor, honest OEE.

Live job boardCurrent job, BDFT target vs. actual, cuts, jigs, and special components (webs, flats, BBU), visible at every station and on the floor TVs.
Downtime codes at the sourceOperators log stops in two taps with a cause attached, so losses land on the right bucket.SETUP · MATERIAL · WRONG MATERIAL · REPAIR · NO OPERATOR / CATCHER
BDFT & BDFPMH in real timeBoard feet per man-hour calculated against actual labor hours from the workforce module, not scheduled headcount.
OEE by areaAvailability × performance × quality, adapted to truss production, with the quality factor fed by real QC records. Finally a number that shows where the saw bottleneck really bleeds.
Works alongside MiTek. It doesn't replace it. MiTek stays the system of record for design, cutting, and table control. TrussFlow is the visibility layer on top.
MODULE 03
Quality Control
Tables · QC station · Before stacking

Quality is the third leg of OEE and the basis of the production bonus. TrussFlow replaces the paper forms and the marker board with inspection records that hold up.

Digital inspection at the tableA per-job checklist on the station tablet: dimensions, plate placement and embedment, lumber condition. Every record carries the inspector's name and a timestamp.
Defect codes & rework logRecuts, plate resets, and rejected trusses get logged with a cause, so quality losses are attributed the same way downtime is.PLATE SHIFT · JOINT GAP · DIMENSION · WRONG MEMBER · LUMBER DEFECT
First-pass yield, liveThe share of trusses passing first inspection feeds the quality factor of OEE directly. No estimate, no end-of-month reconstruction.
Bonus-grade recordsThe numbers bonuses are paid on come from signed, time-stamped inspections with defect photos attached, locked like the daily shift records.
Why it matters for OEE: without a QC record, the quality factor is a guess and so is the bonus. With it, both are defensible.
MODULE 04
Maintenance Response
Every machine · Table · Forklift

Every machine, table, and forklift carries a QR code. Any employee can report a problem in 30 seconds, in English or Spanish, and the downtime clock runs until the mechanic closes it.

Scan → reportScan the code on the equipment and it's pre-identified. Pick the language, describe the problem in plain words, set a priority: Low, Medium, High, Critical.
AI-written technical reportThe operator's description is turned into a clean technical summary with probable cause, so the mechanic arrives already knowing what to look for.
Direct text to the mechanicOne tap sends an SMS from the reporter's phone: "Table 3 needs attention. High priority." No radio chains, no lost messages.
Downtime clock tied to statusThe clock starts when the report goes out and only stops when the mechanic marks the repair complete. Every minute of downtime gets measured and attributed.
MODULE 05
Safety Reporting
Same QR codes · Whole plant

The same QR code on every machine opens a safety report. We start capturing the near misses we never hear about today: the leading indicators that predict the accident before it happens.

Three-level event captureNear miss, incident, or accident, with description and the employees involved, logged in the moment, not at the end of the week.
Live Bird's pyramidThe dashboard builds the classic safety pyramid from our own data, so management sees the base of near misses growing before the top does.
Bilingual, friction-freeEnglish or Spanish, on the operator's own phone or a station tablet. The easier it is to report, the more we actually learn.
A defensible recordTime-stamped reports with people and equipment attached: documentation that protects the company and the crew.
MODULE 06
Workforce Control
Station leads · Foreman

Each station lead checks in their crew at the start of shift. The foreman closes and locks the day. Real labor hours feed every efficiency metric. No more guessing.

Morning crew check-inLeads mark who's actually on the floor, station by station, in the first five minutes of the shift.
Coded absencesEvery absence gets a reason and a time where it applies.SICK · LATE · LEAVE EARLY · NO SHOW NO CALL · PTO · BEREAVEMENT
Foreman shift close-outAt end of day the foreman reviews and locks the record. Once closed, it can't be quietly edited.
Honest BDFPMH & OEEIf two of four sawyers are out, the system knows, and efficiency is computed on the 16 hours we really had, not the 32 we planned.
MODULE 07
Yard & Loading
Stacking · Yard · Dock

Finished trusses get banded, tagged, and tracked to a yard location. Loading is scan-and-photograph, so what left the plant is documented before the truck pulls out.

Package tags at stackingThe stacker scans the trusses in each banded package and the system prints a tag: job number, customer, jobsite address, package number, contents list, and pack date.
Yard locationsThe loader scans the tag when placing the package and assigns its yard position. Any package, found in seconds.
Scan + photo loadingEach package is scanned onto a specific truck and photographed in place. Truck, carrier, and driver details captured with the load.
Load manifest PDFWhen loading closes, the system generates a manifest with photos, the package list, and the contents of every package. Proof of exactly what shipped.
MODULE 08
Delivery & Damage Control
Jobsite · Back to production

The paper trail follows the trusses all the way to the jobsite, and when something arrives broken or short, production knows the same day, not when the builder calls angry a week later.

Photo proof of deliveryThe driver photographs the unloaded packages and records who received them, with the system logging the time and GPS location.
Damage & shortage reportsDamaged, broken, or missing trusses get logged on the spot with quantity and cause: unloading damage, drop, transit accident, or other.
Instant rebuild ordersA damage report immediately notifies production and dispatch so replacements get built and shipped without waiting on a complaint.
End-to-end evidence chainPack photos → load photos → delivery photos → signed receipt. When a dispute comes, we have the record.
What management sees

One dashboard.
The whole plant, live.

Office TVs and any browser show the same numbers the floor is generating in real time, and every daily record is locked at shift close, so the history is trustworthy.

Productivity

BDFT & BDFPMH live

Board feet produced today, per man-hour, against target, by area and for the plant, updating through the shift.

Losses

Downtime by cause

Minutes lost to setups, material issues, repairs, and missing operators: ranked, trended, and tied to specific machines.

Efficiency

OEE by area

Availability, performance, and quality combined into one honest number per department, built from real labor hours.

Safety

Bird's pyramid

Near misses, incidents, and accidents trending over time. Leading indicators instead of after-the-fact reports.

Materials

Inventory & alerts

Live stock by reference, today's receipts and picks, and automatic reorder alerts when safety stock is hit.

Quality

First-pass yield & rework

Trusses passing first inspection, defects by cause, and rework time. The record the quality factor and the bonus stand on.

Workforce

Real labor hours

Who's on the floor right now, absences by reason, and the actual hours behind every efficiency number.

Logistics

Loads & deliveries

What's in the yard, what's on a truck, what's been delivered with proof, plus any damage claims open right now.

Runs on existing tablets, PCs & TVs
Alongside MiTek MVP, not a replacement
Bilingual English / Spanish everywhere
Locked daily records after close-out
Built in-house by the shop foreman
Implementation

Phased rollout.
Aligned with the 30-60-90 plan.

Each phase goes live on the floor before the next one starts, so the plant gets value in weeks, not at the end of a long project. The rollout follows the same priorities as the operational stabilization plan already on the table.

Phase 1

Inventory

First on the floor
  • Material references & safety stock levels
  • Truck intake screen at the dock
  • Printed bundle labels + scan-out picking
  • Reorder alerts to the OM
Phase 2

Production & QC

Metrics go live
  • Job board from MiTek data
  • Downtime codes at saws & tables
  • Digital QC inspections & defect codes
  • Live BDFT / BDFPMH dashboard
  • OEE baseline by area
Phase 3

Maintenance, Safety & People

QR codes plant-wide
  • QR on every machine & forklift
  • AI maintenance reports + SMS to mechanics
  • Safety reporting & Bird's pyramid
  • Crew check-in and shift close-out
Phase 4

Yard & Delivery

Full chain closed
  • Package tags at stacking
  • Yard locations & scan-to-load with photos
  • Delivery proof with GPS
  • Damage reports → instant rebuild orders
The ask

What this needs
from management.

  • 01Access to production and labor information: job data, schedules, and headcount so the metrics reflect reality.
  • 02Support for consistent data collection: backing the leads and operators as scanning becomes part of the routine.
  • 03Authority to organize work areas: labels, QR codes, and yard locations need the floor arranged to match.
  • 04A green light to start Phase 1: inventory control at the dock, where the losses begin.
At a glance
SystemTrussFlow
ScopeReceiving → Delivery
Modules8
New hardware neededNone. QR labels only
Relationship to MiTekComplementary layer
LanguagesEnglish / Spanish
DevelopmentIn-house
Rollout4 phases, value from Phase 1