The UK timber trussed rafter market is highly competitive, but Simpson Strong-Tie (SST) believes suppliers can gain an edge and boost their bottom line by making better and bolder use of modern connectors. That’s why it has introduced a customer training programme aimed at improving designers’ and fabricators’ technical skills and product knowledge.
The new service comes out of the development by the connector manufacturer of its dedicated Engineered Timber Division (ETD). This is a response to the growing and increasingly diverse use of engineered timber products and systems in timber frame, roof design, and in floors and ceilings where I-joists and metal web-beams are taking ever greater market share.
The ETD will provide technical advice and back-up and added focus for product research and development. Headed by Richard Jarvis, the division has new national managers for the trussed rafter, I-joist and timber frame sectors, plus a new internal manager for sales support and customer care.
The new product programme will see the launch of a connector a month for the coming year. Three of these will be for the trussed rafter market, three for
I-joists and the remainder for the timber frame industry. All will be developed, tried, tested and CE-marked at the company’s laboratory in Tamworth and made at its factory there, which produces 96% of the products it sells in the UK and has recently been the subject of a £700,000 technology upgrade.
Training in the specification and application of connectors will also be key to the new operation and, like I-joist users and timber frame specialists, trussed rafter companies are being offered specific courses either at SST’s Tamworth “Academy”, or their own premises.
Recently, the company undertook a two-month programme to train trussed rafter designers at Palgrave Brown. Trainers visited 15 different locations and more than 80 designers participated.
According to Mr Jarvis, the training hones designers’ skills and keeps them up with latest legislation, as well as helping ensure they use the best value connectors.
SST maintains that the courses can also benefit fabricators’ sales figures, by giving designers the know-ledge and confidence to use a wider range of more advanced connectors, so raising the specification of a project and adding value.
“The typical roof package could be increased in value by 10% if designers specified all the metal work they could supply,” he said. “In a relatively static market, that could prove very valuable. ”
Designers, he added, may not know about the range of connectors available or be wary of using something new or unusual. The training can help on both counts.
“And if the designer can specify all the ancillary fixings, truss clips, restraint straps and so on and position them on the drawing, they’re also leaving less to chance to them being missed off on site,” said Mr Jarvis.
Training also underpins the quality, integrity and safety of the finished roof. “Correct specification of connectors is paramount to the long-term performance of a structure and, under Construction, Design and Management (CDM) guidelines, designers must ensure installers are given the correct information,” said Mr Jarvis.
Combine the benefits for the standard of work with the fact that training could lead designers to employ a broader selection of connectors, and Mr Jarvis maintained that it could help grow the trussed rafter market.
The SST course delivered at a trussed rafter producer’s own premises takes around 75 minutes. It starts with a truss connector overview looking at codes, hanger options and hole shapes, then moves on to the importance of nails in hanger design, dos and don’ts of hanger installation and timber to timber and timber to masonry connectors.
The merits of truss clip versus skew nail installation are explained, and the impact of Building Regulations on straps, multi-ply fixings and skew nailing are also covered. Straps, skew connectors and ancillary products form another section and finally “students” are guided through the SST website and marketing material for truss manufacturers and get a chance to quiz the ‘lecturer’.
Training at Tamworth also includes a visit to the factory and hands-on sessions where students get to use the products themselves.
Julian Elsbury, Palgrave Brown group technical manager, said his company preferred its personnel to be given “good design knowledge before getting too involved with design software”. “We want designers, rather than button-pushers,” he said. The Simpson Strong-Tie training, he added, tallied with this approach and will help “produce designers able to deal more professionally with customers”.
According to SST, its training programme is also valuable for production managers and sales staff. It is free, mostly CPD-certified and also backed with an online CPD seminar; www.strongtie.co.uk/cpd.php.
