Greetings! I hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving and that you found a way to visit with your family and friends. This has certainly been an unusual year. I am hopeful that 2021 will become more normal as the COVID-19 gets under control. Perhaps, we will be able to do the things next year that we had to skip this year due to the restrictions. I also hope to see a more normal year for all the businesses that were affected.
Panels Plus saw a reduction in equipment orders in the first quarter. Like many other companies we acted quickly and aggressively to minimize the impact. Fortunately, we were able to keep people busy during the slow months and business has increased every quarter this year. The current activity level is encouraging, and we are planning on growing our staff starting in December and into the new year. These new positions will allow us increase production and better serve our customers’ needs.
We were planning to bring a new sheathing station to the 2020 BCMC show before that was cancelled. This new bridge has many new features compared to our standard bridge and will allow the wall panel data to be downloaded from the building software to the sheathing bridge. The wall is moved onto the sheathing station with the sheathing tacked to the frame. The operator then initiates the nailing cycle and the entire wall will be nailed off based upon the software specifications. This bridge has many new components and an entirely new control program. The bridge and table are sitting on our plant floor currently and final testing of this new bridge is scheduled to run through December to make sure everything works as expected. Look for additional communication in the first quarter of 2021 about the release of this exciting new system. I know many of our loyal customers have been anxiously awaiting this new product and this will increase productivity and fastener accuracy while maintaining our high standard of safety.
In other news, Jeff Brown has been promoted to Product Manager for the Panels Plus product line. Jeff has filled several roles at Panels Plus and even more so this year due to retirements. Jeff will oversee the entire product line offering and product improvements for Panels Plus. Jeff will be working on the automation of the rest of the Panels Plus product line as well as other new products. Congratulations to Jeff on this promotion!
I sincerely hope that your business is experiencing success and growth as we reach the end of the year. I hope that you and your family are well, and I wish you good health through the rest of 2020.
Happy Holidays and A Happy New Year to All!
Tim Grahn