Quality Control

Prairie Truss is proud to be a member of the Western Wood Truss Association of Manitoba (WWTA). By working with a truss fabricator that’s part of the WWTA you know that you are working with a company that’s committed to providing you with a quality product.

At Prairie Truss quality is an important part of our manufacturing process. It starts at the saw where each piece is inspected for strength and appearance. Pieces with cracks, wan, rot, knots or
other defects are culled and only pieces that meet our strict quality rules are used. We often upgrade our lumber to MSR lumber instead of using the required #2 and better at no additional cost to our customers. The pieces for the trusses are cut using a computerized component saw to ensure accurate cuts on the pieces so that they will fit precisely.
Quality is also enforced at the assembly line where employees are trained in proper assembly, acceptable lumber (in case the sawyer missed something), accurate plate placement and so forth.

Being a member of the WWTA also has us take added steps to follow up and make sure that our quality control systems are actually effective. Regular in-plant inspections are conducted and trusses are inspected for things like material quality, accuracy of plate placement, and how the end product conforms to what was originally designed.

Several times a year an inspector from WWTA visits all the truss manufacturers in the association and conducts a similar inspection to the ones we do. These visits not only provide an independent validation of the quality process, but are an opportunity for training of in-plant personnel and allow for discussions of plant-specific quality and truss-design related issues. At the end of the calendar year WWTA coordinates all of the data collected from the plants. This data is analyzed for the entire association, and the individual plants. The analysis contained in the year-end report provides guidance related to activities for the upcoming year. If a member fails to comply with the standards set by WWTA they will no longer be able to be a member of the association. Therefore, by working with members of the WWTA you are guaranteed a quality product!