Snap-On’s origin coincides with that of the US auto industry. In 1920, an engineer by the name of Joseph Johnson created a set of 10 sockets of varying dimensions that interchangeably “snapped on” to 5 different handles, allowing mechanics to rationalize their toolset (“5 handles could do the work of 50”). When presenting to garage […]
The next time you find yourself at the site of a half-built home, direct your attention to the joints of its wooden frame. You’ll notice a variety of nondescript steel components tying the planks together and anchoring them to the ground. There’s a better chance than not that those are made by Simpson Manufacturing, a […]
Related post:Wise and the business of cross-border transfers: part 1I concluded part 1 describing how, by looping unit cost advantages back into price, Wise scaled to become a leading player in cross-border payments. From that starting point, it launched several other notable products. The most significant of these is Wise Account, which allows small businesses […]
Every year, consumers the world over move ~£2tn across borders, with roughly 2/3s of that funneled through a labyrinthine network of banks. A typical cross-border bank transaction might look something like this: Amber, a US resident with a checking account at PNC, places an order to send Rupees to her mother’s account at Seylan Bank […]
(taking a break from building products after this. Up next: a 2-parter on Wise)In part 3a, I provided an overview of pre-fabricated trusses, namely the value they offer homebuilders over traditional stick building and what’s involved in the transition from Phase 1 manufacturing (automated saws and lasers) to Phase 2 (robotic systems). You’ll want to […]
Related posts:Building materials: part 1Building materials: part 2a (LPX, JHX)Building materials: part 2b (TREX, AZEK)In Part 1 of this series, I described the steps by which an ocean of building materials are titrated out to end users. Below is a stylized illustration of the value chain from the perspective of BlueLinx, a two-step distributor, who […]
Related posts:Building materials: part 1Building materials: part 2a (LPX, JHX)Next month, I’ll conclude this series with a post (or two) on Builder’s FirstSource and Atlas Engineered Products. I actually meant to publish on those companies today, but a discussion of branded manufacturers felt incomplete without a dissection of Trex.Trex’s origin dates back to 1988, when […]
Related post: Building materials: Part 1In the 1967 film The Graduate, a young Dustin Hoffman is pulled aside by a friend of his parents, who offers the restless protagonist a simple piece of advice: “one word: plastics”. This versatile material had by then seeped into every crevice of American industry and was pitched as a […]