2021 Bissett Innovation Award: Ed Goertzen of Goertzen Enterprises Ltd

The driving force behind Bissett is our slogan, “Driven By Professionals”. As a family-owned company that began in 1929, we have decades of experience working with professionals in our industry. Over the past few years, we have noticed significant innovations by individuals in our industry that we felt deserved recognition. As such, we’ve decided to create the Bissett Innovation Award to be given out each year to an individual who is industry-leading in not only their production output but their innovative solutions to launch their business into the future.

Ed Goertzen bring presented with the Bissett Innovation Award from Bissett COO Derek Daly.

We are honoured to announce that the winner of the 2021 Bissett Innovation Award is Ed Goertzen of Goertzen Enterprises Ltd. Goertzen Enterprises has been providing innovative framing solutions throughout the Lower Mainland for over 35 years. As leaders in wood-frame construction, they are well-known in the industry for consistently delivering quality workmanship in a timely manner. Goertzen has been a long-time customer of Bissett (way back when we were Lance Bissett), and recently purchased a second hand line to start pre-fabricating walls. This decision to invest in this CAD technology for pre-fabricating has resulted in Goertzen being able to more than double his production output as well as operate with a reduced number of staff and improving quality. Last week Bissett visited Goertzen Enterprises to present Ed with his award. Read along to learn more about his facility and the reasons behind his decision to push his business forward through automation.

Ed Goertzen tour’s the Bissett Team around his facility.

The company was founded in 1980 as a family-owned and operated framing contractor. Having completed hundreds of framing projects across the Lower Mainland since then, Goertzen Enterprises have earned the reputation of an honest, reliable, and efficient organization. They specialize in condos but also have extensive experience building townhomes and single-family homes. A few years ago Goertzen made the decision to purchase a second hand machine for wall pre-fabrication, that had CAD (Computer Aided Design) technologies that would provide a more innovation method for his business’s level of production. Ahead of the curve, Ed recognized the struggle to find good workers in the market, as well as the various challenges faced on the jobsite with regards to product shortages and storage. Pre fabrication offered a solution for his clients, and allowed for fewer people on site.

Goertzen explains that part of his success is a result of son’s ability to understanding the new technology. “It starts right at the beginning,” He explains. “Ryan, my son, who operates the machine understands it really, really well. You know we’ve been doing this manually for years and years and learning how to best utilize the machinery. Not everything is equipped to be automated, you know some things are still better done by hand. But having some of these processes automated makes things so much easier and allows for a much more consistent product every time. A lot of it is getting all the components of the wall pre-made before you even start the build so that you can expedite the process.” Building this way also allows for less disturbance to the job site.

Goertzen discussed the significant changes that he has seen over the years in regards to how things get built nowadays. “The degree of sophistication in the designs these days is just ridiculous compared to what we used to do,”  Goertzen reflects. “You know the simple box house and the 3 story walk up apartments, all cookie cutter every level. Now there is so much variation and you cannot do it just the way we used to do it. With the designs that are coming out now there is way more to it than just our job, you have the other trades, all the needs that they have.”

Goertzen highlights the computer inkjet codes on the wall pannels.

Goertzen continues, “It used to be that we would build it and then they would come in and hack the building apart, whereas now we won’t go that way. Day 1 we get the plans and before we start designing we communicate with the plumber and say ‘okay listen, I know you needed a stack here this is where your toilet goes this is where that goes but, here’s the problem with this. So you need to move this and readjust.’ Again, we are doing this all on the computer, long before any wood gets nailed together you have the design figured out and it gets built that way. That again is why those guys [the developers] really appreciate it cause it’s more than just the wood frame, it’s the whole building. All the technology allows for that collaboration.”

Goertzen now uses Coil Nailers at the start of his line for Top and Bottom plate nailing.

Bissett worked closely with Ed to help find solutions with his new machine, including the decision to change the first two nailers at the start of the line, for Top and Bottom plate nailing, from Stick to Coil. This allowed for less downtime as coil nailer magazines hold more nails compared to Stick nailers. The computer’s advanced technology prints identification codes on all the wood components with an inkjet printer, and this lets the workers know and the computer know not only where each component goes, but also where to fire into the wood. Adapting his business to have more automation brings a lot of added benefits to Goertzen and his clients.

“The quality of our walls are far superior… the consistency and the nailing pattern allow for a whole lot less room for error. It starts from the design on the computer and then that gets back over here (to his team) and it’s a smooth process.” He explains, “You know, if the computer goes down that’s something we can fix because it notices the issue right away. We can’t proceed unless it’s corrected. Whereas if it was a worker issue, we might not catch that problem until it has already been completed and then it’s a bigger issue.”

With technology now you can make it “even more complicated” Goertzen explains. “You can add barcodes onto them [the walls] and it will actually tell you what you’ve built. I would have said 5 years ago, you don’t need that. Well, when you do a lot of jobs and you have to track it all, it’s not a bad idea to have. If you can have it all come up on a computer and see oh well this already got built or why didn’t this get built, it makes it really clear.”

The technology not only helps Goertzen’s company to complete projects more efficiently but also allows them to catch and eliminate problems before building even starts, saving their clients time and money. This process also allows Goertzen to give detailed plans and models to their crews, helping them visualize the necessary steps to achieve the best outcome for every project. In addition, pre-fabricating walls, floors, and roofs and pre-cutting joists allows them to maximize their time and their clients time, setting them apart from their competition. The weather element is a huge factor as well for Goertzen, who references the BC rain. “It rains a lot”, He laughs. However, the weather doesn’t affect production within his facility which is an added advantage for both him and his clients.

“When working with the guys that are managing the jobs these days, the guys there are all 30 to 40 years old. They are all smart and most of them have had a college education, university or whatever, and they love working where they are working. They are motivated to try to find an edge as well which is why a lot of them are also really excited about this technology and this idea.” Goertzen explains further, “Now the biggest problem is actually space, and the other would be the timing of it all. We can build stacks easily. While there’s no concrete being poured on site yet, we are already built. When they are ready for it [the walls] you know it’s just a phone call and we start delivering.”

When asked about the shift to include even more automation in production, Goertzen commented, “You know I’m not going to be in the business that much longer to be honest, so for him [ Ryan] and his generation it definitely makes sense. As we are getting into it is clear there is so much more we can do with the technology.”

Thank you to Ed Goertzen and his team for taking the time to show us their facility! For more information on Goertzen Enterprises you can visit their website at https://goertzen-ltd.com/