How DL Truss Modernized Truss Stacking with a Custom Hydraulic Solution from Pendu
When a production system has run for over a decade, the problems don't show up all at once. They pile up. The workarounds turn into habit until fixing them costs less than living with them.
For DL Truss, that moment came when their chain-driven truss stacker reached the end of its useful life. After 12 years, the system had become a source of recurring downtime and a hard ceiling on the truss lengths they could process. DL Truss knew they needed a replacement. What they got was more than a replacement.
A Relationship That Made the Conversation Possible
DL Truss and Pendu had worked together for over ten years. That history mattered. When DL Truss began exploring a new stacker, they brought the project to Pendu not because Pendu had built a truss stacker before, but because they trusted Pendu's engineering team to figure it out.
That trust shaped how the project started. Rather than arriving with a finished specification and asking for a quote, DL Truss arrived with a problem. The conversations that followed were exploratory: What was actually failing? What did the new system need to do differently? What constraints did the existing production environment create?
Designing a System That Didn't Exist
The first decision Pendu made was not to replicate what DL Truss already had. A chain-driven replacement would have solved the immediate equipment problem without addressing the underlying engineering limitations. Instead, Pendu's team designed a completely new hydraulic concept from the ground up.
The result is a five-module hydraulic system with proportional-valve control and height-feedback sensors, delivering 54 inches of scissors-lift vertical travel per module. Each lift section moves in synchronized coordination with the others despite not being mechanically connected. Achieving that synchronization took a Delta controller paired with an Allen-Bradley PLC, custom controls programming, position feedback systems, and a collaborative engineering partnership with hydraulics specialist G3 to develop the balancing logic that keeps all five modules moving as one.
Horizontal movement is handled by a chain-driven shuttle that extends in both directions with position sensing, giving the system precise placement across multiple work zones. Five 1.5 HP drives, one per strand and each VFD-ready, give the system both the power and the control resolution to handle varying truss weights and lengths. Completed trusses route to Zone 1 through Zone 4, stacking left, right, or both sides at once depending on production flow.
The modular architecture solved the truss-length problem directly. The original four-module system created a ceiling on what DL Truss could process. The new five-strand system was designed around 100- foot trusses. In production, it has already handled 110-foot trusses, with a clear path to 120-foot capability as demand grows.
Engineered for the Conditions It Actually Runs In
The design also accounted for the system’s actual working conditions. The stacker operates outdoors in Pennsylvania, which makes snow, ice, and cold-weather hydraulic performance real engineering considerations.
Pendu implemented purge valves that pull cold hydraulic oil from the lines and replace it with warmer fluid from the reservoir, so the system starts and operates normally in cold weather. Hot, humid summers were factored into the thermal design as well, so the system holds its performance across both temperature extremes, year-round.
Built Into an Existing Operation, Not On Top of It
One of the project's most significant constraints was also one of Pendu's clearest differentiators. DL Truss did not want to replace their entire production line. They wanted a new stacker that integrated with their existing conveyors, electrical infrastructure, and controls schematics: the benefits of a modern system without the disruption of rebuilding everything around it.
Pendu's team worked directly from DL Truss' existing electrical schematics, verified actual field conditions on-site, and retrofitted the new controls into an active production environment. The integration work was not an afterthought. It was a core engineering requirement from the first conversation.
DL Truss stayed involved throughout the design process, not just at approval milestones. Regular design discussions, interim engineering reviews, and in-person site visits kept both teams aligned and caught problems on paper rather than during production. When manufacturing was complete, DL Truss visited Pendu's facility for Factory Acceptance Testing, reviewing hydraulic synchronization, lift coordination, and full system functionality before a single component shipped to their floor.
What Running Looks Like Now
Since installation and startup in late 2025, the results have been direct and measurable.
The chain-driven failure points that caused repeated production interruptions are gone. The hydraulic system eliminated the failure mode that had defined the previous stacker's reliability profile. Maintenance that once stopped the operation for hours is no longer part of the routine.
The four-zone routing lets the system stack left, right, or both sides at once, so production continues while completed stacks are removed from one zone. Operators select truss lengths through an HMI with saved presets, and changeovers take less than a minute. Custom PLC logic and added sensing prevent truss collisions and manage flow control automatically, reducing manual intervention during normal operation.
What started as a replacement project became an expansion of capability. The system DL Truss ordered was designed for 100-foot trusses. The system they received has already run 110-foot trusses in production, with room to grow toward 120 feet as their production demands evolve.
Built for What Comes Next
DL Truss came to Pendu with a maintenance problem and 10 years of working history. They left with a production system that outperformed the original specification, integrated with their existing infrastructure, and was engineered for the real-world conditions their operation actually faces.
That outcome is not a coincidence. It is the result of a design process built on application-specific engineering, collaborative development, and the kind of accountability that comes from one team handling the project from first drawing through production startup.
If your operation is carrying the cost of aging equipment, workarounds that have become routine, or a production ceiling you can't engineer past, that is the conversation Pendu is built for.
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