The Koskovich Company is a privately held company founded in 1973 under the original name of Engineering Services Company. Initially the company provided engineering and consulting services for various housing and building authorities but quickly began to specialize in equipment for the roof truss manufacturing industry. In 1979 the first manual Omni roof truss component saw was in operation.

In the early 1980′s the advent of personal computers began having a significant affect on the design of roof trusses. It was now possible for truss designers to provide significantly more variety in roof configurations with minimal effort. This caused a major change in the roof truss manufacturing process. The number of setups required on component saws increased dramatically and the average number of pieces cut per setup decreased significantly.

The result was an emerging need for an automated component saw that would set up quickly under computer control to reduce cost, increase production, and improve quality.

Jerry Koskovich, Professional Engineer, who founded the company, recognized the opportunity and decided to commit the company′s resources to develop, manufacture, and market a fully automated component saw. In 1985 the first Auto–Omni Robotic Component Saw was installed in a truss plant at Villaume Industries in St. Paul, Minnesota. The first automated component saw had now been introduced which, ultimately, brought about a paradigm shift in the industry.

For the balance of the 1980′s and into the early 1990′s the sales growth of the Auto–Omni was modest. By 1992 the Auto–Omni had proven itself in enough installations to be noticed in the industry – automation was becoming more readily accepted and sought after as a way of substantially improving productivity and quality. Since 1992 sales of the Auto–Omni have grown dramatically and today there are hundreds of Auto–Omni′s installed in Australia, Canada, Japan, and the USA.

In addition to the increased sales of Auto–Omnis, the company′s growth was also fueled by the introduction in 1991 of the Omni Jet Set – a fully automated jigging system for assembling roof trusses.

The product line was expanded again in 1999 with the introduction of the Mini–Miser, the industry′s first totally automated cut–off, marking, and material handling wood processing system. The Mini–Miser, a single–bladed linear feed saw, was developed primarily to minimize human intervention in the cutting and marking of wall plates and other components used in the wall frame industry.

The totally automated, computer downloadable Mini–Miser system reduces the operator′s tasks to simply loading lumber in the material handling system and stacking the finished, cut and marked components as they exit the saw. This system is capable of dramatically improving the production and quality of such components while reducing the associated labor by 75% or more.

In 2001, The Koskovich Company took another big step forward with the presentation of their Miser Wood Processing System, another single–bladed linear feed saw, for producing both roof truss and wall frame components. Like Mini–Miser, it cuts and marks components for wall frames and has an automated material feed system to select and feed lumber to the cutting head. But, it also is capable of angle cutting so it can produce roof truss components. Recently, the Company innovated a Crooked Lumber Sensor feature which automatically detects crooked lumber stock and adjusts its cutting head to assure accurately cut parts. And, most recently, the Company made a compound–cutting head available so the Miser is now capable of cutting and 3–side marking literally any kind of roof truss or wall frame component.

In 2005, the Company introduced the Servo–Omni Robotic Component Saw. Like its predecessor, Auto–Omni, it has all machine–tool–industry precision movement mechanisms. But its movements are now servo controlled resulting in production increases which translate to an extra shift′s worth of component production a week.

The Koskovich Company recently introduced MatchPoint PLANX, which cut jigging labor costs in half while nearly doubling truss production. It takes the information downloaded directly from the design department and positions the pucks automatically. Crews can build trusses typically in 3 to 5 minutes each from the start to finish. The PLANX system can be installed on new or old tables, a MiTek companies′ brand or another manufacturer′s brand.

The Company′s hallmark, in addition to being the industry′s forefather of automation, is ″upgradeability.″ Upgrades have been made available for their first automated product, Auto–Omni Robotic Component Saw, over the 20–plus years since its introduction such that even the oldest unit can be brought up to substantially the same performance as a new unit.

Statement from Jerry Koskovich, President

We strive to serve our customers with products, services, and technical support that are of the highest possible quality. Machinery is our only business and the continued success of our company is directly dependent on our ability and commitment to serve our customers in an exemplary manner with cost–effective solutions to their business needs. Being customer driven in all that we do is fundamental to establishing and maintaining the long term partnering relationship with our customers that will allow us to compete successfully.

For further information on our machinery, click on the Products section of our web page.

In January 2005, The Koskovich Company was acquired by MiTek Industries, Inc. (www.mii.com), a Berkshire Hathaway company based in Chesterfield, Missouri. MiTek is the leading provider of business resources to the building component industry. Their focus is enhancing total business performance of their building component clients through their steel connector products, design engineering software, manufacturing equipment and ancillary services. The two companies are coupling their resources with the goal of achieving even greater industry automation in an even shorter time.