The influence of raw material on the wood product manufacturing

This paper focuses on the later part of the wood processing chain in wood industry: the wood product manufacturing. Wood product manufacturers are facing many challenges e.g. due to the high variability of the raw material. Waste and rework are prevalent, resulting in high manufacturing costs. Each processing step in the manufacturing affects material utilization and cost efficiency. The proportion of the material cost and waste in most wood products are high. The challenge for wood product manufacturers is to make profit and remain competitive when on one side they need to execute the processes at the lowest cost and within shortest time and on the other side deal with a highly variable raw material. Therefore, wood product manufacturers need to consider their manufacturing process with emphasizes on the raw material consumed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the direct and indirect influences of the material on the wood product manufacturing process in terms of productivity and efficiency. The direct influences aims at examining the impact of consuming raw material with different properties on the manufacturing process, while the indirect influences examine process-related aspects affecting the material's influence on the manufacturing process. This paper is based on a case study at a Swedish interior wood product manufacturer. The first phase of the study compares between two wooden panels with different material properties. Results show that solid, knotty raw material with higher moisture content results in lower efficiency than finger-jointed, knot free material with lower moisture content. The second phase of the study examines the indirect influences and shows that material handling is one of the key process-related aspects that need to be considered. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.