Wood Products Sector Research Articles

Tornado damage in forest ecosystems of the United States

Changing climate dynamics have been forecasted worldwide, including in some regions of the United States (U.S.), leading to potentially significant damage to forest ecosystems. To better understand how natural disturbances may affect forests, we analyzed trends in frequency and area of tornado damage for 1995–2021, damage area within forested ecosystems, and assessed data limitations for the contiguous U.S. for 1950–2021. We found that recent, more uniform data collection periods from 1995-present showed stable to declining numbers of tornadoes nationally. However, our results indicate that the southeastern U.S. has experienced significant increases in total and forest area damaged by tornadoes as compared to other regions over the last three decades. The northeastern U.S. also showed a slight increase in damage, while all other regions showed no significant trends. This indicates a potential shift in the geographic location of tornadic events from the Midwest towards the Southeast, which has a larger area of commercial timberland. Additionally, forest area damage has increased 36 %, as estimated by total tornado track area, over the most recent 20 years. Increased tornado damage in forests suggests increased financial risks for the wood products sector and landowners in recent decades, and we recommend that large, institutional landowners monitor and assess natural disturbances (occurrence, extent, severity, and financial consequences). These findings highlight the need to improve risk assessment methodologies and support research that informs both pre- and post-disturbance forest management practices.

Facility layout planning through the ALDEP Method in the wooden cable reels industry

Facility layout planning plays a pivotal role in manufacturing system design, impacting vital metrics such as lead time, handling costs, and space optimization. While a significant portion of research has been invested in refining existing facility layouts, there is a noticeable research gap in devising optimized layouts for new establishments, especially in the value-added wood products domain. Addressing this lacuna, this research focused on designing an efficient department-level layout for a wooden cable drums manufacturing facility in an area of 4150 m2. This facility included both office and production areas. The investigative process was segmented into four distinct phases: Deciding the strategic positioning of the facility on the available plot, defining the functional and spatial requirements for each department, establishing the intricate relationship dynamics between these individual units, and rigorously documenting the most optimal department-level facility layout. For precision in layout creation, the ALDEP algorithm was employed, which was further visualized to offer a comprehensive three-dimensional representation. The final layout seamlessly organized seven departments within the 1st Floor Office Area, eight in the 2nd Floor Office Area, and thirteen within the Production Floor. Efficiency evaluation of these areas yielded scores of -811, 184, and -318, respectively. Conclusively, this research furnished actionable insights for manufacturers within the wood products sector and was expected to be an invaluable reference for academics delving into facility planning and value-added wood products manufacturing.

An overview of the wood products sector in Iran: 2007-2022

In this paper, we assess the development of the Iranian wood products industry over the past two decades. The sector is an important component of Iran’s economy with the potential for growth across different product markets. We discuss past, current, and future raw materials, production, trade, and consumption. Overall, the industry is fragmented and faces a number of challenges that hinder success in domestic and export markets, including lack of access to quality raw materials, problems with production quality control, and access to markets. Evaluation of trends and market patterns shows that the Iranian wood industry sector is developing continuously and has the potential for further growth. Considering the potential domestic and international market and the Iranian wood industry’s strengths, suggestions were provided to accelerate industry development, such as investments and efforts to facilitate wood raw material imports, establishment of new management methods and considering new technologies to upgrade the quality and quantity of production together with the profitability.

Options to improve the carbon balance of the harvested wood products sector in four EU countries

AbstractHarvested wood products (HWP) may contribute to climate change mitigation by storing carbon and by replacing energy‐intensive materials and fossil energy, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, when assessing improved HWP utilisations, interactions between wood use pathways, the carbon stock dynamics, and the resulting effect on the GHG balance are still not well‐understood. This research aims to assess the carbon sequestration effects of alternative wood product utilisations in four European Union (EU) countries. We conducted a material flow analysis of wood uses in France, Finland, Germany, and Spain for 2017 taking into account national production, imports, and exports. Then, we quantified the future dynamics of carbon stock in the HWP through time, assuming the same as in 2017 input and ignoring the forest sink. We then ran six alternative scenarios: two energy‐focused (Energy, Energy+), two material‐focused (Cascading, Material), one with extended half‐life of the wood products (HL) and one as business as usual. For the simulation period (2020–2050), the material scenario leads to the highest mitigation benefits with a cumulative HWP net CO2 removals of −502 Mt CO2 for Germany, −290 Mt CO2 for France, −118 Mt CO2 for Spain, and −116 Mt CO2 for Finland over the 30 years. The Energy+ scenario with an increase in wood usage for bioenergy generates a loss of the HWP pool of 351, 80, 77, and 6 Mt CO2 for the same countries, not accounting for energy substitution effects. Overall, our results suggest that the HWP carbon stock can be increased in the short‐medium term by prioritizing the use of wood for material purposes, while maintaining constant harvest. The HWP mitigation potential differed greatly according to national wood industry characteristics. Hence, tailoring the HWP mitigation strategies to the specific characteristics of the national wood chain would enhance the HWP climate benefits.

Exploring the limits to sustainable pellet production for international markets: The impact of increasing pellet production in the US Southeast on feedstock use, production cost and carbon sequestration in forest areas

AbstractWith rising demand for wood pellets from the US Southeast (US SE), the environmental limits to additional biomass demand are increasingly questioned. This study analyses the impact of increased pellet production in the US SE until 2030 on feedstock allocation, carbon flux in forest areas and costs of pre‐treatment and transport of feedstock and pellets. This by linking locations of forest biomass supply and demand through supply‐side logistics, allocating feedstock based on lowest costs of pre‐treatment, transport of feedstock and pellets, for the entire wood products sector. The impact is analysed for different scenarios with varied pellet production levels, additional inclusion of logging residues and optimization either on costs or on maintaining total carbon stock in sourcing areas of new pellet mills. In a scenario of 20 Mt pellet production, the roundwood share increases from 0% in 2020 to 37% pulplogs and 11% sawlogs in 2030. Costs increase with 57% towards 2030 compared to 2020, largely because of higher costs for pulplogs and sawlogs. In a scenario without pellet production, forest carbon removal in the US SE is 3 Mt CO2/year lower than in 2020. In the Reference scenario, additional carbon removal of 6, 21 and 38 Mt CO2/year is observed for 10, 20 and 30 Mt pellet production, respectively. In all cases, the forests of the US SE remain a net sink until 2030. The impact of a selection criteria for new pellet mill locations based on keeping local growth/drain ratios above 1 in sourcing areas is small since this mostly results in displacement of impacts and does not affect the total feedstock availability. Additional mobilization of logging residues is a key strategy to reduce carbon impacts, resulting in a smaller additional flux of 2, 11 and 29 Mt CO2/year for 10–30 Mt pellet production.

Evaluating the cascading‐use of wood furniture: How value‐retention processes can contribute to material efficiency and circularity

AbstractAs utilized technical products, durable wood furniture plays an important role in a future circular economy (CE). However, contemporary CE literature predominantly focuses on wood's biochemical properties and its potential as a consumable material within the bio‐cycle. This perspective prevents meaningful consideration of CE strategies for the wood products sector, particularly for value‐retention processes (VRPs), including reuse, repair, and refurbishment. We adapt and apply the VRP model introduced by the UN International Resource Panel (IRP) to wood furniture products to quantify select environmental benefits made possible through cascading‐use, via VRPs (vs. new manufacturing). Unlike traditional life cycle assessment (LCA), this model accounts for impacts incurred and avoided through product life‐extension and VRPs, relative to conventional systems of new manufacturing, disposal, and replacement. Three case studies of wood‐based chairs are conducted to demonstrate this new application of the VRP model to compare the relative environmental impacts associated with wood furniture that is diverted to cascading‐use, prior to recycling. In collaboration with industry partners, new material requirements (kg/unit), energy requirements (kWh/unit), emissions (kg CO2‐e./unit), and waste generation (kg/unit) were calculated for newly manufactured chairs (OEM new) and subsequent cascading‐use via reuse, repair, and refurbishment. The differing degrees of environmental impact avoidance and material efficiency are presented for each case study product and VRP, to provoke discussion and future research regarding the effective and optimal utilization of technical, durable wooden furniture within a CE.

Financial Literacy in Micro-Scale Enterprises Operating in Forest Products Sector

Enterprises are one of the main components of the economic system and they are indispensable for maintaining the sustainability of economic activities. The majority of these enterprises are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Sustainability of SMEs depends on their good financial management. Inadequate financial literacy causes SMEs’ owners to make inaccurate financial decisions. The forest products sector is mostly composed of micro-scale enterprises in which financial problems are common. Therefore, this study aims to reveal the financial literacy status of the owners of micro-scale and wood-processing enterprises. For this purpose, 78 enterprises were selected as study population. Data were collected by applying a structured questionnaire to 43 of these companies by the face-to-face interview method. The structured questionnaire consisted of multiple-choice and open-ended questions and statements prepared on the Five Likert scales. Data were analysed by using the Independent-Sample T-Test, Mann-Whitney U-Test and correlation test. The reliability coefficient of the data was found to be 0.791. Of the enterprises, 58 % produced in the furniture sub-sector and 42 % in the wood products sub-sector. This study provides evidence that there was no statistically significant difference between the knowledge means of economics and financial behaviour of the furniture and wood products sectors. However, the enterprise owners’ knowledge of financial analysis positively affected their financial literacy and financial behaviour.

Labor market impacts of land protection: The Northern Spotted Owl

Environmental policies often draw criticism due to their potential impacts on labor market outcomes. Previous work has studied sector-specific impacts following air quality regulations, or examined overall employment effects of land-use policies. In the case of the protection of the Northern Spotted Owl under the Endangered Species Act in 1990, millions of acres of highly productive federal timberland in the Pacific Northwest and northern California were set aside. Concerns regarding declining employment in the timber industry following the listing are often mentioned as a cautionary tale regarding future listings under the Act. However, disentangling the policy impact from other economic factors affecting employment such as recessions and sector-specific trends is challenging. We use a range of control groups to estimate the impact of the 1990 listing of the Northern Spotted Owl had on labor market outcomes in the Lumber and Wood Products sector. Our set of main results indicate long-run declines in timber industry employment of 13.9% using a regional perspective, 28.1% using a national perspective, and a 9.5% decline in the number of establishments. In the owl habitat range there were 114,600 timber employees in the pre-treatment period; about 1.4% of total employment in those counties. In terms of jobs, the declines represent around 16,000 or 32,000 timber jobs within the Pacific Northwest and northern California. We find heterogeneous effects with areas having larger shares of protected federal timberland experiencing larger declines in employment. Our findings indicate land protection policies may pose significant employment impacts to land-reliant industries.

Kağıt-Kağıt Ürünleri Sanayi ve Ahşap-Ahşap Ürünleri Sanayi Sektöründe Rekabet Analizi: BRICS Ülkeleri ve Türkiye

Financial crises on a world scale cause the emergence of new economic structures and powers. While the financial efficiency of developed countries decreases, developing countries are increasing their positions. BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which emerged as an alternative economic power after the financial crisis in 2008, started to be known as BRICS countries with the addition of South Africa in 2011 and became an important economic structure. Its economic and demographic strength of thanks and wishing to take part in the active position in the world Turkey is willing to take part in the BRICS. Determination of Turkey's infrastructure sector as competitive with these countries is extremely important. In this study of the important sectoral groups of Turkey Paper and Paper Products and Wood and Wood Products Sector is intended to determine whether a location opposite of how the BRICS countries. Revealed Comparative Advantages approach was used in the study covering the years between 2010-2019. As a result of the study, countries were compared at year level and superior sectoral structures were determined.

Estimation of the embodied carbon in China's wood products trade using input–output methodology

This study calculates the embodied carbon in imports, exports, net exports, and the processing trade of China's wood product sector between 2001 and 2016 using a non-competitive input–output (I–O) model. The results demonstrate that embodied carbon showed a decreasing trend between 2001 and 2016. Embodied carbon was lowest in wood furniture imports and highest in paper and paperboard imports. The embodied carbon in sawnwood and veneer sheet exports was the lowest and paper and paperboard exports was the highest. The embodied carbon in the processing trade of paper and paperboard was the highest. To reduce the embodied carbon in China's wood products, the government should promote technological transformation and upgrading and encourage the implementation of green technology innovation.

The impact of environmental regulations on forest product trade in China

AbstractForest product trade plays an important role in the development of the Chinese forest industry. The trading value of forest product has shown a yearly growth rate of 12% during the last five recent years. Stringent environmental regulations in China have a profound impact on raw material supplies and industrial production in the forest sector; however, their impact on the forest product trade is still unclear. This study applies fixed and random effects models as well as a seemingly unrelated regression model to investigate the impact of environmental regulations on the trade of forest product from 2002 to 2015. The results indicate that the stringent environmental regulations promoted the import but restricted the export of forest product in general. Specifically, the stringent environmental regulations stimulated the import but had an ambiguous impact on the export of the paper product. The stringent environmental regulations had also stimulated the import of wood product but inhibited the export. In contrast, wooden furniture had been affected minimally; only export got slightly negatively affected by environmental regulations.Recommendations for resource managers: Trade‐offs between economic growth and environmental regulations are needed to smoothly promote the forest product trade in China. Paper and wooden furniture product sectors are less likely to be affected by stringent environmental regulations, because high value‐added products could compensate for environmental costs. The wood product sector is more likely to be negatively affected by stringent environmental regulations because environmental costs could severely impact the competitiveness of low value‐added products.

A STUDY ON IMPACT OF MINIMUM WAGE ON SUSTAINABILITY AND COMPETITIVENESS OF THE TIMBER INDUSTRY

In recent years, the minimum wage has become an increasingly popular for reducing inequality in many emerging markets. The aim of the minimum wage is to allow low income workers to maintain a decent standard of living without unduly limiting the flexibility of employers to allow Malaysia to remain competitive at the global level. In setting the minimum wage, the government took into account social and economic considerations: cost of living, productivity, competitiveness and employment. The timber industry in Malaysia is one of long-standing prominence, garnering much attention as one of the economy’s core components of growth. Malaysia is among the world’s largest exporter of tropical logs, plywood, sawn-timber and furniture to international markets. This survey aimed to reveal the impact of minimum wage on sustainability and competitiveness of the timber industry. This paper will emphasize on the comparison between wood and wood based product sector firms and furniture sector firms in the timber industry. The targeted respondents are the owners or the managers who have knowledge on the financial information and the operation details of the company. Overall, SMEs in the furniture sector seem to be more ready towards the implementation of the minimum wage policy in comparison to their counterparts in wood and wood-based products sector. Their operational performance ratings are generally higher for majority of the different performance aspects.

Chain of custody certification involvement by the British Columbia value-added wood products sector

Chain of custody (CoC) certification has had a growing influence on markets for wood products in recent decades. However, it has experienced limited uptake, particularly among the wood products manufacturing sector. This paper describes the results of a survey conducted in the province of British Columbia (BC) aimed at investigating the adoption of CoC certification in the BC value-added wood products sector. The survey was conducted in the fall of 2013 to determine the level of CoC adoption amongst a selection of value-added wood products manufacturer and to identify their future intentions towards CoC certification. BC value-added wood products manufacturers that are currently engaged in chain of certification tend largely to be firms located in the urban areas of the province. The highest level of adoption was found to be among remanufacturers. Of the respondents, 41% were certified and another 13% of the companies were interested in becoming certified in the next 5 years. The remaining 46% were not certified and not interested in certification, citing a range of barriers including lack of customer demand, high costs of certification, and a lack of price premiums.

Effect of cascade use on the carbon balance of the German and European wood sectors

Wood product models have often been used to estimate the carbon dynamics of wood products and evaluate their effects on the mitigation of climate change. Their increasing complexity allows for advanced analysis of industrial product conversion efficiency, product lifespan and recycling rate, although data availability for such analyses is very often problematic. In spite of the widely recognised importance of cascade chains from one wood product to another, some wood product models represent them with recycling parameters that allocate part of the recycled wood to the same product category. Consequently, the infinite repetition of these loops overestimates carbon stock.This study analyses and benchmarks the effect on carbon stock in wood products for the German wood sector, when infinite recycling loops in wood product models are replaced by cascade chains. Different scenarios were simulated to analyse the effect of enhanced cascade chains. We estimated the carbon stock in the German wood product sector at 22.17 ± 3.82 t C per hectare of forest in the most realistic current scenario, an amount that is overestimated by 15.8% if infinite recycling loops were used instead. The deviation on the estimated carbon stock was derived from the uncertainty of allocation parameters. Then we estimated the carbon stock in the European wood product sector (EU-28) at 1231.76 t C, representing 9.16 t C per hectare of forest. The carbon stock in German wood product sector estimated for the high quality wood benchmark scenario (103.17 t C per hectare of forest) indicated that strategies to promote the development of new product designs and material technologies to enhance cascading may have the highest impact on carbon stock in the wood product sector. Studies aiming at reducing uncertainty on results are urgent, because the use of wood products is becoming an important strategy of the international community to mitigate climate change. At the same time, a correct representation of cascade use in wood product models is important because cascade practices are being promoted by governments and will probably become more common in the near future.

Wood dust – aspiration fraction Documentation of proposed values of occupational exposure limits (OELs)

Wood dust – aspiration fraction Documentation of proposed values of occupational exposure limits (OELs)

A Change Management Model for the Adoption of Chain of Custody Certification in the British Columbia Value-added Wood Products Sector

ABSTRACTWith sustainability being a major driver in the global competitiveness of businesses, organizations have adopted third-party certification as a strategic tool to facilitate integration between their businesses and environmental strategies. One such initiative is chain of custody (CoC) certification, which allows tracking of finished products back to the sources of the raw materials. Despite a large body of research on CoC adoption, so far no efforts have been made to view this process from the point of view of organizational change management. An online survey of the value-added wood products sector in British Columbia (BC), Canada was conducted to determine the composition of the sector and adoption level of CoC certification. Change management constructs were measured using the ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement) framework and taking CoC certification as an example. The results indicated that the BC value-added wood products sector mostly comprises small- and medium-sized enterprises largely based in the urban areas of BC. The sector was found to have limited support for CoC certification. Key barriers in adopting CoC certification include a lack of resources and a lack of certified raw materials. Actions to facilitate a change process in the BC value-added sector are proposed.

The state of innovation in the British Columbia value-added wood products sector: the example of chain of custody certification

This paper investigates the practices of the value-added wood products industry in British Columbia (BC) with respect to innovativeness using the results of an online survey. The survey employed an indirect self-evaluation scale to assess the propensity to create and (or) adopt new products, processes, and business systems. Using chain of custody certification as an example of business systems innovation, this study also investigated the attitudes of the value-added wood products manufacturers, who were already certified or who may become certified, towards innovation in this form. Results show that the respondents rated themselves as more innovative with respect to business systems innovation compared with product and process innovations. Overall, innovation levels were low in the BC value-added wood products sector, a result which was confirmed in the case of chain of custody certification.

Modelling carbon stocks and fluxes in the wood product sector: a comparative review.

In addition to forest ecosystems, wood products are carbon pools that can be strategically managed to mitigate climate change. Wood product models (WPMs) simulating the carbon balance of wood production, use and end of life can complement forest growth models to evaluate the mitigation potential of the forest sector as a whole. WPMs can be used to compare scenarios of product use and explore mitigation strategies. A considerable number of WPMs have been developed in the last three decades, but there is no review available analysing their functionality and performance. This study analyses and compares 41 WPMs. One surprising initial result was that we discovered the erroneous implementation of a few concepts and assumptions in some of the models. We further described and compared the models using six model characteristics (bucking allocation, industrial processes, carbon pools, product removal, recycling and substitution effects) and three model‐use characteristics (system boundaries, model initialization and evaluation of results). Using a set of indicators based on the model characteristics, we classified models using a hierarchical clustering technique and differentiated them according to their increasing degrees of complexity and varying levels of user support. For purposes of simulating carbon stock in wood products, models with a simple structure may be sufficient, but to compare climate change mitigation options, complex models are needed. The number of models has increased substantially over the last ten years, introducing more diversity and accuracy. Calculation of substitution effects and recycling has also become more prominent. However, the lack of data is still an important constraint for a more realistic estimation of carbon stocks and fluxes. Therefore, if the sector wants to demonstrate the environmental quality of its products, it should make it a priority to provide reliable life cycle inventory data, particularly regarding aspects of time and location.

Assessing fossil fuel substitution through wood use based on long-term simulations

ABSTRACTTo fully analyze the forestry and wood products sector's impact on climate protection through the reduction of CO2 emissions, it is necessary to integrate all aspects of both carbon storage and the substitution effects of forestry and wood use. Substitution effects are assessed based on specific assumptions derived from life-cycle assessment studies, which for the purpose of comparison usually refer to the respective energy mix. This definition is, however, normative. Different assumptions regarding fossil fuel substitution, such as marginal benefit or changing energy mix, are also possible. This paper discusses which of these alternative assumptions are most appropriate for analyzing fossil fuel substitution and then, based on three different approaches (status quo, changing energy mix, marginal fossil), shows the variation in the results these assumptions provide. The calculations include three different forest management strategies in order to show the effects of forest C sinks and different wood volumes available for use (material and energy). Long-term simulations tracking the C effects of forestry and wood use reveal the greatest variations. These findings are useful for deciding between different forestry management scenarios and strategies for wood product and energy use from a climate protection perspective.

Coming Full Circle: Back to Basics in the Application of near Infrared Spectroscopy to the Forest and Wood Products Sector

Coming Full Circle: Back to Basics in the Application of near Infrared Spectroscopy to the Forest and Wood Products Sector