Browsing by Author "Bumgardner, Matthew"

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    A Preliminary Assessment of Industry 4.0 and Digitized Manufacturing in the North American Woodworking Industry
    Bumgardner, Matthew; Buehlmann, Urs (Forest Products Society, 2022-03-07)
    Industry 4.0, a term referring to the digitization of manufacturing, enhanced automation, and data-driven production systems, promises to bring rapid change to the secondary woodworking industry. Manufacturers in this sector, many being small in size and scale, may be challenged to remain competitive without understanding how Industry 4.0 principles might affect their operations. A study conducted with subscribers to a major secondary wood industry trade journal found that few North American woodworking companies were familiar with the term "Industry 4.0." However, that did not mean they were not making decisions about, investing in, and implementing digitization-computerization (digit-comp) in their manufacturing operations. Well over half of study respondents indicated that their firms had made a significant investment in digit-comp over the past 3 years. Several respondents stated that software and technology integration was the most unexpected problem encountered, and that skilled labor was difficult to find. A variety of training types were sought by firms that had made significant Industry 4.0-related investments, especially training related to machine operation. Although a plurality of respondents from both small and large firms indicated that increased digit-comp would not change their number of employees, small firms were more likely to say more employees would be needed and large firms were more likely to perceive a decrease in employees. Perhaps the greatest challenge to successful implementation of Industry 4.0 will be the lack of a strategic plan-just 19 percent of small firms indicated having a vision of how digitization might affect their business.
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    Recent Developments in US Hardwood Lumber Markets and Linkages to Housing Construction
    Buehlmann, Urs; Bumgardner, Matthew; Alderman, Delton (2017-09)
    The housing industry has long provided important markets for the higher-value hardwood lumber used in fixtures such as cabinets, flooring, and millwork. These markets have become even more important in the face of the decline in furniture manufacture in the USA. The importance of housing and other construction markets to the US hardwood industry is the focus of the current review. The housing crisis that began in 2007 (from a construction data perspective) has had a profound impact on the hardwood industry by reducing demand for many products and hardwood industry employment, metrics that recently have started to recover. For higher-value hardwoods, exports have become a critical market in the face of historically low US housing starts. Industrial markets such as pallets and railway ties, traditionally markets for lower-value products, also have increased in relative importance in recent years. While housing starts are expected to eventually return to the long-term trend, an analysis of the current marketplace illustrates the importance of the construction markets to the hardwood industry. Potential new markets for emerging products that can make use of hardwoods also are derived from construction-based sectors, so the overall importance of housing and building construction to the hardwood industry is not likely to wane for the foreseeable future.