A Wood Recovery Assessment Method Comparison between Batch and Cellular Production Systems in the Furniture Industry

Abstract

Enhanced wood recovery mirrors a successful wood manufacturing operation. Studies of wood recovery in secondary wood processing, however, are scarce, particularly in furniture manu-facturing. Although recovery rates are under the continuous surveillance of sophisticated tech-nology, this attempt to monitor wood recovery would be especially challenging for small- to medium-sized furniture enterprises, as the capital investment in such technology would be substantial. This would hinder the possibility for improvements in production efficiency of the furniture industry. A methodology of wood recovery assessment in the furniture industry has been developed and proposed but has not been validated with a cellular production sys-tem, a different layout process and distinctive machinery, species, and other customer require-ments. The objective of this study is to assess the wood recovery protocol individually used in batch and cellular production systems, followed by examining the wood recovery of furniture manufacturing in these distinct production systems. Two Indonesian medium-sized furniture companies that individually operate batch and cellular production systems were employed, and two methods, mass and volume, were used to assess wood recovery at each furni-ture-making station. There was a significant difference in cumulative wood recovery rates be-tween batch and cellular production systems. Based on species and product dimensions, the average individual and cumulative wood recovery rates of furniture manufacturing resulted in a significant difference at the resawing and edging station. Large-dimension product recorded higher wood recovery level than small-dimension product. The wood recovery rates at the resawing and edging, surface planing, thickness planing, and trimming stations were mostly influenced by species, the quality of sawn timber, and cutting bills. Meanwhile, wood recovery at other stations was affected by product dimension and design. The mass method was the most acceptable method according to the measurement systems analysis.