Technology Roadmap: Lumber and Value-Added Wood Products
1.0 Introduction and Overview

Technological innovation has proven to be a major factor in the development of the Canadian wood industry over the past two decades. This trend has accelerated in recent years with the introduction of computer power and the tremendous growth of engineered and other value-added wood products. The challenge for the future is to maintain the pace and to make appropriate choices in setting the direction of technological innovation. It must be consistent with market opportunities and customer requirements. It must ensure optimal benefits to the wood industry and the Canadian economy. It must simultaneously take into account Canadian and international social developments that impinge on the industry's resource, manufacturing processes and markets.

The Roadmap is intended to help the industry meet this challenge. It does not lay out rigid milestones and a single route forward. Suggestions for technological innovation may be applicable to some operations but not to others, and details will need to be fleshed out on a sector-by-sector basis. This Roadmap establishes the importance of innovation to the major sectors in the lumber and valueadded industries, identifies new and promising technologies, and provides suggestions on priorities for the future. It also lays out some recommendations related to infrastructure and organisation that may help the various sectors of the industry and their partners to develop specific action plans in order to capitalise on available opportunities.

The Roadmap is written for a broadly-based audience: from sector specialists and industry executives; researchers and equipment suppliers; and government policy makers and educators. It is intended to assist organisations in their planning, in setting priorities and in crystallising direction. Its success will be measured by the debate it provokes and the guidance it provides for important strategic decisions.

Much of the material in the Roadmap comes from Forintek specialists. A series of brainstorming sessions were conducted with the scientists and industrial advisors of both the eastern and western divisions. This was supplemented by discussions with industry and equipment supplier representatives, individual consultants, representatives of educational and R&D institutions, representatives of government agencies, and by a review of the relevant literature.

The consultative process with industry representatives was performed mostly through individual interviews, either in person or by telephone. The industry sectors covered in this Roadmap are: softwood lumber, hardwood lumber, remanufacturing, engineered wood products (excluding panel and panel-based products, which are included in Industry Canada's "Technology Roadmap on Woodbased Panel Products"), appearance wood products, and treated wood products. The scope of the project did not include building systems, but it is recognised that, in a market-driven industry, product development especially in the field of engineered products, can hardly proceed outside a multidisciplinary systems approach.

In a world of finite resources and growing environmental awareness, technology has to be the ultimate recourse to do more with less. Wood, mankind's oldest building material, and its most environmentally-friendly, remains the popular building choice in many parts of the world. It has even been gaining ground in applications and regions where its use was not traditional. On the other hand, the information revolution and a global trade culture have been challenging traditional products and distribution networks, and competing industries have been investing heavily in development and promotional initiatives to increase their market share.

As the Canadian wood industry reinforces its ability to share the forest resource with other users, and to deliver high-value products meeting modern market requirements, its reliance on technology and knowledge will continue to increase. Efforts to maximise recovery and minimise production costs through improved processes and process control can be expected to continue in the foreseeable future. Market diversification strategies are expected to survive the U.S. quota and short-term incentives, and to support a rapidly expanding value-added sector — with a sector its own appetite for technology and manufacturing innovation, and with a need to expand its design potential.

The Roadmap is divided into nine chapters. Chapter 2 sets the industry in perspective—it looks at its relative economic performance and overall contribution to the Canadian economy. Chapter 3 describes how the industry sees itself developing under favourable circumstances but within practical limits. Driving forces are assessed for the lumber industry, both softwood and hardwood. These are trends and factors that will impact on technological innovation of the near and more distant future. In short, they are the forces which drive technology. One or more driving forces can be related to each technological opportunity, and an understanding of their relative significance also helps in selecting priorities and recommendations.

Chapters 4 and 5 assess the primary softwood and hardwood lumber manufacturing sectors. They focus on technology, describing some of the newer technologies now being used, apparent trends and future technologies. Information in these sections is set out for each stage of manufacture or for important elements affecting the overall manufacturing process, such as process control or byproduct utilisation. The information includes a brief description of existing processes and technologies, the identification of key opportunities for incremental technological innovation and, where relevant, opportunities for potentially breakthrough technological innovation. Economic feasibility frequently constitutes an essential element in technology development. Incremental technological innovation may take the form of modifications or refinements to existing processes or product characteristics, or it may advance the commercialisation and implementation phases of innovation. This category of innovation is often relatively low-cost and can yield proportionately high benefits without substantial risk.

Breakthrough innovation, on the other hand, suggests technological leaps that would significantly affect the economics of the wood industry or individual sectors. The R&D effort involved to achieve the identified breakthroughs may be heavy, and undoubtedly the risk is high, but so is the potential payoff. Chapter 10 describes in greater detail the more promising breakthrough technologies identified in previous chapters. These may apply to all or some of the sectors. They are bold innovations that may well be within reach over the coming decade if sufficient resources are allocated to the pertinent R&D programs. Pursuit of these technologies nevertheless requires close attention to market objectives and economics.

There is clearly a strong link between primary and secondary lumber manufacturing sectors, but the remanufacturing and value-added manufacturing sectors are sufficiently distinct to warrant separate chapters. Chapter 6 covers remanufacturing, while Chapter 7 deals with engineered wood products, Chapter 8 with appearance products, and Chapter 9 with treated wood products. Each of these four chapters provides indications of driving forces specific to these sectors, as well as identifying incremental and breakthrough technologies as applicable.

Recommendations are set out in Chapter 11. As with the major technological breakthroughs described in Chapter 10, recommendations relate to the lumber industry as a whole, with specific sector references as appropriate. The recommendations respond to the goals implicit in the driving forces and the vision statements. They also consider mechanisms that will help bring about the full benefits of technological innovation. Examples include training, technology transfer and co-operation at all levels. Recommendations apply to all stakeholders including industry, government and research organisations, and are intended to benefit both the lumber industry and its Canadian suppliers of equipment and services.

Technological innovation has the potential to revolutionise traditional products and manufacturing processes in the lumber industry, just as it has done in the past. Technology is the vehicle and R&D provides the acceleration to assure the growth and prosperity of the Canadian lumber industry. The degree of success will depend, however, on choices that are made now and on the commitment of the industry and its allies to innovation through medium- and long-term R&D. In some cases, it will depend on the stakeholders' willingness to support the more fundamental and painstaking search for knowledge, which so often lays the base for technological innovation.

This Roadmap is intended to inspire action plans specifically adapted to the various industry sectors and to specific provincial circumstances. Its many references to Eastern and Western Canada as distinct regions reflect regional differences relating to the resource, traditional industry practices and markets, but many such distinctions are in constant evolution. In many respects, for example, the spruce-pine-fir industry of Alberta may share more common traits with that of Quebec than with coastal BC producers. Regional action plans will undoubtedly capture new similarities and new distinctions.