Technology Roadmap: Lumber and Value-Added Wood Products
Conclusions for the Hardwood Lumber Industry

In conclusion, the hardwood lumber industry's future will depend to a large extent on its ability to process a broader variety of logs, both in terms of size and quality, into a diversity of products. The technology needed to improve quality and recovery is similar to that identified for the softwood sector (for example, process optimisation, product monitoring, sorting and grading systems, etc.). Equipment designed for the hardwood sector needs more capabilities in terms of defect and grade recognition. In most cases, however, volumes are limited and the plants do not have the necessary financial resources, so that full automation may not be economically feasible. Emphasis will therefore be on decision-aid tools for operators. With respect to machinery, opportunities seem to exist to adapt equipment used in the softwood sector; again, the challenge will be to do so in a cost-effective manner. Many hardwood mills can be expected to move further into value-added production.

As in the softwood sector, process control represents a major challenge as well as one of the industry's main opportunities for progress. Not enough information is collected on the results obtained by the various manufacturing functions, and information already available is not used systematically to better control processes. Through the acquisition of more detailed and dynamic information on products in process, and the continuous analysis of this information, manufacturers will be able to reach another level in optimisation. In addition, the databases thus developed will serve as a platform for mill-wide process control. Over the next decade, limitations to progress in this direction are more likely to come from the industry itself than from its suppliers.

Information-based technology requires tools, but, more than anything else, it requires people with the right kind of knowledge. The lumber industry of the 21st Century will need scientists to develop specialised tools, engineers to manufacture and apply them in industry, and operators to work with them on a daily basis. Managers will also need to acquire new skills in areas like marketing, economics and process control in order to function efficiently.

In smaller mills and remanufacturing operations, technological evolution will also require knowledge and information-based tools, but these will need to be adapted to the economic and practical circumstances of that sector. Equipment manufacturers and software developers have generally focused on the larger mills, but growth in the remanufacturing and value-added sectors would seem to create a window of opportunity for equipment and programs adapted to their specific needs. It also creates an opportunity for suppliers of services as many of these operations will be unable to maintain all the necessary skills in-house.