Category: News

RESEARCH BRIEF: Opportunities for Appalachian Forest Products in Guatemala and El Salvador: A Case Study

Scott Lyon, swlyon@vt.edu
MS Candidate
Virginia Tech

 

From November 17-24, 2010 Dr. Henry Quesada and Scott Lyon, graduate research assistant visited 8 forest product importers, 2 non-government organizations, and 2 governmental forestry agencies in Guatemala and El Salvador. The researchers were examining the forest products markets in these countries to identify opportunities for Appalachian forest products companies.  The researchers used a structured interview to gain valuable information about the companies and organizations. The objectives were to: (1) identify main competitors of forest product companies in Central American countries; (2) investigate distribution channels of forest products; and (3) investigate local production, demand, and policy of forest products in Central American countries.

Figure 1. Teak Plantation (Author's photo)

The researchers found that restrictive regulations in these countries may create an opportunity for Appalachian forest products.  The Guatemalan government requires permission and payment of taxes before harvesting, causes a decrease of timber harvested. In El Salvador, beginning in 2011 the government will be checking for legality of the wood to prevent illegal harvesting of timber. A permit must accompany the wood product through the harvesting and manufacturing process, which may cause some companies to look elsewhere for raw material.  Currently trees are harvested from agroforestry sites such as coffee plantations.  These trees are small in diameter and low quality.  There is only a small amount of funding available for expanding plantations and no incentive to be certified.  Plantations grow primarily gmelina (Gmelina arborea) which is sold locally and teak (Tectona grandis) (Figure 1) which is shipped to Europe and Southeast Asia. 

In both countries, furniture constitutes a large portion of wood products production.  Because the majority of hardwoods used in furniture production are reddish to dark brown in color, black cherry (Prunus serotina) and black walnut (Juglans nigra) from the Appalachian region may substitute for the species currently used.  Many of the companies interviewed import a variety of building materials from Canada and Chile, including:  plywood, osb, mdf, and softwood lumber.  Some companies buy southern yellow pine from brokers in the United States. Many of the companies were concerned about the specific dimensions of softwood lumber available from the United States.  Most lumber is bought and sold in “varas” (32.9”).  The interviewees stated they would prefer lumber from the United States in metric dimensions. 

Figure 2. Dr. Quesada and Scott Lyon interviewing a furniture manufacturer in Guatemala City (Author's photo)

Hardwood and softwood lumber is primarily purchased as “green” and the companies have a lack of information regarding kiln drying.  The researchers visited a local cooperative group in El Salvador that recently purchased a Finnish kiln by using funds from a NGO from Finland.   Small and medium enterprises use the kiln for drying local lumber. 

Logistics for importing did not seem to be a problem in Guatemala.  The main port of entry in Guatemala is Puerto Barrios on the Caribbean Coast.  The Appalachian region may have a problem importing directly to El Salvador.  Most imports to El Salvador arrive by ship to either Guatemala or Puerto Cortes, Honduras and trucked to El Salvador. 

There appears to be a large demand for wood from international sources with abundant raw materials and efficient transportation systems to deliver products. Because the Appalachian forest products industry offers products that are similar to those currently imported in Guatemala and El Salvador, they have a unique opportunity to expand their markets into Central America.  This marketing research project is funded by the UDSA Federal State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP).

Center for Innovation-based Manufacturing launched its first workshop

BlACKSBURG, VA. December 6, 2010. On November 11, the Center for Innovation-based Manufacturing (CIbM) presented its first workshop on Innovation-based Manufacturing. The workshop was organized by Dr. Henry Quesada, assistant professor of business and manufacturing processes in the Department of Wood Science and Forest Products and member of the CIbM. The CIbm was created with the goal to help local industries to solve current manufacturing issues and to help the university commercialize new technologies that steam out research projects. The CIbM is supported by the Institute for Critical Technology & Applied Science (ICTAS).

Participants in the first Innovation-based Manufacturing workshop ask questions

Speakers at the workshop included Dr. Roop Mahajan, Director of ICTAS, Director of the Institute for Critical Technology & Applied Science (ICTAS), Dr. Darrene Hackler, VP at the International Economic Development Council, Dr. Allister James, Senior Expert Engineer from Siemens Energy, Dr. Julia Lane from the National Science Foundation, and Mr. Jose Vicente-Gomila from the Polytechnic Institute of Valencia in Spain and co-founder of TRIZ XXI.

The morning session of the workshop focused on discussing the basics behind innovation-based manufacturing, the relationship of innovation with economic development, innovation and science of innovation policy, and examples of innovation-based manufacturing in action. The afternoon session was focused on innovation tools such as TRIZ, innovation monitoring, and innovation intelligence. The workshop was attended by 45 participants and it was held at the Inn at Virginia Tech.

According to current research from Dr. Quesada’s group, the wood products industry sector needs to focus more on innovative ways to improve their manufacturing process and innovation-based manufacturing opens enormous potential for companies in this industry sector to increase their competitiveness

RESEARCH BRIEF: Furniture Engineering Process Analysis

Chao Wang, MS Candidate
Virginia Tech

Andersen and Fagerhaug (2001) defines a process as “a logic series of related transactions that converts input to results or output.” The engineering process is an important component of a business process since it is (Ericsson 1993):

   A chain of logical connected, repetitive activities that

Ÿ   utilizes the enterprise’s resources to

Ÿ   refine an object (physical or mental)

Ÿ   for the purpose of achieving specified and measurable results/products for

Ÿ   internal or external customers

Figure 1. Typical furniture engineering process

Our previous had identified the product family within a case study household furniture manufacturer, next we could further define different processes of engineering for making the family of products. Figure 1 shows a typical furniture engineering process by using functional flow chart.

Further, based on our initial study, we specifically identify 15 major engineering processes for the sofa products. Each process is interpreted in Table 1. 

Table 1. Fifteen engineering major processes

ID Process Interpretation
1 Research Product Architecture Generally, this process is fulfilled by a product architecture discussion meeting. The attendees include associates from three departments which are product development, engineering, and production. The goal of this meeting is to streamline each product architecture in the context of customer requirements, engineering feasibility, and production manufacturability.
2 Create drawings and bills of material (BOM) Drawings include perspective drawings, assembly drawings, part drawings, cutting tool drawings for fabrication. BOM includes both bills of material and bills of hardware.
3 Create fabric cutting drawings The previous step completes the drawings for solid wood and wood-based components. Since most of the upholstery products contain fabric material, the fabric cutting drawing is generated to telling the production associates how to cut the fabric.
4 Apply new material SKU# Since new product inevitably needs to use new material, so engineers need to apply new SKU# for each type of material to facilitate the procurement process
5 Create law tag This is a mandatory tag shows that the product attributes are compliance with the local law for distributing and selling in the destination market
6 Fill out material purchasing form As long as the SKU# is approved, engineer can start to fill out the purchasing form to order certain materials and attach essential drawings and specification to the use of suppliers
7 Create sofa specifications The specifications include both design specification for engineering details and manufacturing specification for fabrication details
8 Create 2.5 axis CNC programs The programs include all the precision machining by the CNC machine such as certain component fabrication templates, part routing programs, and plywood dies for the thermoforming process
9 Check/sign-off/distribute preproduction documents After all the above processes, a preproduction document is established which contains all the essential drawings, bills of material, instruction, specification for fabricating a product or product family. Next, the engineering supervisor will check the document, then the document will sign-off by the engineering manager and distribute to the manufacturing plant.
10 Follow up preproduction mock-up process After releasing the preproduction document, engineers also need to coordinate with production associate on fabricating the mock-up and collect feedback on fabrication difficulties in the mock-up process
11 Compile mass production document According to the fabrication feedback in the mock-up process, engineers could start improving the engineering design and making adjustments in the mass production document
12 Check/sign-off/distribute mass production documents Engineering supervisor and manager do the same process to check, sign-off, and distribute mass production documents
13 Create fabric manufacturing specification This process paralleled with the process of generating production documents. The document not only include detail design specifications, but also contains detailed information on fabric material and what specific area of a certain product will apply this material
14 Create packaging document This process happens after the process of generating production documents. The packaging document include all the drawings, BOM, and specification for packaging a furniture product
15 Create 5-axis CNC program This process parallel with the process of generating production documents. It usually deals with 3D-shaped components that are difficult to generate in the 2.5-axis CNC machine.

The processes in Table 1 that we identified include both primary engineering processes and secondary engineering processes. The primary engineering processes refer to all types of value-added engineering activities performed by the majority of product engineers for designing on-demand product architecture (1-12). The secondary engineering processes refer to the required value-added engineering activities performed by the individual product engineer mainly to facilitate production process (13-15).

Identifying each process is the basis for further analysis on process efficiency. Based on the engineering processes identified above, next the research will focus on identifying essential process metrics such as cycle time and queue time, and finally the value-added time of the process could be identified 

References:

  • Andersen, B., and T. Fagerhaug. 2001. Advantages and disadvantages of using predefined process models. Proceedings fra Strategic Manufacturing, IFIP WG5 7.
  • Ericsson Quality Institute (1993): Business Process Management, Gothenburg, Sweden.

RESEARCH BRIEF: The Future of Raw Material for the Wood Pallet Industry

By Leslie Scarlett Sanchez
Department of Wood Science and Forest Products
Virginia Tech

   

The use of wood pallets is expected to grow, therefore; the sourcing of wood materials for pallet manufacturing requires attention. It is believed that wood pallet manufacturers will face increasing competition for raw materials from producers of wood-based composites, paper and paperboard, and biomass-based energy. Part of our research at VT is focused on identifying suppliers of wood pallet materials, meaning if they are domestic and/or imported. And going a little far, we would like to identify new possible sources of raw material, due to the increasing competition in the acquisition of wood pallet materials. An overview of roundwood production from 1997 to 2008  and main producer countries is presented in this research brief.  

Roundwood production  

Roundwood production is divided in two types: Hardwood and Softwoods. Figure 1 shows the respective quantities for each one and their respective trends through 1997 and 2008 in the United States. It can be seen that there is a decrease over the years for hardwood production. However, softwood production is increasing since 2002 until 2005, and decreases through 2008.  

Figure 1. Roundwood Production in the United States (FAO, 2010)

It is also important to identify the amount of roundwood in the World as shown in Figure 2. Similar to Figure 1, it shows an increase in roundwood production.  

Figure 2. Global Roundwood Production (FAO, 2010)

 Figure 3 shows the production of roundwood of the 10 ten most important country producers by volume and their share respect to total production.   

Figure 3. Roundwood Production of Main Countries (FAO, 2010)

Comparison between Global and U.S Timber. 

 For our research it is also important to identify information regarding domestic pallet production, global imports of pallets, and also, in order to know the state of timber stocks and production in all countries, data about the global and U.S. timber production was collected. This information is shown and compared in Figure 4.  

Figure 4. Timber and Pallet and Container Production in the U.S. and the World (FAO, 2010; U.S. Census Bureau, 2010)

Table 1 contains the data depicted in Figure 4. It can be seen that global timber production is slightly increasing over the decade of analysis, from 3.2 billion m3 in 1998 to 3.6 billion m3 in 2007. On the other hand, the timber production in the U.S. had decreased during the same time span. U.S. timber production represents approximately 13.5% of the global timber output. Domestic pallet production in the U.S. shows a significant increase from 2003 and 2008 years, of about 35%. Pallet imports to the U.S. have also increased, although to a much lower rate than domestic production, approximately 25 %. Imports represent 8.7% of the domestic pallet production in the U.S. 

Table 1. Pallets and Timber Production in the US and World (FAO, 2010; U.S. Census Bureau, 2010) 

   

References:   

  • FAO. (2010). FAO Statistics-US Hardwood and Softwood Roundwood Production.   Retrieved January 2010, from http://faostat.fao.org/site/626/default.aspx#ancor
  • FAO. (2010). FAO Statistics-Global Roundwood Production.   Retrieved January 2010, from http://faostat.fao.org/site/626/default.aspx#ancor
  • U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Annual Survey of Manufacturers – Wood Pallet and Container Value of Shipment, Years 2000 to 2008. Retrieved January 2010, from Department of Commerce – Census Bureau: http://www.census.gov/manufacturing/asm/
  • U.S. Census Bureau. (2010, January 2010). Foreign Trade – Imports, Years 2000 to 2008.   Retrieved January 2010, from http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/

Virginia Tech Department of Wood Science and Forest Products delivered a workshop on Energy Savings using Lean Thinking

by Henry Quesada, Assistant Professor
Virginia Tech

 

Representatives from private, goverment, non goverment, and academic sectors attended the workshop Energy Savings using Lean Thinking held at the Riverstone Energy Center in South Boston, VA.  This workshop delivered academic and practical applications on how industries in the wood products sector could decrease energy consumption by integrating lean thinking principles with energy management methods. Standard energy audits are oriented to the identification of energy management opportunities (EMOs) by looking at the power systems, building infraestructure, and control systems but most of the times they do not consider the impact of management practices in energy consumption. This workshop gave participants academic and practical guidelines in how to integrate lean thinking with energy reduction efforts. Figure 1 shows the model being developed at Virginia Tech.

Figure 1. Model to integrate Lean Thinking with Energy Management Opportunities

In the firs presentation, Mr. Mark Webber from Dominion reviewed the current status and future of energy in Virginia. The second presentation was given by Dr. Earl Kline from Virginia Tech on Lean Thinking Principles. After this, attendess were introduced to a Lean Energy Audit Toolkit (integraton of Lean Thinking concepts and EMOs) at macro level to identify what areas in their processes require inmediate attention, followed by examples of wood products industries that have achieved significant energy savings by eliminating waste in their processes. This presentation was given by Dr. Henry Quesada also from Virginia Tech.

Figure 2. Dr. Earl Kline from Virginia Tech discusses Lean Thinking Principles during the workshop

The last two presentations were practical approaches. Mr. Tyler Gill from Enernoc presented on Enernoc’s energy management platforms. Mr. Gill used a real-time example to demostrate how important is to constantly monitored energy consumption in order to identify potential EMOs. Finally, Mr. Shannon Walls from Masco Cabinetry Group presented results of how his Continous Improvement (CI) Group has identified, quantified, and implemented EMOs using CI methods. Overall, 64% out of the 23 attendees rated the workshop as excellent and 36% as good.

Please feel free to contact Dr. Henry Quesada at quesada@vt.edu if you have any questions about EMOs and integration with Lean Thinking concepts.