Productivity in wood machining processes - a question of simple economics ?

• Main Authors: Ratnasingam, J., Ma, T.P., Perkins, M.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Verlag 1999
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114058/1/114058.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/114058/; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/PL00002621

Current productivity-improvement initiatives in high-volume furniture production environments do not accord the necessary importance to wood machining processes. The competitiveness of furniture products in the world market is often derived from low raw material and labour costs. With growing concern about the future supply of wood resources, the need to enhance manufacturing productivity, particularly those associated with wood machining processes, is now of gaining impetus. Although the wood machining process is an integral part of furniture manufacturing, this process has often been treated as the end and not the mean of enhancing productivity. This paper discusses the essence of productivity in wood machining processes, from the process fundamental perspective. It emphasizes the need for an indepth understanding of the fundamentals of the machining process, in order to achieve the necessary surface quality and cost factors without which productivity in wood machining processes would remain a myth rather than a fact.