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This introduction sketches out what relevance wood and wood products have had in Europe’s industrial societies. It also summarizes some peculiarities of the wood-based businesses caused by both the materiality of wood and the ecologies of forests. Most importantly, the introduction contextualizes the findings of this issue’s individual articles in three topical fields, cutting some interpretational paths in an area still rather unknown to many historians: First of all, it argues that analysing wood-based businesses can help to re-consider the history of Europe’s industrialization as a distinctively continental process. Second, the introduction reveals material and ecological barriers to globalization that come into view if one questions the supplies of Europe’s ever increasing industrial wood demand. Third, it considers how a focus on the wood-based businesses can contribute to re-evaluate seemingly clear-cut divisions of Europe into industrial centres and peripheries.

Wood utilisation is an important factor affecting production costs, but the combined utilisation rate of wood is generally only 50 to 70%. During the production process, the rejection scheme of wood defects is one of the most important factors affecting the wood yield. This paper provides an overview of the main wood defects affecting wood quality, introduces techniques for detecting and identifying wood defects using different technologies, highlights the more widely used image recognition-based wood surface defect identification methods, and presents three advanced wood defect detection and identification equipment. In view of the relatively fixed wood defect recognition requirements in wood processing production, it is proposed that wood defect recognition technology should be further developed toward deep learning to improve the accuracy and efficiency of wood defect recognition.

Wood utilisation is an important factor affecting production costs, but the combined utilisation rate of wood is generally only 50 to 70%. During the production process, the rejection scheme of wood defects is one of the most important factors affecting the wood yield. This paper provides an overview of the main wood defects affecting wood quality, introduces techniques for detecting and identifying wood defects using different technologies, highlights the more widely used image recognition-based wood surface defect identification methods, and presents three advanced wood defect detection and identification equipment. In view of the relatively fixed wood defect recognition requirements in wood processing production, it is proposed that wood defect recognition technology should be further developed toward deep learning to improve the accuracy and efficiency of wood defect recognition.

This research was carried out to identify immediate and remote health hazards, including the need for health hazard assessment in the sawmill industry in Enugu State, Nigeria. A quantitative research approach was used and 300 well-structured questionnaires were directly administered to five sections of sawmill workers. Interviews and observational studies were also used to acquire data. The data was analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software using basic percentages and inferential statistics from chi-square test analysis. The significance level was set at 0.05. Respondents in this study identified several immediate and remote health hazards, including accidents and injuries, that were linked to the various tasks they do in the sawmill. Machine operators and carpentry/furniture workers, on the other hand, were shown to be more exposed to these hazards. Asthma, dermatitis, sequoiosis, respiratory problems, heart problems, and skin disorders are among the hazards reported. Others included cuts, piercings, crushed injuries, fractures, dislocations, bruises, falls, etc. There was a significant difference in the types of ailments suffered by different categories of workers. The study also found that the total cost of fire-related losses in sawmills between 2004 and 2014 was 4.09 billion Naira. Notwithstanding the hazards and medical concerns indicated by the workers, their use of PPE was unsatisfactory. Occupational safety and health legislation, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Framework Directive, which requires employers to adopt appropriate precautionary measures to make work safer and healthier, should be implemented in all sawmills.

Using various wireless communication methods to achieve some type of remote monitoring and/or controlling of processes and systems, in general, is a continuously thriving industry. The wood industry is not immune to that but the prevalence of such systems, automated to a certain level, remains low. Their rise and presence, however, are unavoidable and will continue to grow. Wireless devices are used to continuously monitor environmental factors as well as the structural moisture of wood in a wooden plank during the natural aspirated drying process and the forced drying process all in a controlled environment. An exemplary system based on LoRa communication interfaces is configured, adapted, and operationally tuned for the wood processing industry. The selected LoRa communication system operates on an EU compliant RF spectrum. Nevertheless, since such devices must be tightly integrated within a pack of planks, wireless signal propagation is greatly impacted. The pack of planks has an effect on radio signal dispersion because it creates a dense environment hostile to RF propagation. A technique to strengthen measurement devices and receive units for wireless signal propagation is proposed in order to maintain a high-quality communication link. Furthermore, practical procedures for maintaining a desirable signal level and their upkeep suggestions are presented for applications with numerous obstacles in the working environment.

AbstractForest plantations provide a wide range of products. Therefore, it is vital to ensure the sustainable growth and adequate management of forest resources. This study aims to examine the current challenges facing the forest industry, such as the depletion of forest resources, the increasing cost of wood processing products, and intensifying competition in the timber market (caused by the tropical wood supply). These challenges force the world’s leading forest countries to intensify forest cultivation, to consult forest industries in the Far East and to optimize the sustainable use of forest resources. It was found that current distribution of cutting practices threatens the forest ecosystem. The study suggests a scheme where 10–30% of forest area is clear-cut, 70–90% is selectively logged, and 20–35% is exposed to gradual felling. Factors, such as harvesting time, exhaust emissions, the loss of young trees, topsoil degradation, load on the soil surface, and the slope angle are essential for building mathematical models of forest sustainability. The intensity of wood transportation is also a critical factor influencing the above indicators. The study proposes a model for reorganizing regional wood harvesting companies to improve their profitability. The theoretical model is adapted to the Far Eastern context, but is suitable for use in other parts of the world.

The aim of the article is to describe the issue of determining the characteristics and parameters of raw timber natural losses due to shrinkage at long-term storage, defining the theoretical basis for creating standards, and verify its finding by means of a case study in raw timber storing. This issue is very topical in forestry practice in the Czech Republic as well as in other countries. The lower and upper limits of the standards were calculated, and the proposed mean value was grouped according to woody plants that reflected the most frequent commercial usage with respect to subsequent processing. Subsequently, experimental verification was carried out on a representative sample of 2 209.99 m3 of raw timber of Norway spruce (Picea abies /L./ H. Karst.) at selected forest administrations. Furthermore, the article addresses the related accounting and tax issues of the standards of natural losses of raw timber. Currently, no legislation mandates an entity to establish standards.

The wood industry is facing many challenges. The high variability of raw material and the complexity of manufacturing processes results in a wide range of visible structure defects, which have to be controlled by trained specialists. These manual processes are not only tedious and biased, but also less effective. To overcome the drawbacks of the manual quality control processes, several automated vision-based systems have been proposed. Even though some conducted studies achieved a higher recognition rate than trained experts, researchers have to deal with a lack of large-scale databases and authentic data in this field. To address this issue, we performed a data acquisition experiment set in the industrial environment, where we were able to acquire an extensive set of authentic data from a production line. For this purpose, we designed and implemented a complex technical solution suitable for high-speed acquisition during harsh manufacturing conditions. In this data note, we present a large-scale dataset of high-resolution sawn timber surface images containing more than 43 000 labelled surface defects and covering 10 types of the most common wood defects. Moreover, with each image record, we provide two types of labels allowing researchers to perform semantic segmentation, as well as defect classification, and localization.

The aim of this study was to know the variation profile of the specific energy consumption required to cut woods with varying densities and moisture contents. Therefore, peripheral cuts were performed in the longitudinal direction of the grain with numerical control controlled by Computational Numerical Command in woods of different densities, established at different drying stages. An energy analyzer, capable of calculate the specific energy consumed during the wood processing, was used to measure the energy information. The results indicated that the higher the wood density, the greater the positive influence of the moisture content on the specific cutting energy. In the anhydrous condition, the higher the wood density, the higher the cutting energy. With increased moisture content, less cutting power was required during the wood processing. Therefore, it was possible to conclude that during the milling type mechanical processing of wood, moisture content has a great influence on the specific cutting energy consumption.

Objectives The purpose of the research is to develop theoretical and practical recommendations for the improvement of forest management in Ukraine through the use of outsourcing scheme in the field of forestry services and wood processing. Material and methods The object of the research is economic relations in the field of forestry in Ukraine. Мethods: the method of normative analysis is used to determine the basic norms, which are guided by the subjects of management in the field of forestry in Ukraine; abstract-logical method is used to identify contradictions in the existing system of forestry activities; axiomatic method is used to identify conflicts of interest in the activities of employees of state forest enterprises. Results The article analyzes the theoretical aspects of using the outsourcing scheme in the enterprise activity, identifies the ways of separating woodworking shops from the structure of state forestry enterprises and justifies the necessity of using the outsourcing scheme in the field of rendering services in forest rehabilitation and reproduction. Conclusions The separating woodworking shops from the structure of state forest enterprises will simplify the management system of these enterprises, reduce administrative costs, increase revenues from the sale of unprocessed timber and increase competition in the market of unprocessed timber. Involving for rendering services in forest rehabilitation and reproduction third parties will create conditions for deepening the division of labor and the specialization of forestry contractors and improving the quality of services which provided, that in result will allow forestry companies to purchase these services at lower prices and higher quality.

The article investigates the timber enterprises’ integration in Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra as a way to improve the efficiency of the timber industry. Currently, in the region, only 10 of 130 timber enterprises are large and mediumsized enterprises. The other companies are small and chronically underfunded. These small enterprises use outdated equipment and production technology, are unable to organize wood processing and reforestation; to develop forest infrastructure. However, the integration of timber industry enterprises can become the way to address this situation. The article discusses various types of possible enterprises’ integration, such as vertical and horizontal integrations, the combined and unrelated diversification (financial integration). The combined diversification is a mixed type of the integration of enterprises from related and unrelated industries. This type of integration is most in keeping with the characteristics of the development of timber industry of Khanty- Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra. The combined diversification will maximize the effect from the association of enterprises. The author has justified the rationale for establishing six integrated industrial and financial associations (IIFA) according to improved forest and economical zoning of Okrug area. I defined the profile of each IIFA taking into account of special aspects of forest resources as well as social and economical development characteristics of the area and demand for the products. In Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug — Yugra, the integrated industrial and financial associations will address four critical challenges of the socio-economic development of the region. Firstly, these associations will contribute to the diversification of the economy. Secondly, they will enable the production of new types of forest products. Thirdly, the creation of the integrated industrial and financial associations will increase the efficiency in use of wood raw materials (including low-grade wood and wood waste). And last, it will enhance job creation and wage increases for the employees in the forest industry. The integration in the timber industry of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug can be applied by other regions of Russia. However, technologies of integration have to be adapted to socio-economic and forest vegetation conditions of a certain region.

Objectives The purpose of the research is to develop theoretical and practical recommendations for the improvement of forest management in Ukraine through the use of outsourcing scheme in the field of forestry services and wood processing. Material and methods The object of the research is economic relations in the field of forestry in Ukraine. Мethods: the method of normative analysis is used to determine the basic norms, which are guided by the subjects of management in the field of forestry in Ukraine; abstract-logical method is used to identify contradictions in the existing system of forestry activities; axiomatic method is used to identify conflicts of interest in the activities of employees of state forest enterprises. Results The article analyzes the theoretical aspects of using the outsourcing scheme in the enterprise activity, identifies the ways of separating woodworking shops from the structure of state forestry enterprises and justifies the necessity of using the outsourcing scheme in the field of rendering services in forest rehabilitation and reproduction. Conclusions The separating woodworking shops from the structure of state forest enterprises will simplify the management system of these enterprises, reduce administrative costs, increase revenues from the sale of unprocessed timber and increase competition in the market of unprocessed timber. Involving for rendering services in forest rehabilitation and reproduction third parties will create conditions for deepening the division of labor and the specialization of forestry contractors and improving the quality of services which provided, that in result will allow forestry companies to purchase these services at lower prices and higher quality.

Defects on a solid wood board have a great influence on the aesthetics and mechanical properties of the board. After removing the defects, the board is no longer the standard size; manual drawing lines and cutting procedure is time-consuming and laborious; and an optimal solution is not necessarily obtained. Intelligent cutting of the board can be realized using a genetic algorithm. However, the global optimal solution of the whole machining process cannot be obtained by separately considering the sawing and splicing of raw materials. The integrated consideration of wood board cutting and board splicing can improve the utilization rate of the solid wood board. The effective utilization rate of the board with isolated consideration of raw material sawing with standardized dimensions of wood pieces and board splicing is 79.1%, while the shortcut splicing optimization with non-standardized dimensions for the final board has a utilization rate of 88.6% (which improves the utilization rate by 9.5%). In large-scale planning, the use of shortcut splicing optimization also increased the utilization rate by 12.14%. This has certain guiding significance for actual production.

Article object of research - synthesis of foreign practice of steady forest exploitation and management of timber processing complex. A research objective - identification of major factors of formation of competitive advantages in the industry. The research has shown that the timber processing complexes of such countries as Finland, Sweden and Canada have made great progress in increase in competitiveness of the industry. At the same time, Russia is faced by problems of a solution of the problem of import substitution and increase in export orientation of this industry. In the article approaches of the leading countries of the world to the organization of reforming of forest industry for the purpose of its fuller integration into the world economy are considered and generalized.

This research analysed the motivating and demotivating factors amongst employees in two wood processing companies in Croatia. Research was conducted over the year 2014 and 2015, during the economic recovery of the companies and Croatian economy in general. Research was conducted with a survey using a questionnaire containing six questions with multiple choice statements. The questions were closed-ended, and respondents used the Likert four-level scale of importance for each statement. A total of 180 employees were surveyed, and results were statistically processed by using the χ2 - test and cluster analysis. This study established that the motivation factors most important to employees between researched companies are significantly different. Employees were most concerned about social needs. Also, employees consider psychological circumstances of work to be very important. Employees’ overall motivation can be linked to higher efficiency and higher quality production and business results, and such research should be conducted more often.

With the aim at performing the highest precision during woodworking, a mix of alternative approaches, fruitfully integrated in a common design strategy, is essential. This paper represents an overview of technical solutions, recently developed by authors, in design of machine tools and their final effects on manufacturing. The most advanced solutions in machine design are reported side by side with common practices or little everyday expedients. These design actions are directly or indirectly related to the rational use of materials, sometimes very uncommon, as in the case of magnetorheological fluids chosen to implement an active control in speed and force on the electro-spindle, and permitting to improve the quality of wood machining. Other actions are less unusual, as in the case of the adoption of innovative anti-vibration supports for basement. Tradition or innovation, all these technical solutions contribute to the final result: the highest precision in wood machining.

Abundance of forests in the territory of the Republic of Croatia was the reason for the development of sawmill industry that has a century long tradition. Although lagging behind the European countries, the Croatian sawmilling industry, along with forestry, represents the first phase of wood processing development, which is based on high manufacturing technology, trained employees and skilled workers. Costs are the core of many business decisions. It is, however, not enough to analyze the costs of a specific or restricted business area, but the costs of the entire business process – from supplier to product/service buyer. The aim of this paper was to compare the selected production process factors so as to make comparison between the Croatian and foreign companies, in order to get an idea of competitiveness of the Croatian sawmilling industry. Factors that were compared were: output cost per unit, costs of raw material including transportation, energy costs, cost of capital (in this case amortization), and the cost of labor. In order to further increase and maintain competitiveness of sawmill industry, it is necessary to make higher investments into technology with the aim to reduce the unit production costs. It is also necessary to determine the optimal technology in terms of quality, quantity and wood species.

This research analyzed the motivating and demotivating factors amongst employees in a wood processing and furniture manufacturing company. Research was conducted over the year 2010, during the time of a full economic crisis and before the restructuring of the company was done. Analysis also was conducted in 2014, during the beginning of the economic recovery and after the restructuring of the company. Research was conducted with a survey using a questionnaire containing six questions with multiple choice statements. The questions were closed-ended, and respondents used the Likert four-level scale of importance for each statement. A total of 180 employees were surveyed, and results were statistically processed by using the χ2- test and cluster analysis. This study established that the motivation factors most important to employees in a company are significantly different during the time of an economic crisis, and in the period of economic recovery, i.e. before and after restructuring of the company. Employees were most concerned about physiological needs in the time of a crisis, whereas in the time of an economic recovery, employees consider social needs to be of more importance. Also, employees consider psychological circumstances of work to be more important in the year 2014 than in the year 2010. Employees’ overall motivation can be linked to higher efficiency and higher quality production and business results, and such research should be conducted more often.

A detailed analysis of the behavior of a commercial magneto-rheological device is presented in the context of woodworking machine tools. This type of device can provide resistive torque to a rotating shaft via a change in fluid viscosity due to a modification in magnetic field, with the resistive torque being proportional to the current passing through an electric winding inside the device. In this way, it is possible to control the transmission of torque by modulating an electrical current. This solution is particularly relevant where highly accuracy torque control is required. At the same time, it is recognized that magneto-rheological devices can introduce a significant delay between activation of the control signal and application of torque. As a consequence, it is necessary to analyze the behavior of the clutch by direct evaluation. Several tests have been performed while increasing the current and experimentally evaluating the applied torque and hysteresis behavior. The presented results demonstrate the need to use software algorithms to fill the time gap between the expected and measured torque and to overcome difficulties related to hysteresis before such a clutch can be implemented for high accuracy applications.

Research Highlights: A low-cost experimental system was developed to enable the production monitoring of small-scale wood processing facilities by the means of sensor-collected data and the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, which provided accurate results for the most important work operations. Background and Objectives: The manufacturing of wood-based products by small-scale family-held business is commonly affected by a lack of monitoring data that, on the one hand, may prevent the decision-making process and, on the other hand, may lead to less technical efficiency that could result in business failure. Long-term performance of such manufacturing facilities is limited because data collection and analysis require significant resources, thus preventing the approaches that could be pursued for competitivity improvement. Materials and Methods: An external sensor system composed of two dataloggers—a triaxial accelerometer and a sound pressure level meter—was used in combination with a video camera to provide the input signals and meta-documentation for the training and testing of an artificial neural network (ANN) to check the accuracy of automatic classification of the time spent in operations. The study was based on a sample of ca. 90 k observations collected at a frequency of 1 Hz. Results: The approach provided promising results in both the training (ca. 20 k) and testing (ca. 60 k) datasets, with global classification accuracies of ca. 85%. However, the events characterizing the effective sawing, which requires electrical power, were even better recognized, reaching a classification accuracy of 98%. Conclusions: The system requires low-cost devices and freely available software that could enable data feeding on local computers by their direct connection to the devices. As such, it could collect, analyze and plot production data that could be used for maintaining the competitiveness of traditional technologies.

Processing of wood and manufacture of wood and cork products, excluding furniture, manufacture of straw and plaiting goods (C16) and manufacture of furniture (C31) were the most competitive activities of the Republic of Croatia in the European market in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Those activities began losing their market share at the end of 1994, and no significant positive change in market competitiveness has been recorded since then. The question is how to achieve and maintain competitiveness, which is the condition of survival in an increasingly demanding environment. Preliminary and previous research on investments points to the assumption that the problem of competitiveness in the observed economic branch essentially boils down to a problem in the quality and efficiency of the investments of associated business entities. This paper tries to give answers to the following questions: What is the investment policy, is there an internal factor for lagging behind in competitiveness, what the other reasons are and how competitiveness can be achieved. By analyzing the investment in key factors of competitiveness in the period 2007 to 2010, consistently established by this paper, the existing data on investment of wood processing and furniture manufacturing entities will be identified, and an AHP investment model will be proposed that takes into account the simultaneous influence of all of the key factors of competitiveness and is the best indicator of the direction to be taken, with the final aim of achieving competitiveness.

Drying is the first and most important step in the process of wood industrialization and it aims to provide material with suitable characteristics for use. This operation must be planned and conducted the right way, because it determines the final product quality. This study aimed to characterize the drying process of wood made in sawmills in the city of Sinop, Mato Grosso, through qualitative and quantitative parameters, and identify common aspects and possible failures in the process. For this, data were collected through interviews in twelve sawmills in order to obtain information on the major species submitted to the drying process, drying methods, methods of stacking, consumer markets, methods of control of moisture content, major errors found in the drying yard or in the form of stacking, among others. The results show that Erisma uncinatum (cedrinho) and Vochysia sp. (cambará) are the main species subject to drying and marketed, especially in southern and southeastern Brazil. There were several flaws in the process as absence drying methods employing conventional chambers, lack of precise methods of controlling the final moisture content, improper stacking unaligned battens and drying patios with poor distribution of primary and secondary accesses.

The analysis of the existing situation in four companies involved in wood processing has shown that all of these were covered by insurance policies. The study revealed that the observed companies do not see the need for high-quality insurance. A trend was noted, albeit too slow, towards a wider and more comprehensive insurance coverage of assets and assets interests. At the same time there is a high and significant risk of a possible major accident that is not covered by insurance policies. The stability of companies is based on operations security, and better quality of assets and assets interest insurance would result in higher security of operations. Assets insurance is a specific issue and a wider perspective is required in order to properly present the need for insurance. The present paper will show that assets insurance is indispensable. The results of the study indicate that in the forthcoming period the insurance of assets and assets interests will become more essential and more significant.

This paper presents the results of surveys of innovation potential conducted at wood processing and furniture manufacturing enterprises in the Republic of Croatia. The survey was conducted at 30 Croatian enterprises by using a questionnaire containing 89 questions divided in 14 major groups. The survey results showed some differentapproaches and a different current situation in Croatian enterprises. Different results were achieved in small, medium and large enterprises, but total results are below the average mark 3 (good), which can not be satisfactory. Since innovations can be considered as one of the most important factors for competitiveness of Croatian wood processing and furniture manufacturing enterprises on the European and global market, it is obvious that a lot of effort isrequired for making changes that are necessary in order to increase the competitiveness of our enterprises.

Wastewaters of the wood processing into groundwood are characterized by increased concentrations of organic contaminants (oils, resin acid, lignin (polymeric phenols), lignin salts (sulphonates, phenoxides), tannins, triglycerides, waxes, free long-chained fatty acids and other). Organic compounds which appear as colour come from extracted lignin, tannins and resin acids. Wood processing effluents are often resistant to degradation using biological methods, and are not removed effectively by conventional physicochemical treatment methods, such as coagulation/flocculation, sedimentation, filtration and ozonation. For processing of those effluents it is often necessary to link different methods of purification, and one of the alternative methods is sorption. In this work the removal of organic pollutants was tested from effluent of the production of mechanically milled groundwood by using sorption to clinoptilolite tuff and to samples of tuff which were modified using the solutions of cationic surfactant- hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (HDTMA-Br) of different concentrations. The sorption processes of hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide were researched on the clinoptilolite tuff from Turkey (Aegean Region Turkey, Bigadic), which contains more than 70 % of clinoptilolite, and in smaller mass fraction quartz and opal-CT are present. The tested effluent has the following characteristics: chemical oxygen demand (COD): 13200 mg dm-3, total organic carbon (TOC): 3010 mg dm-3, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5): 470 mg dm-3, colour: 681 Pt Co, turbidity: 799 NTU, pH 4.8. All testing was done without the adjustment of pH. The conventional process of pre-processing of effluent by coagulation with aluminum chloride hexahydrate (AlCl3·6H2O) was tested and the application ofHDTMA-modified clinoptilolite tuff with the intention of further decrease in organic burden of wastewater. In the Fig. 1A the results of the HDTMA uptake onto clinoptilolite tuff are shown, and in Fig. 1B the pertaining zeta potentials of the samples are shown. HDTMA cations were essentially quantitatively taken up by the clinoptilolite tuff up to loading level of L = 0.204 mmol g-1-(Fig. 1A). The results of the zeta potential measurements show that the negative surface charge changed to positive after modification with surfactant solutions (Fig. 1B). HDTMA cations form a stable organophilic coating on the clinoptilolite surface, and above surfactant loading level of 0.110 mmol g-1(isoelectric point), a second layer of HDTMA+ cations reverses the surface charge into positive. The optimal mass concentration of coagulant AlCl3·6H2O for the tested wastewater is γ = 0.8 g dm-1(Figs. 2A and 2B). Zeta potential of the solution above sediment received by coagulation with AlCl3·6H2O of mass concentration γ= 0.8 g dm-3 is ζ= -3.92 mV. The efficiency of removing the turbidity (Table 1) and COD is η = 67 % (from 799 to 263 NTU) and 54% (from 13 200 to 6 040 mg dm-3). The efficiency of removing solved organic carbon and colour is significantlylesser: 22.7% (from 3010 to 2322 mg dm-3) and η = 33.0 % (from 681 to 457 Pt Co). By processing the solutions received after coagulation with AlCl3·6H2O of mass concentration of 0.8 g dm-3, with natural tuff and organo-zeolites whose loading are: 0.074; 0.123; 0.164 and 0.204 mmol g-1 HDTMA, TOC was decreased from γ=2322 mg dm-3 to the following: γ=2042, 1976, 1945, 1907 and 1821 mg dm-3 and was sorbed: q = 28.0; 34.6; 37.7; 41.5; and 50.1 mg g-1 TOC (Fig. 3A). Using the sample of organo-zeolite with loading of 0.204 mmol g-1 HDTMA, the efficiency of removing the organic carbon was improved from η= 22.7 % to 40.0 %. The efficiency of discolouring the tested solutions also increases with the change of the surface charge of organo-zeolites from negative to positive(Fig. 3B). The efficiency of removing the colour by using the natural tuff was improved from η= 33.0 % to η = 40.0 %, and by using the organo-zeolite with loading of L = 0.204 mmol g-1 HDTMA to η= 76.3 %. In order for the biodegradation of the processes effluents to be tested, the rations of BOD5/COD are predetermined (Figs. 4A and 4B). According to literature data, the good value of biodegradation is the ratio of BOD5/COD higher than 0.5. The tested effluent was characterized as having particularly poor biodegradation. After processing the effluent with coagulation and organo-zeolite (0.204 mmol g-1 HDTMA), the biodegradation has not shown significant improvement. It could be concluded that HDTMA-modified clinoptilolite tuff can be used for discolouring and purification of the examined wastewater in one part of wastewater treatment which combines and some other physicochemical and/or biological purification methods.

Wood processing and furniture production represent a big chance for Croatia to enter the international market. Besides the natural advantages such as world-class quality of wood, Croatia also has the tradition, experience and current technological knowledge in production of semi-manufactured products and final products. Inorder to enter and survive at the competitive international market it is necessary to increase the level of logistics support for production preparation and production in order to increase the use of wood and wood material, to decrease time loss during development and acceptance of the new product and during production preparation, and especially to decrease time required for production. This paper deals with the results achieved during the development and application of the production management system that was based on theoretical principles of JIT (Just In Time) and MRPII Manufacturing Resource Planning) Japanese and American production theory and integrated in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system in wood processing and furniture production enterprises. In this way, the prerequisites are created for the development of the digital enterprise in wood processing and furniture production.

Introduction of a production management information system is one of the ways that could help the management to increase its efficiency. It should enable the monitoring of the whole business of a firm through co-ordination in the process of collecting and using information.