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In the past, the wood products industry has often struggled with effectively marketing products to the public. With the increase of globalization and wood substitutions, the industry may need new ways to attract customers. Targeting younger customers who have recently joined the buyer's market may be a way to increase the industry's market share and customer base. A study was conducted to understand the millennial generation's (individuals born from 1980 to 2000) knowledge and perception of wood products. In 2018, an online survey was distributed to over 1,500 millennial-aged individuals and 1,479 usable survey responses were returned. Results indicate that respondents have a favorable perception of wood products and that there is potential to change uncertain or negative perceptions by providing informative facts about wood products. Approximately 71 percent of millennials indicated paper and pulp to be the most popular wood product, followed by lumber (51%) Responses also showed that 84 percent of respondents perceived wood as beautiful and 54 percent indicated it appealed to their sense of style. In terms of strength and durability, 46 percent of the respondents did not perceive wood to be as strong as steel. They were unaware of cross-laminated timber (74%) and its structural benefits and did not feel it was a safe product to use in tall buildings (54%). Millennial females and all millennials ages 18–20 held particularly stronger attitudes about wood products. The information gained from this research can be valuable when developing strategies to promote products and attract new customers.

Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) is an invasive tree that is the target of many restoration efforts across the United States. These removals are very expensive and generate large amounts of woody biomass waste that currently goes unused. The attractive grain and color of the wood has motivated some mills to process Russian olive and sell it for artisan uses. Some research exists on Russian olive biomass utilization, but no studies have been done on its use as a solid-sawn wood product. The Colorado State Forest Service nursery has hundreds of Russian olives on its property slated for removal. This presented the opportunity to conduct an economic analysis on the potential for increased utilization of Russian olive wood. An inventory of standing trees was conducted to find the volume of merchantable wood and estimate the potential lumber yield. Additionally, a sample of the trees was removed and milled, with actual costs and lumber yields tracked throughout the process. Findings from the two ...

Since the end of the last century, exports from the Chinese wood processing sector have experienced very rapid growth and played an increasingly important role in the world's wood product ...

Software investments are increasingly important to remain competitive in modern manufacturing. However, wood product industries generally make minimal information technology (IT) investments and are slow adopters. This study determines the types of software that could contribute the most to the future competitiveness of the Canadian cabinet industry using industry and IT expert input into an Analytic Network Process model. Findings include the following. The Quality strategy is the most crucial for the industry's future competitiveness, with a normalized weight of 0.332, and the Delivery strategy is the least important (0.111). For software, Operations & Engineering and Enterprise Resource Management applications are the most important, having final priorities of 0.227 and 0.222, respectively. Content applications are relatively unimportant (0.087). The sensitivity analysis indicates that the results are robust for varying weights of all strategies except Customer Service. A higher emphasis on th...

This study investigated the relationship between visual images of wood color and wood grains of wood products manufactured from select Taiwanese commercial hardwoods. The Taiwan Forestry Research Institute provided samples for 23 species of commercially available woods, each with tangential and radial sections (46 samples total). Wood color parameters were measured, followed by a survey using a Semantic Differential scaling method to discern the consumers' mental perception toward the wood products. Finally, factors involved in constructing different images underwent statistical analysis to offer designers and consumers a reference for designing a product or wood product selections. Among Taiwan's commercial woods, Swietenia mahogoni was perceived to be advanced, elegant, and exquisite in the tangential section and warm, soft, and possessive of a natural image in the radial section. The tangential section of Paulownia taiwaniana was perceived to possess a common image; meretricious and rough imag...

In British Columbia, many communities are dependent on the forest industry and are consequently concerned about uses for the millions of hectares of pine forests killed by the mountain pine beetle. The wood fiber from those dead trees is normally useless for traditional manufacturing of dimensional lumber due to its fragility and poor quality, but wood concrete provides an alternative use. This was a market research study on mountain pine beetle wood concrete product (MPBWCP), an innovative wood product that is a blend of pine beetle–killed wood and concrete. Three building product applications were investigated, including countertops, floor tiles, and garden blocks. We assessed the relative importance that consumers place on the product attributes of wood chip size, color, price, location of production, and green certification. Qualified consumer participants from cities on the West Coast of Canada and the United States were invited to evaluate physical samples of MPBWCP on site. The results of the conjo...