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Recent media reports regarding wood products question the trustworthiness of wood origin declaration, the sustainability of production methods and the product quality. In light of this question, it becomes important to ensure consumer trust in wood and wood-based products. Current research indicates that providing product information enhances product trust and purchase intentions, while young consumers in particular seek detailed product information. However, it is necessary to determine which wood product information young consumers strongly value because providing a high amount leads to information overload. As information needs may vary between different consumer segments, the present work aims at identifying segments of young consumers and their preferred wood-product information. The importance of different wood product information items concerning the purchase decision was investigated with a German-language online survey (N = 185, age range 18-30). A cluster analysis revealed four consumer segments. Thereof, three segments (an environmentally oriented, an environmentally and quality oriented, and a quality oriented segment) valued the provision of wood product information. The preferred information types differed among the three segments. Overall, this paper provides insights into young consumers' preferences for wood product information and the consumer segments on which marketing should focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is essential for small and medium-sized enterprises to manufacture products using standardized and sustainable methods. The case study company here is a wood products manufacturer, and an analysis of its production process revealed that almost 70% of the wood raw materials used is wasted in the form of chippings, sawdust, off-cuts and defects. The objective of this research study was therefore to apply the Material Flow Cost Accounting (MFCA) and Design of Experiments (DOE) concepts to the case study company, in order to reduce materials consumption and minimize waste. The research methodology was divided into two main parts. The first part employed the MFCA concept to analyze the inefficiencies incurred due to resource use within the production process, as well as the causes of such inefficiencies. In the second part, the opportunities available to reduce these inefficiencies were examined. The DOE concept was used to increase the efficiency of wood raw materials use, with a full factorial experiment used to find the optimal cutting settings, those creating less damage. Three factors were studied and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted. The results of the experiment have subsequently been put into practice, resulting in a reduction of wood materials losses in the cutting process, as a proportion of total wood materials used, from approximately 69 percent to 54 percent. In conclusion, applying MFCA and DOE helped both increase product quality and reduce the adverse environmental impacts of the case study company's production process, saving costs and improving its competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life Cycle Assessment and Design for the Environment are combined in this study to identify and improve the environmental performance of a wooden modular playground. This study covers the whole life cycle of the production process of the playground and its final distribution to the users from a cradle-to-gate perspective. This wooden product was chosen since it is a very representative urban element of the wooden sector in public spaces. To do the assessment, a Galician wood company was analysed in detail. Ten impact categories have been assessed: Abiotic depletion, acidification, eutrophication, global warming, ozone layer depletion, human toxicity, freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity, marine aquatic ecotoxicity, terrestrial ecotoxicity and photochemical oxidant formation. According to the environmental results, the assembling stage is the most important contributor to the environmental profile with contributions higher than 60% to all categories. Both lacquering and energy stages are relevant in terms of ecotoxicity impact categories. In addition, the environmental hot spots were identified in the life cycle: the production of wood based materials (with large contribution to ecotoxicity categories) due to the boards, the production of metals (important contributions to acidification, human toxicity and oxidants formation) and the transport related activities (with remarkable contributions to abiotic depletion, eutrophication and global warming) mainly due to the wooden materials. Concerning the results from the eco-design, the proposed strategies were evaluated/selected from a technological, economic and social point of view by an interdisciplinary team of researchers and company workers, showing that the strategies with higher viability were: redesign product to reduction of materials used, substitution of aluminum by stainless steel, combination of maritime and road transport for wooden materials, minimisation of the amount of components in the structure and installation area, definition of a protocol for disassembling and use of the product and packaging and, multifunctional and multiuser design. Important reductions (up to 11%) in the environmental profile (normalised index) can be achieved with these alternatives. The results obtained in this work allow predicting the importance of the selection of raw materials on the environmental burdens associated. Future work will focus on the manufacture of a prototype eco-designed wooden modular playground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Currently there are several methodologies available for estimating the carbon footprint of products. In this study a comparison has been made between the outcomes and the implications of three different methodologies applied to office paper: (1) the ISO 14040/14044 standards limited to the analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the corresponding impact category global warming; (2) the PAS 2050; and (3) the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) framework. The carbon footprint of office paper from cradle-to-costumer is 4.64, 4.74 and 4.29gCO2eq per A4 sheet according to, respectively, the ISO 14040/14044 standards, the PAS 2050 and the CEPI framework. The ISO 14040/14044 standard methodology allows the quantification of 98% of the total GHG emissions with the smallest effort in data collection. The major hot spots are the stages of eucalypt pulp and office paper production and chemical and fuel production for all methodologies. General methodologies such as those analysed in this study are not enough for the comparison of products. More specific rules, such as Product Category Rules, that limit the degree of freedom in the choice of the functional unit, system boundary, allocation rules, data quality, between others, should be developed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]