Automation Practices in Wood Product Industries: Lessons Learned, Current Practices and Future Perspectives
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http://www.diva-portal.org This is the published version of a paper presented at The 7th Swedish Production Symposium SPS, 25-27 October, 2016, Lund, Sweden. Citation for the original published paper: Landscheidt, S., Kans, M. (2016) Automation Practices in Wood Product Industries: Lessons learned, current Practices and Future Perspectives. In: The 7th Swedish Production Symposium SPS, 25-27 October, 2016, Lund, Sweden Lund, Sweden: Lund University N.B. When citing this work, cite the original published paper. Permanent link to this version: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-58199 Automation Practices in Wood Product Industries: Lessons learned, current Practices and Future Perspectives Steffen Andreas Landscheidt 1, Mirka Kans 2 1Linnaeus University , Department of Forestry and Wood Technology , Växjö, Sweden 2Linnaeus University , Department of Mechanical Engineering , Växjö, Sweden Corresponding author: [email protected] Abstract Wood product industries are a cornerstone of the Swedish industry and contribute vastly to the total Swedish export value. Wood as material itself has a promising perspective of becoming one of the most valuable resources. Sweden in particular has a long tradition and the knowledge of how to cultivate forests. In comparison to the highly automated forest industries, production systems of Swedish wood products industries are mostly characterized by a low degree of automation, tough manual labour and a relative low competency of the workforce. Facing fiercer competition on a global market, Swedish wood product industries are starting to lose touch with wood working industries in other industrialized European countries. Based upon established literature, this paper systematizes the status of automation practices in wood processing industries. The outcome of this study also outlines the expected effects and the future perspectives of digitalization and robotic automation for wood processing industries in high- cost environments. The study concludes that the typical production systems of wood product industries are not ready to implement the necessary standards to enter Industry 4.0. Not only are the technical prerequisites not fulfilled, but also a lack of appropriate production organization, logistics and economic basis is affecting negatively. Keywords: Automation, Industry 4.0, industrial revolution, production system, wood processing, wood product industry Sandberg, et al. [2] distinguish between the forest industry, 1. Introduction consisting of forestry, energy, pulp and paper, as well as Swedish forest and wood processing industries are one of the sawmills, and the wood products industry. This sector successful pillars of the Swedish industry, creating over consists, among others, of the following branches: furniture, 10.3% of the total value added by the manufacturing industry industrial housing, joinery, cabinetry and packaging. in Sweden in 2012 [1]. In 2013, nearly 30 000 people were According to Sandberg, et al. [2] the added value of furniture directly employed at companies processing forest products or and joinery products in relation to sawn timber is 20-30 times producing wood products. In addition, Sweden has about higher and therefore it is very important to have a strong 18% of the market share worldwide in sawn timber industry in this sector. production and timber products export [2]. This can be Whereas the forest industry, especially the timber and pulp considered quite strong because of the small area available and paper industry, is highly automated and know-how for forest usage in comparison to e.g. the USA, Canada or intensive [1, 5], wood product industries lack behind in usage Russia. During the last couple of years, sawn timber and of machinery and automation equipment [6]. Wood product wood products account for around 10-12 % of the total industries are often characterized by a low degree of Swedish exports [2]. On first sight, this does not seem much. automation and tough (heavy and noisy) manual labour. However, taking into account the added value and a very Because of the combination of hard manual work and small import volume of those forest products, the net export Relatively low usage of machinery, the risk for accidents, value of forest products is about 50 to 75% of the total injuries or work related injuries is significantly higher than in Swedish exports. Some experts even claim that it was the other industries [7]. Moreover, Swedish wood product Swedish forest based industry which saved the economic industries have high manufacturing costs [8] and lack behind growth in Sweden during the financial crisis in 2008-09 [3]. in productivity [2]. But not only low productivity and high Despite climate change, progressing industrialization and labour costs are considered to be problems for wood products deforestation of around 125 million cubic meters per year, industries in Sweden. A report from Träregion Småland [9] Swedish forests were growing with around 50% in 2014 [1]. reveals that forest and wood product companies will suffer Because of their great possibilities of adding value to the from lack of competency in the next couple of years. export market, their access to a valuable, renewable resource Recruitment of skilled workforce will be especially hard in and supporting sustainable development, timber and wood production because less young people attend relevant processing industries are playing a major role in Sweden´s education on the high school level and are less attracted to (industrial) future. [4] that line of work [9]. An often chosen and approved strategy for facing high cost environments and low productivity is to raise the degree of 1 automation by the implementation of automated equipment in accordance with the four stages of industrial revolution manufacturing processes [10]. Swedish companies, and this is according to Industry 4.0, beginning with the first industrial especially valid for wood products companies, are not able to revolution to the now advancing fourth revolution. A baseline compete with cheap labour costs, but with fast and flexible is constituted in order to establish a timeline of production production processes accomplished by innovative automation practices, machinery and other equipment throughout the and production systems. Implementation of automation industrial stages. Wood product industries are traditionally equipment will raise the products quality and make slow in development and adaption to new machinery, flexible manufacturing processes more efficient. This is more automation and computerization. Therefore, the developed important than ever before when considering the timeline is compared to the industrial development of other transformation many other industries, such as automotive or industries. chemical process industry, are undergoing as a result of Industry 4.0[11]. 3. Methodology Kromann, et al. [12] address the usage of industrial robots This study has applied two different approaches. An and the productivity change caused by automation. This is unsystemized search method was used for the historical done by comparing the degree of automation and productivity overview covering the first and second industrial revolutions. rate of several industrialized countries and different industry A systemized approach was used for the third and fourth sectors. Their findings conclude that Sweden in comparison revolutions. The chosen approach is not a literature review in to the highest automated country in the wood and furniture its classical meaning [13] and limited in its content. It is industry, Denmark, lacks behind. By implementing the same merely a methodology specifically designed to solve the degree of automation as Denmark has, Swedish wood and given objective. furniture industries could increase its productivity rate with For the historical overview of the wood technology over 17%. industry a broad search in library databases and the Internet 2. Purpose was conducted using the key words such as “wood industry” and “wood product industry” combined with “history”. The purpose of this paper is to systematize the history and For the overview of the third industrial revolution and the status of automation practices in wood product industries current status of automation practices in wood product based upon established literature, research initiatives and industries, a literature review of relevant scientific literature reports of fairs. as well as European research programs focusing on forest and The objective is to introduce to the reader the current status wood products is conducted. of automation and manufacturing practices in wood product industries. It describes the industrial development in Table 1: Results of the literature search Journal Keyword # of relevant # of selected References articles articles Automation 9 3 [38, 39, 45] European Journal of CNC 11 11 [40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 46, Wood and Wood Products 47, 49, 51, 52, 57] (previous title: Holz als Flexible manufacturing 6 5 [49, 50, 52, 53, 56] Roh- und Werkstoff) Robot 2 1 [55] Automation 0 0 - Wood Science and CNC 0 0 - Technology Flexible manufacturing 0 0 - Robot 0 0 - Automation 3 0 - Wood Material Science CNC 1 0 - and Engineering Flexible manufacturing 2 0 - Robot 0 0 - International Wood Automation 1 0 - Products Journal (previous CNC 1 0 - title: Journal of the Flexible manufacturing 0 0 - Institute of Wood Science) Robot 0 0 - Automation 0 0 - Journal of Japan Wood CNC 0 0 - Research Society Flexible manufacturing 0 0 -