New Product Development for Papua New Guinea Balsa to Improve Smallholder Livelihoods By Nathan James Kotlarewski Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Swinburne University of Technology, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design 2016 0 ABSTRACT The Papua New Guinea [PNG] balsa wood industry currently has an over-supply of balsa due to an under-demand in global commercial markets. The effect this has on smallholders is a reduction in financial returns and a loss of invested time and money. Since global industries are not using balsa, large processing companies are therefore not buying from smallholder plantations. Smallholders rely on large processors to purchase their balsa for financial return to support their livelihoods, family and community. Unlike common commercial timber plantations, where harvesting occurs when the market is strong, balsa must be harvested between five to seven years due to its fast growth and rapid deterioration after seven years. New commercial applications have been developed during the process of this doctoral research project to develop and promote the positive attributes of PNG balsa in order to generate international demand. These applications have the potential to mitigate the expected hardship to smallholder’s livelihoods. A research-led industrial design practice process was used to generate design solutions in order to demonstrate innovative ways of utilising balsa in new and existing industries to rectify the current over-supply and under-demand. An artefact was developed through the process of this doctoral research which acts as an exemplar product that embeds and communicates new knowledge to the field of industrial design. The artefact also promotes a commercially viable product that could be used to diversify PNG balsa markets and increase consumer demand for the resource. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to sincerely thank the following people for their guidance, assistance and support throughout my PhD journey: Industry and Academic partners: Anson Antriasian. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Lu Aye. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Tony Bartlett. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Australia Benoit Belleville. The University of Melbourne, Australia. David Belton. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Amanda Chalmers. Cabot’s Premium Woodcare Brands, Australia. Michael Curran. Seegrow Pty Ltd, Australia. Peter Dale. RMIT University, Australia. Evan Danahay. Timberwood Panels, Australia. Simon Dorries. The Engineered Wood Products Association of Australasia, Australia. Peter Fearnside. Marshall Day Acoustics, Australia. Todd Foster. Novas Architectural, Australia. Daniel Griffin. Marshall Day Acoustics, Australia Philip Grimshaw. Atkar Australia, Australia. Maurice Guerrieri. Victoria University, Australia. Benson Gusamo. Bulolo University College, Papua New Guinea. James Hague. Australian Forest Research Company Pty Ltd, Australia Braden Jenkin. Sylva Systems Pty. Ltd, Australia. Dylan Kane. Elton Group, Australia. Peter Kanowski. Australian National University, Australia. Doron Kipen. Music and Effects, Australia. Mathieu Lewis. Vault Industrial Design, Australia. Nathan Loutit. Vault Industrial Design, Australia Scott Mathews. Austral Plywood Pty Ltd, Australia. Stephen Midgley. Salwood Asia Pacific, Australia. Jaupo Minimulu. University of Natural Resources and Environment, Papua New Guinea. Rick Mitchell. University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Pierre Monéton. The PNG Balsa Company Ltd, Papua New Guinea. Jeremy Parker. Atkar Australia, Australia. Paul Soccio. Complete Quality Carpentry, Australia. 2 Colin Stone. Carter Holt Harvey, Australia. John Watson. RMIT University, Australia. Alastair Woodard. Wood Products Victoria, Australia. Swinburne University of Technology staff: Deirdre Barron. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Daniel Huppatz Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Seth Jones. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Rachel Mosel. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Anne Prince. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Scott Saunders. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Kurt Seemann. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Nicholas Teo. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Alyx Williams. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. And to all the academic staff involved in the Higher Design Research unit HDR904. Swinburne University of Technology Design Workshop staff: Extended thanks to all the Design workshop staff who helped immensely. James Bell. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Allen Brittain. Swinburne University of Technology. Australia. Eric Choi. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Michael Hall. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Andrew Tarlinton. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Mark Whitehead. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Most of all to my supervisors: Associate Professor Blair Kuys. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Dr Christine Thong. Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Associate Professor Barbara Ozarska. The University of Melbourne, Australia. Family: A special thank you to my Parents, Kaylene and Wolodemer Kotlarewski and Sister Sarah, who have continually supported me throughout my PhD. 3 4 DECLARATION Candidate name: Nathan James Kotlarewski Bachelor of Design (Industrial Design) First Class Honours Subject: PhD Industrial Design Supervisors: Associate Professor Blair Kuys Dr Christine Thong Associate Professor Barbara Ozarska This PhD thesis: - Contains no material which has been accepted for the award to the candidate of any other degree or diploma, except where due reference is made in the text of the examinable outcome - To the best of the candidate’s knowledge contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the text of the examinable outcome - Discloses the relative contributions of the respective workers or authors where the work is based on joint research or publications - Furthermore I warrant that I have obtained, where necessary, permission from the copyright owners to use any third party copyright material reproduced in the thesis (such as artwork, images, unpublished documents), or to use any of my own published work (such as journal articles) in which the copyright is held by another party (such as publisher, co-author). Editorial assistance: - Peter Haffenden. Inherit Earth Australia. - Has edited this thesis simply for grammar, spelling and basic smoothing of the language used in the presentation of the ideas expressed. Mr. Haffenden’s background is in journalism and is not in the design profession nor is he in any way familiar with the balsa industry. Nathan James Kotlarewski Date: 06/07/2016 5 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................. 2 DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................................ 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................ 7 LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................................... 15 LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................... 19 CITATION METHOD AND ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXT .......................................................... 25 PUBLICATIONS RELATED TO, AND COMPLETED DURING THIS THESIS ........................................... 27 THESIS INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 29 Aims and Scope ..................................................................................................................................... 29 Structure of thesis .................................................................................................................................. 33 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 35 1.1 ACIAR ....................................................................................................................................... 35 1.2 Identifying the research gap through ACIAR project FST/2009/016 ......................................... 37 1.2.1 ACIAR FST/2009/012 scoping study .................................................................................... 37 1.2.2 ACIAR technical report #73 Balsa: biology, production and economics in Papua New Guinea …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 38 1.2.3 ACIAR FST/2009/016 ........................................................................................................... 40 1.3 Evidence that the research gap is significant ............................................................................ 44 1.4 Who will benefit from the research? .......................................................................................... 49 1.5 How research-led industrial