Technology used in furniture and sawmill microsized enterprises in terms of machine attributes

Abstract

The wood products industry is an industry having a typically low level of technology. The size of an entity is also an important factor in terms of technology level. Generally, the tech level at larger entities is higher, and they may even have their own research and development departments. However, small- and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in both developed and emerging economies are more numerous and represent an essential part of production and employment. For these reasons, we studied machines being used in micro-sized furniture and sawmills entities in terms of type, age, and place where their machines were produced. A face-to-face questionnaire method was used to gather data. It was found that average machine ages varied according to machine type and the mean number of machines in the enterprises was 3.4. The most frequently owned machine was a table saw in furniture manufacturing and vertical band saws with log carriages in sawmills. There were weak, positive linear correlations between enterprise age and machine age for milling machines, planers, band saws, and sliding table saws