Automation Practices in Wood Product Industries : Lessons learned, current Practices and Future Perspectives

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-1are 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