FURNITURE RESEARCH:KEY TO THE FUTUREOF THE INDUSTRY IN MISSISSIPPI

n 1987 the Mississippi Legislature authorized the establishment ofa Furniture Research Unit at the Mississippi Forest ProductsLaboratory. Its purpose? Provide technical assistance to the

Mississippi furniture industry. This technical assistance encompasses bothresearch and consultation targeting the development of:

a better under-standing of available wood resources; improved machining methods; computer software to improve manufacturing efficiency and pro-

ductivity; improved test methodology for quality control; and improved marketing strategies.

Evaluation of the program after five years indicates that it has been a wiseinvestment by the State of Mississippi. Efforts by our team of dedicated scientistshave been extremely valuable to this industry. Annual savings to the industryalready exceed three times the cost of the program. Additional savings will heforthcoming as this research program matures. It is estimated that the overallbenefits will exceed four times the cost of the program annually over the next fiveyears. More importantly, this work contributes signficantly to the ,future growthand prosperity of this vital industry.

ccording to the Tennessee While the industry provides em-Valley Authority, the forest ployment and local markets forproducts industry is vitally timber, many challenges remain.

important to Mississippi’s economy. While increased world demand forThe forest products industry employs timber raw materials benefits61,000 people with an annual payroll Mississippi’s timberland owners, itof $1.2 billion. One in four manufac- increases material prices to localturing jobs in the State is related to factories, threatening profitabilitythe forest products industry. and employment.

Mississippi State University Forest Products Laboratory, P. O. Drawer FP, Mississippi State, MS 39762

he importance of the growingfurniture industry in Mississippican be measured in both job

development and stimulation of theeconomy. In 1963, this industryconsisted of 82 manufacturers with7,000 employees. In 1992 there wereover 300 firms employing 26,000people with total furniture sales ofover $1.9 billion. In order for theindustry to retain its growth, it mustestablish a firm technical base, whichrequires sophisticated research anddevelopment. State legislators rec-ognized that no individual companywas large enough to fund the neces-sary research, so they appropriatedadditional monies to the Forest Prod-ucts Laboratory to setup the program.After careful study by the Lab, a re-search and technical assistance pro-gram was developed. It is known asthe Furniture Research Unit.

Production ResearchThe machinery required for wood and wood prod-uct manufacturing is a significant cost for theindustry. Wood machining research conducted byHarold (Sandy) Stewart addresses this issue withconsiderable progress toward understanding ma-chine wear, defects, and waste.

The research has shown high-temperature corro-sion and oxidation to be major factors in the wear

plied to machining of non-wood materials such asplastics, foam, padding, fabrics, aerospace com-posites, laminates, and non-ferrous metals.

It is estimated that, as a result of the reduction ofmachining defects and material waste, manufac-turers are enjoying savings in excess of $6,000,000annually. An added bonus is that these opera-tional improvements also result in increased pro-ductivity which makes them more competitive andpaves the way for further expansion of the indus-try.

In a related area, Stewart is providing the neces-sary technical assistance to industry as they movetoward thin sawkerf technology. The use of thinnersaw blades results in increased yield and reducedsawdust waste. With Stewart’s encouragement,one manufacturer has adopted this technology for

“This research has created more direct benefit to theindustry in a shorter period of time than any othergovernment or IWF sponsored project I’ve seen”

John Zinn, Director, IWF

of tungsten carbide and high speed steel tools.This understanding has led to the development ofnew carbides with alloyed binders which prolongtool life and reduce costs.

Research on tool wear mechanisms is also helpfulin developing adhesives and wood compositeswhich cause less tool wear due to lower densities,more uniform density profiles, and higher internalbond strengths. This research is also being ap-

rough mill crosscut saws and as a result hasincreasedlumber yield by 3.4%. This increase translates intoan annual savings of $340,000 for this firm. Oncethis thin sawtechnology is implemented throughoutthe industry, furniture manufacturers can potentiallysave $1O-15 million annually.

According to John Zinn, Executive Director of theInternational Woodworking & Supply Fair USA(IWF), “This tool wear research has created more

technical transference and more direct benefit tothe industry in a shorter period of time than anyother government or IWF sponsored project I haveseen.”

Research Not LimitedTo WoodThree areas of research are being conducted byFurniture Research Unit Scientists Duane Lyonand Vikram Yadama. They are testing and evalu-ating upholstered furniture frames and their sub-sequent components; developing computer mod-els of furniture frames and sub-structures; andtesting and evaluating non-wood materials used inthe manufacturing and shipping of upholsteredfurniture.

“Our goal in modifying design and manufacturingprocedures is to improve the quality while wereduce the cost of furniture production,” Yadamasays. “There is a need for standardizing perfor-mance testing of furniture frames and their compo-nents since this is helpful not only in the design andmanufacturing processes, but in the marketing ofthe products.”

The researchis he lp fu l ing u i d i n g d e -s i g n e r s a n dmanufacturersto more effec-tively use a va-riety of woodand wood -based materi-a l s and fas -teners for im-

proving strength and minimizing costs. Improved Research is also concentrated on evaluating ma-testing methods, such as automated recliner test-ing equipment with more accurate load testing,

terials for use in packaging of the furniture to helpeconomize the actual shipment of the furniture

also assist the manufacturer in performing reliable while providing adequate protection.tests more quickly.

Secondly, research into computer modeling ofAccording to Lyon, “We’ve been very successful intransferring research results to industry. For in-

furniture frames and their components helps re- stance, our research results have saved a local

“

. , n research results have saved a local manufac-turer about $5,000,000 over the past five years . . , ”

Duane Lyon, Furniture Research Unit

duce the time it takes to begin manufacturingnewly designed furniture. Within minutes, thedesign can be analyzed for performance underservice loads using computer structural analysismethods. This technique enables designers todetect critical stress areas and make necessarydesign changes prior to prototype construction.

Research on non-wood materials in the manufac-turing of upholstered materials focuses on man-made polyester fibers and polyurethane foam.

Above: Research into com-puter modeling of frametesting will help save manymanufacturers much timeand money,

manufacturer about $5,000,000 over the past fiveyears and officials at Gold Medal stated that ourresearch saved them $50,000 last year alone.There are numerous other examples throughoutthe industry.”

Resource StudiesThe availability of wood-based materials is a keyadvantage to the growth and prosperity of thefurniture industry in Mississippi. Case goadsproducers use many types of wood-based materi-als, while upholstered furniture manufacturers inthe state use hardwoodsand otherforest productsfor dimension stock and frames.

Though Mississippi has vast forest resources,including several million acres of hardwood tim-berland, the long-term availability of hardwoodsfor use in manufacturing has become a source ofsignificant concern to the industry. One of thegreatest concerns is the new demand placed onthe resource by the pulp and paper industry.

Furniture Research Unit Scientist Steven Bullardisstudying the impact of the increased demand forhardwood. His research is assisting the State’sfurniture manufacturers in several ways. First, asignificant effort is underway to specifically describethe potential impact of new utilization patterns onhardwood resources. Trends in growing and har-vesting hardwoods are being evaluated to assessthe actual extent of potential availability problems.Based on this research, recommendations can bemade to ensure adequate availability.

According to Bullard, “Mississippi furniture pro-ducers face many changes in the coming years.The potential impact of free trade with Canada andMexico, for example, or the potential geographicshifts in the population of North America will addadditional stress on the availability of our hard-wood resources. We must be able to keepMississippi’s furniture producers competitive. Our

research is resulting in positive information whichwill allow us to maintain our competitiveness,both domestically and internationally.”

DecisionSoftware AnalysisFurniture companies in Mississippi use largeamounts of lumber for their products and thisaccounts for a sizable portion of their costs.Therefore, it is very important that manufacturersmaximize the yield from this raw material. HOW-ever, an efficient means of accomplishing thiswas needed. Philip Steele recognized this prob-lem several years ago and felt that the bestapproach to addressing this problem was to de-velop computer software packages that had thecapability of analyzing rough mill efficiency. Thisled to the development of RIP-X, which deter-mines and compares the yields obtainable fromcrosscut-first and rip-first systems. Another soft-ware package, SCORE, allows the manufacturerto determine the least-cost grade mix of lumber tofill a particular cutting order.

Both packages simulate rough mill performanceby cutting digital lumber images, just as actuallumber would be cut. A database of 14,OOO boardfeet of digitally described lumber was developedby sampling lumber in a cross-section of theState’s rough mills. Lumber shape and defectlocations were determined by sonic digitizing andthe data were stored in a database to accuratelysimulate rough mill processing.

During development of the software, for instance,Batesville Casket Company funded a project tocustomize SCORE for analyzing the company’sspecific raw materials needs. Industrial EngineerMark McDonald was convinced that lumberlength was an important factor in influencing theirrough mill yield and consequently their profitabil-ity.

Steele’s study indicated that lumber length wasan important factor and that yield could be signifi-cantly improved and overall costs reduced ifcertain lengths were favored. McDonald says,“The value of the software is that it containsdescriptions of actual lumber with defects. Thesoftware analysis supported our initial belief thatlength had a significant effect on lumber yield. Bytaking defects into account, it also helped us fine-tune our grade/length mix strategy. As a result,we’ve changed our lumber purchasing proce-dures and have realized a considerable reductionin lumber costs.”

Steele and his staff are currently developingother custom software for Batesville Casket whichwill allow them to analyze their own product mixand lumber selection as prices change over time.

Another challenge for furniture manufacturersis to minimize the cost of producing and inven-torying the thousands of parts needed in furni-ture manufacturing. Keeping track of all theseparts in order to avoid overproduction, duplica-tion, and delays is an enormous task whendone manually.

“The value of the soft-ware is that if containsdescriptions of actuallumber with defects . . .(we) have realized aconsiderable reductionin lumber costs. ”

Mark McDonaldlndustrial EngineerBatesville Casket Co.

Dan Seale addressed this problem and devel-oped an efficient software package that cankeep track of up to 16,000 parts. Once in-stalled, this software provides instantaneousaccess to information on parts inventories.

Furthermore, the program also produces rout-ing slips, profit and loss statements, part cost-ing, product costing, suggested pricing, roughmill cutting bills, assembly checklists, bill ofmaterials and machine operating costs andstatistics. This program has already beeninstalled in two plants to validate model resultsand also allow Seale to incorporate improve-ments suggested by mill managers.

These examples show that this is powerfulsoftware that the State’s furniture industry canuse to dramatically reduce their raw materialand production costs.

Marketing OurState’s Products

profiles by age, income, education level, oc-cupation, and life-style characteristics weredeveloped for each product. This area ofresearch is being expanded to examine

Since furniture is a differentiated rather than placement of retail outlets based on geo-a commodity product, a marketing program graphic coverage.has been established under the direction ofDan Seale so that participating manufactur- Additionally, profiles will be developed thaters can develop geographic and customer address how far consumers are willing toprofiles. Initial work involved processing of travel to purchase specific products in ruralhang tags that were placed on furniture by and urban areas, including such factors asthe manufacturer and mailed to the Missis- improved roads versus interstate highways.sippi Forest Products Laboratory by the This research could directly benefit as manyconsumer for processing. Typical customer as 150 Mississippi companies.

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