Fifteen Years of Forest Products Research–and a Look At the Next Fifteen

During the past 15 years, lumber production has varied from 32 to 38 billion board feet, paper and paperboard has risen from 20 to 36 million tons, plywood has quadrupled production from 2 to 8 billion square feet, and building fiberboard has gone from 1 to 2 billion square feet. Particleboard, unknown in the U.S. in 1947, has risen to 400 million square feet. In the next 15 years hard and medium-density board will double in volume, particleboard will go to 3 billion square feet, and paper and paperboard will more than double. Private industry and government spent 27 million and 4 million dollars, respectively, for product research in 1953. By 1960 these figures had become 60 million and 5.6 million. The 1953 figures break down as lumber, 20 percent; wood preserving, 5 percent; pulp, paper, and fiber products, 62 percent. In 1960 distribution by product was about the same. Compared to industry in general, the 1 percent of product value spent by the forest products industry is only one-third of the average R & D investment. Industry research trends are for 1) more complete utilization of wood, 2) customer-oriented product development, 3) production efficiency, and 4) integration of manufacturing processes. The principal properties challenges are in the rot, burn, and warp categories, and these problems must be faced.

You must be logged in to download any documents. Please login (login accounts are free) or learn how to Become a Member