Innovation and Productivity Change in the Structural Panel Industry

Innovation and productivity change in the structural panel industry is traced to favorable economic circumstances prevailing in the 1970s and to research that was accomplished over several decades. The research effort measured in numbers of publications was followed after a lag of 8 to 10 years by a parallel and proportional increase in production capacity equipped with new structural panel technology. Constant interactions are observed between research effort and needs and opportunities of the industry, especially in the 1970s. Finally, development of the new structural panel technology resulted in significant labor and material productivity improvements in the manufacture of structural wood panels. This report concludes that research innovation played an important role in development of the structural panel industry and helped to improve productivity in manufacture of structural wood panels. This report is significant because it ascertains that forest products research contributes to development of successful new products and improvements in productivity.

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