Life-cycle thinking and opportunities for environmental and manufacturing process improvements of wood products

Environmental impacts associated with product trade-offs are under increasing scrutiny. Forest products manufacturers in the U.S. are confronted with unprecedented economic challenges. This dissertation examines wood as a sustainable building material through life cycle and continuous process improvement methodologies.;The dissertation is organized in three chapters. Chapter one discusses Life Cycle Analysis and its salience to manufacturing and business organizations through a review of methodologies and literature in the life cycle arena.;Chapter two models a gate-to-gate life cycle inventory for solid strip hardwood flooring in the eastern United States. Survey responses, representing 28% of total U.S. solid hardwood flooring production were collected. The materials, fuels, and energy required to produce the flooring, co-products, and the associated emissions to air, land, and water are presented. SimaPro software quantified the environmental impacts for the reported materials use and emissions. Impact data was allocated on their mass contribution to all product and co-product production of 1.0 m3 of solid hardwood flooring. Carbon flows and transportation data are included. Results are useful for expanded life cycle inventory models when linked to LCI's for the hardwood forest resource and the production of solid hardwood lumber in the same region.;The third chapter examines Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) strategies as an approach to increase the effectiveness of hardwood lumber production in Wisconsin's sawmills. A formative evaluation typology was used to identify barriers to implementing CPI strategies and then presents a model for overcoming those barriers. During the summer of 2009, on-site interviews were conducted with senior level managers at 19 mid to large size sawmills in Wisconsin. An adjusted response rate of 73% was obtained. Results of the survey indicated sawmills are unfamiliar with CPI tools and that business cultures within them will require change to be effective. Coupling the identified barriers with human behavior theory, an approach is proposed to assist extension educators in their efforts to introduce CPI initiatives at these sawmills.