Part 1 in this series introduced the reader to Statistical Process Control, and Part 2 provided an overview of how and why SPC works.
Part 3 begins the step-by-step process of building the practical skills
necessary for hands-on implementation of SPC. This report discusses Pareto analysis, a tool we can...
Part 1 in this series introduced the reader to Statistical Process Control, and Part 2 provided an overview of how and why SPC works.
Part 3 begins the step-by-step process of building the practical skills
necessary for hands-on implementation of SPC. This report discusses Pareto analysis, a tool we can...
Answers questions caused by the confusing names of Oregon's tree species, such as "Is incense-cedar really a cedar?" and "Is Douglas-fir a true fir?" Discusses scientific, common, and industry names for Oregon species. Covers true firs, Hem-fir, Douglas-fir, cedar, western juniper, pine, western larch, mountain-mahogany, tanoak, poisonoak, poplar, and myrtlewood.
A woodland owner must take certain steps to produce and sell logs for maximum revenue. This publication includes best practices for obtaining bids, selecting a buyer, and writing purchase orders; using the Scribner log rule, making decisions about bucking, selecting log lengths and diameters, and bucking to remove defects; and...
Published June 1997. Reprinted October 1997. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
This publication focuses on how design of experiments can help companies solve problems in manufacturing. Part of the Performance Excellence in the Wood Products Industry series.
Simulation is a powerful analytical tool for designing or experimenting with complex systems. Simulation has been defined as the process of designing a model of a real system and conducting experiments with this model either to understand the system’s behavior or to evaluate various strategies for operating it (Pegden et...
A key problem managers face is how to allocate scarce
resources among various activities or projects. Linear
programming, or LP, is a method of allocating resources
in an optimal way. It is one of the most widely used operations
research tools and has been a decision making aid in almost...
Flowcharts graphically represent the steps in creating a product
or service. The process of creating a chart is often beneficial
because personnel may be unaware of all the “nitty-gritty” details
involved in producing the product. Also, people often are surprised
to learn of the differences between the ideal process flow...
Part 1 in this series introduced the reader to Statistical Process Control, and Part 2 provided an overview of how and why SPC works.
Part 3 begins the step-by-step process of building the practical skills
necessary for hands-on implementation of SPC. This report discusses Pareto analysis, a tool we can...
A key problem faced by managers is how to allocate scarce resources
among activities or projects. Linear programming, or LP, is a method of
allocating resources in an optimal way. It is one of the most widely used operations research (OR) tools. It has been used successfully as a decisionmaking...
A key problem faced by managers is how to allocate scarce resources
among activities or projects. Linear programming, or LP, is a method of
allocating resources in an optimal way. It is one of the most widely used operations research (OR) tools. It has been used successfully as a decision...
The goal for Part 2 is to build management understanding and
confidence in SPC as a profit-making tool. It is unreasonable to expect
managers to commit to and support SPC training and implementation
if they do not understand what SPC is and how and why it works. This
publication discusses...
A key problem faced by managers is how to allocate scarce resources among activities or projects. Linear programming, or LP, is a method of
allocating resources in an optimal way. It is one of the most widely used operations research (OR) tools. It has been used successfully as a decision...
According to the Operations Research Society of America, “Operations
research is concerned with scientifically deciding how to best design and
operate man-machine systems, usually under conditions requiring the allocation of scarce resources.” This publication is the first in a series describing operations research (OR) techniques that can help forest products...
The objective of this series is to help improve the competitiveness of
Oregon’s wood products manufacturers. This can be achieved by fostering a companywide focus on and dedication to continuous quality improvement.
W. Edwards Deming (1982) described the “chain reaction of quality.”
1. Quality is improved.
2. Costs decrease due...
It’s little wonder that people are confused by tree names. Foresters
and lay people often name a tree based on its physical appearance, the
wood products industry may call the tree by another name based on the
characteristics of the wood, and botanists name a tree based on its
anatomical...
This publication introduces the reader to a process called lean manufacturing, sometimes called the Toyota Production System. The intended audience is manufacturers of forest products, although manufacturers of other types of products will also find this publication useful.
In recent years, the forest products industry has been
forced to cope with a supply of raw material that is
declining in both quality and quantity. In addition, log
prices are escalating rapidly. Because log costs may
represent as much as 90 percent of the overall production
costs of lumber...
Many woods are impossible to tell apart without using a microscope. Sometimes, a great deal of knowledge and expensive laboratory equipment is needed to identify a wood species. On the other hand, you don’t have to be an expert or have specialized equipment to identify many species. In fact, an...
In Part 5, we now turn our attention to cause-and-effect diagrams (CE diagrams). CE diagrams are designed to help quality improvement teams identify the root causes of problems.
