Search Results (227)

The assembly line balancing problem (ALBP) is an optimization problem which involves assigning tasks to stations to maximize line efficiency. In the context of Industry 4.0, assembly lines must be flexible and adaptable to stochastic and real-world conditions. However, in the literature, line balancing is mostly studied in deterministic environments. As a result, this paper presents a robust optimization approach to bridge the gap between theory and practice by addressing a real-world ALBP in the furniture industry. A mixed integer programming (MIP) model is proposed, considering uncertainty in task execution times, which are expressed as intervals of possible values, and the sequence of module assembly in addition to the standard ALBP constraints. Then, it is linearized by duality to be solved by Gurobi. Two objectives, (1) cycle time minimization and (2) tool efficiency, are optimized lexicographically using the proposed MILP models. Computational experiments and Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate that robust solutions outperform deterministic ones, ensuring stable throughput under variability. The study highlights the trade-off between efficiency and robustness, offering practical insights for furniture manufacturers. Full article

In this article, static durability testing is combined with an economic analysis of selected furniture manufactured from solid oak residues. Durability was assessed under the EN 1728 and EN 12520 static-load procedures, and dimensional stability was examined using statistical process-control tools (normality analysis, kurtosis and Shewhart control charts). Chairs intended for children were tested for the body mass of five-, seven- and nine-year-old children, as well as for an adult (seat force F1 = 250–850 N, backrest force F2 = 90–290 N). The tested chairs met the strength and durability requirements of the applied standards, and none overturned or tended to tip. A manufacturing cost and profitability analysis then quantified the cost structure. Material accounted for only 10–31% of manufacturing costs, with labour as the dominant component, reflecting the labour intensity of upcycling irregular residues into individually designed furniture. Manufacturing costs per item ranged from PLN 108 to PLN 251 against trial sale prices of PLN 250 to PLN 1300, yielding net profit margins of 46–81%. The findings indicate that upcycling post-production residues can improve the economic and potential environmental performance of furniture enterprises and support circular-economy objectives by reducing demand for virgin timber. Full article

A green variant of the mini-QuEChERS procedure was developed for the extraction of boscalid and pyraclostrobin from strawberries, these pesticides being commonly used for spraying strawberry plants. To enhance the greenness and overall environmental sustainability of the extraction method, the selection of green extraction solvent, testing of custom-made clean-up sorbents and miniaturization of the extraction procedure were studied. N-amyl acetate as a green reagent was selected as the extraction solvent. Carbonaceous sorbents made from furniture manufacture waste were prepared by pyrolyzation and proposed as a green alternative to traditionally used graphitized carbon black in the dispersive solid phase extraction clean-up step of the mini-QuEChERS procedure. The green mini-QuEChERS procedure was combined with GC-MS analysis and the method was validated. The limit of detection and quantification were 0.58 μg/kg and 1.75 μg/kg for boscalid and 4.60 μg/kg and 13.8 μg/kg for pyraclostrobin, respectively. The extraction recoveries ranged from 75% to 92%. Repeatability, expressed as the relative standard deviation was 13% and 6% for boscalid and pyraclostrobin at 25 μg/kg, 6% and 4% for boscalid and pyraclostrobin at 125 μg/kg, and 9% and 11% for boscalid and pyraclostrobin at 250 μg/kg. Within-laboratory reproducibility ranged from 4% to 12% at the three concentration levels. The analytical greenness of the method was evaluated by AGREE (0.56), Analytical EcoScale Assessment (87 points, excellent green analysis) and Complex MoGAPI (80 points). The developed and validated method was used for determination of boscalid and pyraclostrobin residues in local strawberries samples. Full article

Additive manufacturing offers opportunities to improve material efficiency and support more resource-efficient production of furniture components by reducing material consumption while maintaining sufficient mechanical performance for practical use in wooden structures. This study evaluated the effect of perimeter count and cubic infill density on the mechanical behaviour and material efficiency of FDM-printed dovetail connectors made from recycled PLA+ and used in wooden frame corner joints. Connectors were manufactured with three infill densities (20%, 30%, and 40%) and three perimeter configurations (1P, 3P, and 5P). Mechanical tests were performed on beech wood (Fagus sylvatica L.) corner joints, and maximum bending moment, rotational stiffness, and specific maximum bending moment were evaluated. The experimental results were supported by a homogenized shell–core FEM model used to analyse contact behaviour, load transfer, and critical stress regions. Perimeter count had a statistically significant effect on the maximum bending moment, whereas infill density did not. Among the evaluated configurations, 3P30 exhibited one of the highest mean bending moments (14,998 N·mm) and the highest mean rotational stiffness (6172 N·mm/deg), whereas 3P20 achieved the highest specific maximum bending moment (3903 N·mm/g). Increasing infill density to 40% increased material consumption and printing time without proportional mechanical improvement. FEM analysis showed that configuration 3P30 achieved the highest contact pressure, frictional stress, and reaction force among the analysed 3P variants, whereas increasing infill density from 30% to 40% reduced sliding but did not improve the overall mechanical response of the joint. The results indicate that appropriate selection of perimeter count and infill density can improve material efficiency by reducing material consumption while maintaining the mechanical performance of FDM-printed furniture connectors, thereby supporting more resource-efficient and sustainable furniture manufacturing. Full article

The wood furniture sector, heavily reliant on wood panels, faces supply risks and generates significant waste, which can be managed through recycling or energy recovery. This study investigates the environmental impacts of wood waste end-of-life management and the use of virgin versus recycled raw materials in the wood furniture sector, aiming to identify the most sustainable scenario in wood manufacturing between wood waste recycling as output and recycled wood as input. Environmental impacts of four scenarios were analyzed and compared through the life cycle assessment with the “grave-to-cradle” approach. Inventory was supported by information and data from an Italian furniture company, while the impact assessment was performed using the ReCiPe method and the SimaPro software. The results from the impact assessment and gravity analysis show the main contribution of different scenarios due to the incineration of wood waste and the manufacturing of wood panels; the sensitivity analysis highlights how increasing recycling allows for greater performance improvement than increasing recycled inputs. Although limited by the assumptions related to the case study, this research enriches the discussion on the environmental convenience of recycling manufacturing waste and using recycled materials and confirms the importance of life cycle assessment for implementing circular economy strategies in companies. Full article

Tropical forests in the Amazon are vital for climate mitigation, yet detailed data on high-value timber genera such as Cedrela remain scarce, hindering sustainable management. To address this gap, this study evaluated the anatomical structure and key physical properties of Cedrela sp. wood from the Omia and San Carlos districts in Amazonas, northeastern Peru. Macroscopic and microscopic features, basic density, moisture content, and volumetric shrinkage were assessed using non-destructive sampling. The results indicated that Cedrela sp. wood exhibits medium basic density (averaging 0.50–0.52 g/cm³) and relatively high volumetric shrinkage (averaging 21.46%), suggesting limitations for applications requiring high dimensional stability. However, its favorable properties make it suitable for furniture manufacturing in stable humidity environments. Comparative analysis revealed that the wood properties differed between locations, with Omia showing lower density (0.50 g/cm³) compared to San Carlos, likely reflecting phenotypic plasticity in response to contrasting local environmental conditions. These baseline structural tendencies underscore the value of regional assessments to inform sustainable forest management and optimize the industrial utilization of tropical timber resources. The findings suggest that site-specific environmental conditions significantly influence wood property variations and must be factored into local forestry planning. Full article

The increasing demand for sustainable and lightweight furniture systems has driven interest in additively manufactured polymer components as alternatives to conventional metal hardware. However, their performance at the functional assembly level under standardized loading conditions remains insufficiently explored. This study evaluates the feasibility of replacing metal drawer slides with fused deposition modeling (FDM)-based polymer alternatives fabricated from polylactic acid (PLA) and polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG). Unlike previous studies focused on material-level characterization, this work investigates fully functional drawer slide assemblies integrated into medium-density fiberboard (MDF) systems, enabling component-level assessment under realistic conditions. Specimens were designed in SolidWorks and fabricated under controlled printing parameters. Commercial metal slides were used as benchmarks. Mechanical performance was tested according to BS EN standards, and deformation was measured at multiple points. Statistical analysis included ANOVA, Tukey HSD, and t-tests at a 95% confidence level. Results showed significant differences among materials (p < 0.05). Metal slides exhibited the highest stiffness and minimal deformation. PLA showed stable performance with minor surface degradation, while PETG demonstrated lower dimensional stability and premature failure due to higher compliance. Overall, PLA-based FDM components offer a cost-effective alternative for non-heavy-duty applications, whereas PETG requires further optimization. The study bridges additive manufacturing and real-world furniture component performance under standardized testing. Full article

To address challenges such as semantic distortion, poor controllability, and the lack of domain-specific structural knowledge in AIGC-driven furniture design, this study proposes a feature-tag-driven semantic control framework based on LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation) fine-tuning. First, Facet Analysis Theory is introduced to construct a structured representation system, deconstructing furniture into multi-dimensional components (e.g., silhouette, base, backrest, and armrests) and establishing a standardized feature-tag dictionary for deep annotation. Subsequently, domain design knowledge is precisely embedded into the latent space of a diffusion model via LoRA training to reinforce structural consistency. The framework was evaluated through single- and multi-feature comparative tests using a hybrid metric of Feature Hit Rate (FHR) and CLIP-based semantic similarity. Results indicate that the proposed method significantly outperforms general-purpose models in feature-level controllability and structural logic. This research provides a transferable methodology for integrating domain knowledge into generative models, offering significant value for the digital modular design and intelligent manufacturing of upholstered furniture systems. Full article

The effect of competitor orientation on the performance of furniture manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises was examined, with a special focus on customer loyalty as a mediator. A sample of 364 firms was obtained from the Dar es Salaam Region using proportionate stratified sampling. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed inferentially using covariance-based structural equation modelling. When the mediator was controlled, the results showed that responsiveness to competitor intelligence had a significant effect on FM-SME performance, suggesting partial mediation. However, competitor intelligence generation had no significant effect on FM-SME performance when the mediator was included, implying full mediation. The conclusion is that the mere generation of competitor intelligence does not guarantee improved performance unless firms deploy strategies to reinforce customer loyalty. FM-SMEs should monitor competitors and use competitor insights and customer feedback to improve product design and features, adjust prices, and enhance customer service. Full article

Sustainability is an increasingly important objective in design and engineering, yet the environmental implications of advanced computational design methods remain insufficiently quantified. This study examines the contribution of topology optimization to sustainable product development when applied exclusively to a product’s internal structure, while preserving external geometry, mechanical performance, and design intent. The furniture sector was selected as a representative case due to its significant environmental footprint and the strong role of aesthetic requirements within the design methodology. A gate-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment was performed to compare a conventionally designed stool with an internally optimized counterpart, both developed under the same design constraints and manufactured via Fused Deposition Modeling using Carbon Fiber-reinforced PETG (CF-PETG). The results indicate that computational strategies can reduce material waste by 57.8% to 90% compared to traditional subtractive methods. However, these benefits may be partially offset by increased energy demand during additive manufacturing due to geometric complexity. An additional comparative assessment involving generative design demonstrates that alternative computational strategies can achieve more balanced trade-offs between material efficiency and manufacturing energy, supporting sustainability while respecting design methodology constraints. Full article

In panel-furniture manufacturing, dynamic scheduling is challenging because upstream motherboard release and parallel CUT-machine assignment are tightly coupled with downstream multibranch processing, finite-capacity buffers, and machine disturbances. This study investigates an event-driven scheduling problem in a multibranch panel-furniture workshop and aims to minimize the cumulative tardiness of all parts. To capture the structural dependencies of the shop floor, we construct a heterogeneous graph to represent the real-time production state. In this graph, candidate motherboards, parallel CUT machines, and downstream branch-level production units form different node types. The representation explicitly encodes motherboard–branch coupling features and machine–branch inflow relations, while aggregated branch-state features summarize detailed process-order information within each downstream branch. Based on this structured state representation, we develop a proximal policy optimization (PPO)-based actor–critic framework to learn adaptive motherboard release and CUT-assignment policies. We compare the proposed method with three heuristic rules and two PPO-based learning baselines under different machine-availability levels, buffer-capacity settings, and dataset scales. The results show that the proposed method achieves the best overall tardiness performance across the tested baselines and converges faster and more stably than the other PPO-based methods under different dataset scales and workshop conditions. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of combining heterogeneous graph modeling with reinforcement learning for dynamic scheduling in multibranch panel-furniture production systems. Full article

To address the low utilization rate of straw and environmental pollution caused by traditional processing methods, this study developed a novel composite material based on straw for manufacturing outdoor furniture. Designed to achieve high-value recycling of agricultural waste and enhance the durability and sustainability of outdoor materials, the straw is treated with alkali and processed using an MDI curing system, with the addition of ZnO to enhance functional properties. Characterization of material properties was performed using contact angle measurements, UV-visible spectroscopy, and mechanical testing. The results indicate that a water contact angle of 93.51° was achieved for the composite material at a ZnO content of 6 wt.%, demonstrating excellent hydrophobicity. The introduction of ZnO reduced light absorption, indicating that the material exhibits superior stability in interior and exterior environments. The synergistic interaction between ZnO and straw fibers, along with the resulting active free radicals (·OH), endows this material with hydrophobic and UV-resistant properties. This composite material combines excellent mechanical strength with environmental friendliness, offering broad prospects in the field of sustainable outdoor furniture manufacturing. Full article

Understanding the long-term production trends of MDFLAM panels, which are widely used in panel furniture manufacturing, is important for evaluating the sector’s competitiveness and environmental performance. In this study, MDF/HDF production data for Türkiye covering the period 1995–2024 were analyzed. The observations for 1995–2019 were used for model estimation, while the period 2020–2024 was reserved for out-of-sample validation. Production projections for 2025–2030 were generated using the ARIMA time series model. The relationships between fiberboard production and selected socio-economic variables (population, GDP per capita, forest area, and number of enterprises) were evaluated through correlation analysis. While strong correlations were observed in the level data, additional analysis using first-differenced (growth rate) series indicated that these relationships are weak and statistically insignificant in the short term, suggesting that the observed associations are largely influenced by common time trends. Assuming that approximately 60% of total fiberboard production consists of MDFLAM, future GWP values were estimated using verified EPD data. The results indicate that production is expected to continue increasing in the coming years. Although negative GWP values are observed due to biogenic carbon storage during the production stage, this reflects temporary carbon sequestration rather than a permanent reduction in atmospheric emissions. Emissions are expected to increase during end-of-life stages as the stored carbon is released. Overall, the study provides a forward-looking framework by integrating time-series forecasting with EPD-based environmental indicators, offering a useful basis for sustainability assessment and policy-oriented decision-making in the wood-based panel sector. Full article

Background: This study examines the competitive dynamics of the artisanal wooden furniture industry in Misantla, Veracruz, Mexico, a predominantly informal productive system characterized by family-managed production units and strong territorial embeddedness. Methods: A mixed-methods research design was employed. Quantitative data were collected from 187 family-managed production units (86 woodworking units and 101 workshops) using a structured questionnaire based on five-level Likert scales assessing external efficiency, collective efficiency, and innovation. Statistical analyses included descriptive measures and chi-square tests to examine associations between competitiveness and collective strategies, while qualitative validation and thematic interpretation based on expert assessments were used to contextualize sectoral practices and structural constraints. Results: The findings indicate a low overall competitiveness score (1.92/5), associated with informal practices, limited technical training, and weak supply chain integration. Despite these constraints, the sector maintains a strong cultural identity and contributes to its local economy. Conclusions: Artisanal supply chains can achieve functional levels of logistics performance through internal coordination dynamics. Strengthening collaboration mechanisms is a viable strategy for improving logistics performance in artisanal manufacturing systems in emerging economies. These findings provide empirical evidence to support the design of collaborative strategies that integrate traditional craftsmanship with modern supply chain practices in artisanal micro-industries. Full article

Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from industrial parks are a crucial source of urban air pollution. This study assessed VOC emissions and their impact on secondary pollution from three key industries—packaging and printing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and furniture manufacturing—in a typical industrial park in the Guanzhong region of China. The results revealed considerable variation in organized outlet VOC concentrations between the different industries, with the highest level observed in furniture manufacturing (3449.9 ± 437.6 µg/m³) and the lowest level discovered for pharmaceutical manufacturing (410.9 ± 205.5 μg/m³). The VOCs were mainly aromatics (40.7%) and alkanes (21.8%), with pentane, isopentane, xylene, and ethylbenzene the most abundant species. Although organized emissions (1151.6 t/y) constituted the primary source of emissions, fugitive emissions (358.1 t/y) remained a major contributor and primarily contributed aromatics and alkanes. Critically, reactivity-based assessment demonstrated that alkenes and aromatics were the principal contributors to the ozone formation potential (>80%). With regard to the secondary organic aerosol formation potential, aromatics were overwhelmingly dominant, accounting for approximately 87% of the total potential, with xylene and ethylbenzene in furniture manufacturing alone contributing 72.9%. The findings highlight the importance of prioritizing controls on highly reactive alkenes and aromatics. Fugitive emission management during storage, mixing, and curing stages should be enhanced and solvents should be substituted to effectively control VOC emissions in industrial parks. Full article