One hundred and seventy-eight pieces of Victorian furniture in six Texas historic house museums have been photographed and researched in order to fulfill the three-part problem. (1) to research and write descriptive essays of the four major Victorian substyles--Victorian Empire, Rococo Revival, Renaissance Revival, and Eastlake; (2) to identify and choose six Texas historic houses which are open to the public and which display these Victorian substyles in period room settings; and (3) to identify, photograph, measure, and catalogue each piece of authentic Victorian furniture, and to compile a research guide which includes each of these six houses and their Victorian furnishings. This six-part guide includes brief histories of each house and a catalogue of authentic pieces which represent the major substyles of Victorian furniture. To give the study a broad base, and to make it useful for all students, teachers, and professional interior designers in Texas, two houses which represented the best collections of furniture from each geographic location were chosen. These included: (1 ) from North Texas, the George House and Millermore, both in Dallas; (2) in Central Texas, East Terrace and Fort House, located in Waco; and (3) in South Texas, Fulton Mansion in Fulton Beach, and McNamara House in Victoria. All four of the most popular substyles are represented in the six houses.

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El presente proyecto se realizó con el fin de determinar la factibilidad de la instalación de una planta de muebles RTA (Ready To Assemble). Para empezar, se realizaron justificaciones técnicas, económicas y sociales, que dieron como resultado el crecimiento económico del Perú, la gran cantidad de mano de obra y la oportunidad para apoyar al crecimiento social de la zona. / This project was carried out in order to determine the feasibility of installing a RTA (Ready to Assemble) furniture plant. In the beginning of it, technical, economic and social justifications were made, which showed evidence of the economic growth of Peru, the large amount of ready workforce and the opportunity to support the social growth of the area. / Trabajo de investigación

This work is a survey about the cabinetmakers possibilities to use laser engraving for personalised décor in furniture making. I have used analog and digital techniques in a way to take control over the end results of the laser engravings that I make from my patterns and motifs. My motifs and patterns are mainly constructed with a digital pen in a sketch program om my computer. Initially, I did a number of technical tests to learn about the different settings so that I later on could use them to my advantage when I created different motifs. After understanding most of the consequences of different settings I began to adapt my motifs with a conscious planning for how I could use the laser engraving settings to control the final result. In some cases, I have also done some after work in the form of pyrographing or Dremel engraving by hand. Much more are to be desired of those results. My conclusion is that the best results I got were when I used the laser engraving to complete my motifs the way visual artists use their brush, which is what I learned during my work. In addition to the practical work, I have also tried to make a theoretical reasoning about decór and ornament historically and where I fit in today.

This dissertation presents an in depth investigation of the office furniture industry and of the factors that influence selection and purchase of office furniture. It also utilizes data obtained in a national survey of nearly 270 office furniture buyers to investigate several general conceptual marketing issues. The industry-specific investigation includes a look at the history of the office and at events during the past 2-1/2 decades that have impacted the market for office furniture. It also includes a comparative look at the relative performance of wood (SIC 2521) and metal (SIC 2522) industry sectors. The performance of the office furniture industry is also compared with the wood household furniture industry (SIC 2511). This report includes a detailed look at the industry's changing product mix and use of wood-based materials. While the total use of wood-based material inputs by the industry was at record levels for all material categories in 1987, use on a per unit of output basis declined in several material categories. Material preferences, as expressed by survey respondents, indicated that solid wood is still rated highly and is the material of choice for interior and exterior applications in conventional office furniture manufacture. Twenty-six attributes of office furniture and of dealer/manufacturer services were rated on dual 7- and 5-point Likert scales for importance and difference, respectively. The most important attribute was the ability of the dealer manufacturer to provide products free of defects. However, when differences in the performance of suppliers or products were taken into account, the top determinant attribute was the ability to deliver on schedule. Comparisons of quality and selection and purchase ratings suggested that respondents tended to rate attributes on the bases of their use in selection and purchase higher overall than they rated their use in assessing quality. However, the relative ranking of attributes within the two sets of ratings were highly correlated. Respondent ratings of the 26 attributes were utilized in a multivariate study of quality dimensions employing confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses. Results of these analyses supported operationalization of most of Garvin's eight dimensions of quality. / Ph. D.

We consider the problem of scheduling production in a wood furniture plant. In particular, we consider the problem of selecting orders from various types of furniture products and determining their lot-sizes for production when there are sequence dependent setup times involved in the production of these items. This is termed the aggregate scheduling problem. In addition, we consider the problem of scheduling work at various production facilities in the presence of capacity constraints once the items for production and their quantities are selected. This is termed the detailed scheduling problem. The aggregate scheduling problem is formulated as a mixed integer program and solved using a dynamic programming procedure. The detailed scheduling program is a linear program and is solved using a canned linear programming package. In order to understand the state-of-the-art in the furniture industry, various furniture plants in Southwest Virginia were visited and a national survey was conducted. The results are summarized. The survey emphasized the problem addressed in this research. In order to understand the decision points better in the furniture manufacturing process, the IDEF (ICAM definition) procedure is used to describe the furniture manufacturing process. The methodology developed is applied to a real-life problem and the results are summarized. / Master of Science

Adoption of manufacturing technologies have been cited as an important competitive strategy for successful firms. This study assessed the wood household furniture industry for its current level of technology adoption, examined the impact of competitive variables on technology adoption and strategy formation, as well as, characteristics of innovators or early adopters within the industry. The results provide both insight into the technological direction of this industry and factors influencing the adoption of innovations by industrial organizations. The U.S. wood household furniture industry was surveyed concerning their recent equipment purchases, future purchase plans, and adoption of a list of 21 innovative technologies. Respondents listed recent equipment purchases within the finish machining area of the mill, particularly with automatic controls, as providing them with the most important benefits of increased efficiency and product quality. Respondents indicated that the functional areas of finish machining and the rough mill will receive the majority of new equipment over the next five years with automatic controls increasing in importance over time. A competitive-policy contingent model of technology adoption was developed and empirically tested. Innovativeness of firms was accessed by the number of technologies adopted from a set developed by industry experts. Empirical results suggest that organizational policy is dependent on the competitive conditions under which it was formed and that policy has an important effect on the innovativeness of an organization. Communication variables (signal frequency, cosmopliteness, and professionalization) were found to exhibit greater direct and indirect effects on innovation than industry structural variables with the exception of firm size. Characteristics of early adopters were contrasted with those of later adopters of technologies within the furniture industry based upon their adoption of thirteen processing technologies. Early adopters were found to differ significantly from later adopters on firm size, technological expertise, technological progressiveness, opinion leadership, information sources, and cosmopolitanism of the decision making group. The influence of technology push versus marketing pull strategies on firms was examined in an empirical study. Results of cluster analysis indicate that firms do align themselves along these strategic dimensions and can be contrasted on key characteristics; such as, demographics, company performance and environmental uncertainty. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Sociology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Este trabalho aborda a evolução do móvel seriado para fins residenciais no Brasil, notadamente produzidos com painéis de madeira reconstituída. O período abrangido é o mesmo da utilização efetiva destes painéis que vai de meados do século XX até os dias atuais. O enfoque do estudo centra-se na origem e desenvolvimento dos painéis bem como seus elementos de revestimento ou acabamento; a passagem do sistema de produção do móvel de artesanal para o industrializado, com as descrições básicas de suas etapas produtivas atuais e o sistema de comercialização comumente empregado neste tipo de móvel, bem como as novas formas alternativas, apontando os fatores que direta ou indiretamente interferiram no aspecto formal dos produtos. Analisa o estágio em que a atividade de design se encontra neste setor e sua posição perante os demais elementos intervenientes. Por fim, o trabalho enfatiza a efetiva contribuição dos painéis de madeira reconstituída na consolidação e aprimoramento do setor moveleiro, colaborando na implantação de processos racionais de produção em larga escala, os quais puderam proporcionar o acesso do mobiliário a praticamente todas as faixas da população. / This study focuses on the evolution of home furniture in Brazil, mainly those manufactured with wood based panels used in serial production systems. The period covered is the same as the effective usage of such panels, i.e., since mid-twentieth century to the present days. It concentrates on the origin and development of the types of panels and their coating or finishing alternatives, the switching of furniture production systems from artisanal craft to the large-scale production lines, the basic descriptions of the current stages of production and marketing systems commonly used for this kind of furniture, as well as new alternatives, pointing out factors that directly or indirectly have interfered in the formal appearance of the products. It also analyzes the current stage of the practical usage of design in this sector and its position regarding other elements involved. Finally, this study emphasizes the effective contribution of wood based panels in the consolidation and improvement of furniture industry, collaborating with the implementation of rational processes of large-scale production, which could allow the access to the furniture market to virtually all income classes.

Increasing competition and technological improvements have created new challenges for the firms. In Turkey, low-tech small and medium scale furniture industry does not seem to be well equipped to compete in this respect due to their weak economic and cultural capital. Necessity of innovative and distinguishing design-led policies has already arisen for improving the position of the low-tech small and medium scale furniture producers. However, to generate effective policies for them, it is essential to understand the design process and production domain related to cultural factors which affect the position of design and the designer. Within this perspective, this thesis examines the position of design and the designer within the product development process in eight cases of small and medium scale furniture companies based on the data gathered from, firstly, in-depth interviews with the owners, and secondly, product development stories narrated by the owner, the designers and head of the production departments of the companies.