The U.S. furniture industry is facing intense foreign competition due to globalization. U.S. Competitiveness Survey identified responsiveness and on-time delivery as the major strategic areas to improve competitive advantage. To enable the U.S. furniture industry to become more responsive to customers and simultaneously ensure on-time delivery, an order promising framework was proposed for a make-to-order environment. The proposed order promising strategy was to implement advanced scheduling based on a drum-rope-buffer control system. A study was conducted on an upholstery manufacturing industry to demonstrate the potential lead-time improvement that may arise from implementing the proposed strategy. To carry out the study, a prototype database application was developed based on the operational policy of the example company to support order promising. The study results showed a possible improvement of 67% in the current lead-time performance of the company. Finally, a set of recommendations was made to develop an order promising system for the furniture industry.

The U.S. furniture industry has faced the challenge from increasing imports of furniture from foreign countries over the last decades. In the first part of this thesis, the import pattern of wooden bedroom furniture and the antidumping investigation against China were summarized, and furthermore, intervention analysis was employed to assess its impacts on the import value and unit price of China. The results revealed that the impact on import values was temporary but there was no significant impact on unit prices. The traditional suppliers have been substituted by the newly developing countries such as China and Vietnam. In the second part of this thesis, to explain the market structure change, a dynamic AIDS model was used to analyze the consumer behavior and evaluate the impacts of antidumping investigation on the major competitors in the second part. The results indicated that most imported wooden bedroom furniture can be substituted between suppliers and trade diversion occurred from China to Vietnam, Indonesia, and Brazil.

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Solitude, one of the original buildings on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, is a possible site for restoration because of its significance to the University and to the community. This study attempted to determine the most likely amount, type, style, and quality of furnishings used at Solitude between 1830 and 1880, when it was the home of Robert and Mary Preston, the last private owners. To help identify and interpret furnishings for this home, several areas were researched: the history of the building including the remodeling done by Robert Preston, the lifestyle of the Prestons, the availability of goods in the Blacksburg area before and after the coming of the railroad, and an examination of existing documents, such as appraisements, that listed furnishings used by the Prestons and by other residents of Montgomery County. An analysis of the findings showed that the furniture may have been a combination of older, locally made pieces, and newer, factory-made ones, some of which may have been in the Rococo Revival style. Compared with the other appraisements studied, the furnishings of the Prestons were moderately to highly priced, indicating that theirs was one of the more comfortable homes in the area. / Master of Science

Two analysis techniques were demonstrated for use in new product development by the wood products industry. A new molded wood structural product developed by the U.S. Forest Service Forest Products Laboratory known as FPL Spaceboard II was used to illustrate the techniques. Determinant attribute analysis was first employed to identify the product attributes most important to purchase decisions regarding substrate materials for the office furniture industry - the most likely target for introduction of Spaceboard II. A matrix-type decision model was then developed and illustrated which assists in selecting the most attractive product-market opportunity for a new product still in the development stages based on market attractiveness and relative competitive advantage of the product. Surveys were directed to manufacturers of office furniture and to producers of industrial particleboard and medium-density fiberboard which currently are the most common materials utilized as substrates in the office furniture industry. The furniture survey collected information regarding the perceived importance and variability of an array of physical product characteristics in the selection of a substrate material for office furniture. The survey of industrial particleboard and medium-density fiberboard producers acquired information regarding the importance of factors affecting decisions to enter and compete in a given market and ratings of the office furniture substrate market on those factors. The results of the determinant attribute analysis indicated that fastener withdrawal strength, surface smoothness, flatness, stiffness (MOE), and edgebanding capability were the product attributes which would most affect the decision to purchase substrate material for office furniture, and consequently are the attributes to focus on in developing a new product for that market. Use of the decision model was illustrated with Spaceboard II and resulted in a hypothetical matrix with the product positioned based on the attractiveness of the office furniture substrate market and Spaceboard II’s relative competitive advantage over existing materials in that market versus its competitive position in other market scenarios. / Master of Science

As energy prices and demand are projected to increase globally and markets become more competitive nationally and internationally; the wood products industry must find ways to remain relevant. By: 1) analyzing energy-saving recommendations contained in the IAC database; 2) comparing those recommendations by criteria such as cost, savings, and payback period; 3) identifying recommendations that incorporate lean manufacturing principles; and 4) investigating the practices and perceptions of manufacturers at the facility level, this project provides information for identifying the greatest opportunities for energy management among U.S. wood product manufacturers. Results from the analysis of the IAC database show that wood product manufacturers had a low implementation rate of energy recommendations ranked purely by cost, savings, and payback period among wood product manufacturers suggesting they were not focused on implementing energy recommendations specifically based on those criteria. While some recommendations were found to be statistically different in at least one criteria: cost, savings, or payback period between wood and non-wood manufactures as well as primary and secondary wood manufacturers, only two recommendations had practical differences, large payback periods, between primary and secondary wood manufacturers. Twenty-four of 192 energy recommendations were classified as lean-based energy recommendations using the Kirby and Green (2003) methodology, however, there was no clear evidence to suggest the lean-based energy recommendations were superior in terms of cost, savings, or payback period when compared to simple energy recommendations. Interviews with primary and secondary manufacturers revealed a lack of commitment to energy performance improvement and the reported barriers of implementation among a small sample of wood products manufacturers suggests that the dissemination of energy management knowledge and benefits is a problem. / Master of Science

The study had the dual objective of characterizing the present role of Virginia's wood furniture industry within Virginia's overall economy and evaluating the possible economic implications of changes in the major production factors influencing the future development of the industry. Supporting the hypothesis that the furniture industry is a major contributor to the economy of Virginia, the following factors were considered: size and number of plants, labor force, wages, and productivity of firms in Virginia. The industry 1n Virginia employed in excess of 21,000 employees in 1964. / Master of Science

Efficient engineering processes are critically important for furniture manufacturers. Engineering impacts the production cost, design quality, product lead time, and customer satisfaction. This research presents a systematic approach to analyze a furniture engineering process through a case study. The research was conducted through a case study in a furniture plant located in China, producing American style furniture products. The first stage was to investigate the company's current engineering process, identify non value-added activities, and analyze the engineering performance based on selected Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) such as lead time, document error rate, and engineering throughput. A survey questionnaire was sent out to the engineering group to determine the current engineering efficiency. Results show that "product complexity" and "engineer competency" are the two most influential factors that impact engineering lead time and quality. In the second stage, value stream mapping was used to analyze an upholstery furniture engineering process. The approach encompasses an analysis of the current state of the engineering process and the proposal of a lean future state value stream map (VSM). Results from the current state VSM show, that the value-added ratio of the current engineering process is only 26%. Several engineering steps present deficiency such as the processes of creating drawings, compile mass production documents, check and sign-off engineering documents, create CNC programs, and generate packaging files. Based on current state VSM analysis, the researcher focused on transforming these processes to eliminate waste and to propose the best practices for the future state VSM. From this research, it shows that current processes include a large amount of non-value adding activities such as waiting, extra processing, rework, excess motion, transportation, underutilized people, and inefficient information. These non-value adding activities are interfering with engineers' ability to prepare engineering documents for downstream jobs and affecting the overall manufacturing process. The VSM is effective to provide the visual control over the engineering process for implementing lean transformations. / Master of Science

Syfte: Studien syftar till att undersöka om CSR är en differentieringsfaktor för konsumenter inom möbelindustrin, samt öka förståelsen för hur CSR-kommunikation i fysiska möbelbutiker uppfattas av konsumenterna. Teoretisk bakgrund: I takt med att samhället digitaliseras ställs företagen inför krav att differentiera sig på marknaden. Miljömedvetna konsumenter ger företagens sociala ansvar, CSR, ett nytt liv på en differentierad marknad. En balansgång av risker och möjligheter med CSR-kommunikation möbelindustrin står inför framkommer i bakgrunden leder till frågan huruvida CSR-kommunikation kan användas som differentieringsfaktor bland möbelindustrins konsumenter.  Metod: Denna studie använder en interpretivistisk filosofi med en induktiv forskningsansats och kvalitativ metod. Genom djupgående intervjuer undersöks hur CSR-kommunikation kan fungera som differentieringsfaktior inom möbelindustrin och hur konsumenter uppfattar CSR-kommunikation i fysiska möbelbutiker. Valet av en induktiv ansats och kvalitativ metod möjliggör en djup förståelse för ämnet samt konsumenternas perspektiv och beteende. Resultat och analys: Resultaten visar att CSR-kommunikation i fysiska möbelbutiker är positivt hos konsumenter och det fastställs att CSR kan användas som en differentieringsfaktor inom möbelinudstrin. Konsumenternas begränsade kunskap kring CSR  minskar dock CSR-kommunikationens effektivitet, men ökad kunskap kan förbättra effekten. CSR-kommunikation upplevs positivt, och genom storytelling kan ökad medvetenhet och engagemang uppstå. Dock måste företag vara försiktiga för att undvika greenwashing och att uppfattas som icke genuina.