På sågverk behövs hetvatten för att kunna värma lokalerna, men även kunna torka träprodukterna. Majoriteten av uppvärmningen går till att torka träprodukterna. AB Karl Hedin i Karbenning producerar sitt eget hetvatten genom pannan på sågverket. Där behövs biobränsle i form av torrflis som bränns i ugnen. Torrfliset fås genom sönderdelning av avkap som erhålls i justerverket. I justerverket används en hugg som har tillgänglighetsproblem. Huggen är känslig mot metaller, dessutom är den känslig mot hårt virke. Syftet med rapporten har därför varit att genom beräkningar och resonemang bestämma den bästa maskinen för sönderdelning av rejekt, att göra en layoutritning på installationen av denna med hänsyn till materialtransport samt att göra en investeringskalkyl för maskinen. Kvalitativa undersökningar har genomförts i form av intervjuer och litteraturstudier, det vill säga marknadsundersökningar, för att få inblick i hur sågverk sönderdelar rejekt respektive ta reda på olika sorters tekniker som finns. Olika scenarier har skapats för att se till att maskinen lever upp till olika funktionella krav, exempelvis kapacitetskrav eller scenarier med olika täckningsbidrag. Resultatet för kalkylerna gällande kapacitetskraven för respektive maskin, påvisar genom analysering av kapacitet kontra rejektflödet att några utav dessa inte är optimala för de uppsatta kraven. Investeringskalkylerna visar att en del utav maskinerna inte är optimala att införskaffa genom analyser av de uppsatta scenarierna med olika täckningsbidrag. Avslutningsvis kan sägas att olika maskiners kapacitetskrav i kombination med olika scenarier för täckningsbidrag leder till både gynnsamma och missgynnsamma resultat. Den nya maskinen som rekommenderas till AB Karl Hedin i Karbenning är rivare som dels kan sönderdela avkap, dels bräckage. Den maskinen är optimal för det arbete som sågverket utsätter sin nuvarande hugg för. Rekommendationen till företaget är att införskaffa en av maskinerna som analyseratsom det klaras av att enbart producera produkter med det högre täckningsbidraget. Till den rekommendationen har hänsyn tagits till att produktionen expanderas. Annars är rekommendationen till företaget att inte införskaffa någon utav de presenterade maskinerna. / At sawmills hot water is needed to heat up the facility, but also for drying up the wooden products. Most of the heating is used for drying the wooden products. AB Karl Hedin in Karbenning produces its own hot water using their boiler at the sawmill. Biofuel is needed there in the shape of wood chips that are burnt in the oven. The wood chip is received through decomposition of cut offs that are gained in the grading facility. A woodchipper is used in the grading facility that has problems with availability. The woodchipper is sensitive to metals, besides it is sensitive to hard timber. The purpose with this thesis has therefore been to determine the best machine for decomposing reject/cut offs through calculations and reasoning, to do a layout description on the installation with respect to material transport and to do an investment calculation for the machine. The qualitative studies have been done in the shape of interviews and literature studies (research on the market) to gain insight into how sawmills decompose reject respectively find out different available techniques. Different scenarios have been created to make sure the machine fulfills the different functional requirements, for instance scenarios for capacity requirementsor with scenarios with different contribution margin. The results for the calculations concerning the capacity requirements for each machine, proves through analysis of the capacity versus rejectflow that a few of the machines are not optimal for the set requirement. The investment calculations show that a few of the machines are not optimal to obtain through analysis of the set scenarios with different contribution margin. In conclusion the capacity requirements for each machine in combination with different scenarios for contribution margin results in both favorable and unfavorable outcomes. The new machine that is being recommended to AB Karl Hedin in Karbenning is a shredder that can partly decompose cut offs from the grading facility and partly bigger cut offs. That type of machine is optimal for the work that the company is exposing their chipper to. The recommendation for the company is to obtain one of the machines that has been analyzed if thecompany manages producing products with a higher contribution margin. This recommendation has been considered with an expanded production. Otherwise, the recommendation for the company is not to obtain any of the presented machines.

For structural engineers, the two most important design criteria are utility andsafety. It is about making sure that a structural component is reliable enough not toendanger any of a building's users, while at the same time being as sustainable andefficiently designed as possible. In other words, an element must be safe enough towithstand the improbability and sufficiently cheap to be relevant for the design.Considering this, using a material such as wood instead of metal may prove to be asustainable alternative for certain building components.Timber can be designed to sustain high temperatures and fire; it has a high strengthrelative to its weight and is naturally produced. Furthermore, an engineered woodproduct such as birch plywood has proven very strong in structural applications,especially when glued. Therefore, birch plywood has great potential as a reliablematerial in structural components. In this work, a total of 24 specimens with birchplywood connections were tested experimentally.The specimens were designed to enforce stress states that would occur in actualtrusses. Additionally, Specimens were assembled with two different connectionmethods, one being a dowel-type connection and the other being a glued-type. Eachtype of connection was tested in both tension and compression, with a total of threerepetitions each. For the glued-type specimens, birch plywood plates wereinvestigated in three different angles to the face grain; 0°, 5° and 15°. Theload-displacement relationships and the failure modes are of specific interest in thisthesis.Test results showed that failure modes were semi-brittle and distinct, and the testsshowed that glued-type connections withstood 37% higher loads than dowelledtypes. Specimens might withstand even higher loads if gluing were performed in amore controlled environment. The load-to-face-grain angle of plywood also had asignificant impact on the capacity of connections. For the 0°-specimens with gluedconnections tested in compression, no failures occurred in the plywood, and testsreached loads as high as 82 kN. Calculations were made estimating the load capacityas high as 95 kN, but possibly a more realistic approximation would be 85 kN. Thiswould imply that the 0°-specimens are around 20% stronger than the 15°-specimensand approximately 17,7% stronger than the 5°-specimens tested in compression.Birch plywood is promising to be used in connections of timber structures whereplates transfer forces between structural elements.

This study analyses the international timber trade between Malaysia and Europe with respect to the importance of environmental issues on trade and the role of Malaysia as a major timber exporter to Europe. It also evaluates the comparative advantage of Malaysian wood products and the willingness of French consumers (to represent European communities) to pay for sustainable forest management. The first part gives an overview the clashes of perception between developed and developing countries on the environmental concerns over trade. It was observed that environmental standards may act as non-tariff barriers to exporting countries. In addition, the stringent requirements posed by importing countries on technical, marking and labelling to some extent provide unnecessary barriers to trade. The second part deals with the role of Malaysia as a key player in the tropical timber trade. This part evaluates the main export market for Malaysian wood products to the world. For the purpose of this thesis, the analysis focuses on the European market. From the observations, it was found that the export of wooden furniture surpassed major timber exports in 2004. However, to penetrate the European market, Malaysia has to compete with the Chinese with their lower cost tropical wood products, and Brazil with their advantage in certification and labelling of tropical wood products. In tandem with that, the commitment towards sustainable forest management at national level causes shortage of raw materials in Malaysia. To a certain extent, the internal and external factors create necessary challenges to enter the European market. In the third part, the Balassa approach was used to classify the comparative advantage of Malaysia's twenty one types of wood products in Europe. It was estimated that Malaysia had high comparative advantage only in five products which were mechanized and intermediary industrial products. The products identified were sawn wood, wooden mouldings, plywood, veneer and builders' joinery and carpentry. The remaining products had lower comparative advantage and disadvantage to export to the European market based on the Balassa index. In the last part, the estimation on the willingness to pay for sustainable forest management attributes was conducted. Besides that, additional attributes such as fair trade and wood origin were included. A questionnaire was set up using all the attributes reflected in the hypothetical wood flooring product in the market. Based on the result, consumers were willing to pay the highest for the presence of fair trade and wood origin (in this study referring to French origin); nevertheless they were still willing to pay for sustainable aspects of forest. However, the willingness to pay for all the attributes was altered depending on the respondents' knowledge of forest labelling, their attitudes towards environmental preservation, living area, education level, type of job and income level. In the overall finding of the thesis, all the results from each part were synthesized in a systemic approach simultaneously deliberating on the macro and microeconomic perspectives as well as the dimensions on demand and supply. Overall, the findings suggest that the challenges and constraints facing the Malaysian timber industry indirectly shaped the export of Malaysian wooden products. Malaysia has adapted by going into value-added products to lessen the impact of environment-related trade barriers and to circumvent the shortage of raw materials supply. Malaysia has successfully customized the wooden products to the sustainability and legality requirements of the European market by pursuing the national certification (Malaysian Timber Certification) and being committed to sustainable forest management objectives.

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) constitute an important source of livelihood for most poor rural households and communities in Zimbabwe. NTFPs also serve as a vital livelihood safety net in times of hardship. An important feature of this dependence is that almost all NTFPs are deemed to have ‘public good’ characteristics, with no exclusive property rights. Consequently, extraction is often intense and exhaustive because of lack of alternative income sources, unreliable productivity and weak enforcement of institutional arrangements governing NTFPs use. In recent years, with HIV/AIDS rampant in Zimbabwe, there are indications of a rapid increase in the extraction of NTFPs, mostly from common property resources. Appropriate natural resources policies need to be based on comprehensive research, yet to date scant attention has been paid to understanding the role of NTFPs in mitigating the predicaments of HIV/AIDS-affected households in Zimbabwe. The main objective of this study was to determine the types of and need for natural resource management interventions to help ensure the sustainability of local responses to HIV/AIDS. The research focused on five communities of Sengwe Communal in the Chiredzi district, Zimbabwe. Multistage cluster sampling was used to select ten villages and households for the survey. Two villages from each community, representing the most and the least affected by epidemic were selected for each community using stratified random sampling. A cluster analysis was used to improve understanding of the challenges of rural livelihoods and how households diversify their livelihood strategies to cope with the various constraints. Five dominant groups based on their livelihood diversification patterns were identified : (1) smallholders/unskilled workers; (2) subsistence smallholder/non-timber forestry products harvesters; (3) crop production and non-timber forestry products extraction integrators; (4) commercial smallholders with regular off-farm employment; and (5) specialised commercial livestock producers. Multinomial logit model results showed that the level of education of the household head, the value of physical assets, cattle numbers and income, remittances, NTFPs income and economic shocks were the main determinants of these livelihood choices. Empirical evidence also revealed that households that were statistically significantly affected by HIV/AIDS economic shocks practised ‘distress-push’ diversification by extracting NTFPs. These results suggest that policy makers need to advise rural households on how to improve their risk management capacities and move from geographically untargeted investments in livelihood assets to a more integrated approach adapted to the asset base of individual households. Using panel data from 200 households in 2008 and 2009, regression models revealed that NTFPs extraction is an important ex-post coping mechanism for many HIV/AIDS-afflicted households. The results also revealed that the main determinants of livelihood strategy choices were differences in asset endowment, especially education, land and livestock and the impact of the shock. Asset constraints compelled diversification into lower-return activities such as NTFPs extraction. Findings from a comparative analysis of HIV/AIDS-afflicted and non-afflicted households showed that HIV/AIDS-afflicted households were relatively young, with relatively few physical and livestock assets. A fixed-effect Tobit model indicated a positive significant relationship between HIV staging and quantity of NTFPs extracted. The relatively young, poorly educated households with low household coping capacity in terms of livestock value relied more on the natural insurance of forests in buffering HIV/AIDS economic shocks. These results have important policy implications for development planners, conservationists and non-governmental organisations working in the region. There is a need for programmes that reduce pressure on forest resources, and improved access to education and health care, thus helping the poor to cope with the HIV/AIDS economic crisis. This study also examined the extent to which forest degradation is driven by existing common property management regimes, resource and user characteristics, ecological knowledge and marketing structure. A Principal Component Analysis indicated that the existence of agreed-upon rules governing usage (including costs of usage), enforcement of these rules, sanctions for rule violations that are proportional to the severity of rule violation, social homogeneity, and strong beliefs in ancestral spirits were the most important attributes determining effectiveness of local institutions in the management of Common Pool Resources (CPRs). Empirical results from an ordinary least regression analysis showed that resource scarcity, market integration index, and infrastructural development lead to greater forest resource degradation, while livestock income, high ecological knowledge, older households, and effective local institutional management of the commons reduce forest resource degradation. The results suggest that there is a need for adaptive local management systems that enhance ecological knowledge of users and regulates market structure to favour long-term livelihood securities of these forest-fringe communities. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Conselho Nacional do Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação Araucária de Apoio ao Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Paraná / Devido a preocupações com o meio ambiente e aos avanços tecnológicos na área química e florestal, alternativas tecnológicas são buscadas para o desenvolvimento de novos produtos. Os painéis de madeira colados lateralmente, EGP, possibilitam a otimização do uso de recursos florestais e são compostos por sarrafos de madeira unidos através de ligação adesiva nas laterais e de topos, sendo avaliados segundo a norma EN-13353. Esses painéis podem ser fabricados com adesivo poliacetato de vinila, PVAc e emulsão polimérica de isocianato, EPI, que são provenientes do petróleo. O adesivo de poliuretano derivado do óleo da mamona é uma alternativa para substituir estes adesivos, pois é um material que não possui solvente, é biodegradável e procedente de matéria-prima renovável. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o adesivo poliuretano que procede do óleo de mamona para a produção de painéis colados lateralmente. Foram utilizadas as espécies de Pinus taeda e Tectona grandis para a colagem com o adesivo de poliuretano e comparados com os adesivos PVAc e EPI, com prensagens em diferentes tempos, proporções de poliol e pré- polímero e diferentes gramaturas submetidas a condicionamentos de acordo com a norma EN-13353 para a avaliação da qualidade de colagem de painéis de madeira sólida. Todos os corpos de prova foram avaliados pelo ensaio de cisalhamento na linha de cola. Observou-se que o tempo mais indicado para a produção de EGP com o adesivo PU para a espécie Pinus taeda foi de 4 horas, com proporção de 1:0,7 e gramatura de 180 g/m² e para espécie Tectona grandis foi de 4 horas, com proporção de 1:0,7 e gramatura de 120 g/m², sendo que todos os valores atenderam à norma para painéis colados lateralmente EN-13353 e foram superiores aos valores obtidos com adesivos PVAc e EPI. / Due to concerns about the environment and technological advances in the chemical and forestry area, technological alternatives are sought for the development of new products. The Edge Glued Panels, EGP, enable the optimization of the use of forest resources and are composed of wood joints joined by adhesive bonding on the sides and tops and evaluated according to EN-13353.These panels can be manufactured with vinyl polyacetate adhesive, PVAc and emulsion polymer isocyanate, epoxy, which are derived from petroleum. The polyurethane adhesive derived from castor oil is an alternative to replace these adhesives, since it is a material that has no solvent, is biodegradable and derived from renewable raw material. The objective of this work was to evaluate the polyurethane adhesive derived from castor oil for the production of Edge Glued Panels. The Pinus taeda and Tectona grandis species were used for bonding with the polyurethane adhesive and compared with the PVAc and EPI adhesives, with pressings at different times, proportions of polyol and prepolymer and different weights subjected to conditioning according to standard EN-13353 for the evaluation of the bonding quality of solid wood panels. All the specimens were evaluated by the shear test on the glue line. It was observed that the time most suitable to produce EGP with the PU adhesive for Pinus taeda was 4 hours, with a ratio of 1: 0.7 and weight of 180 g / m² and for Tectona grandis species it was 4 hours, with a ratio of 1: 0.7 and 120 g / m², where all values met the standard for laterally bonded panels EN-13353, and were higher than the values obtained with PVAc and EPI adhesives.

On the way towards a more biobased economy, the sustainable use of global wood resources remains a challenge as several trade-offs arise, e.g., from an increased energetic use of wood, an increased use of innovative but probably less recyclable wood composites, or from the need to conserve other forest ecosystem services. The aim of this study is to identify existing environmental indicators and methods for an evaluation of the sustainability of wood products in consideration of all life cycle stages, site-dependent aspects and later use in corporate decision-making. We chose a systematic literature review to answer the research questions explicitly and comprehensively. Qualitative content analysis was used to code indicators and scientific methods according to the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) framework. The sample (N = 118) is characterized by a high number of life cycle assessment (LCA) case studies. In 51% of all studies, the study authors use a combination of different methods. A total of 78 indicators and 20 site-dependent aspects could be identified in the sample. The study findings represent a first step towards a holistic environmental assessment of wood products.

O uso da Avaliação do Ciclo de Vida (ACV) permite identificar oportunidades de melhoria de desempenho ambiental, gerar aprendizagem sobre produtos e processos e apoiar decisões para alcançar vantagens competitivas. O processo de tomada de decisão baseado nos resultados da ACV envolve, além dos aspectos e impactos ambientais, outros critérios importantes para um processo decisório. Neste sentido, esta tese objetivou desenvolver um modelo multicritério para apoio à decisão baseado em avaliação de ciclo de vida e indicadores corporativos. O modelo desenvolvido possui caráter interativo, pode ser generalizado e foi validado utilizando dados de diferentes cenários do ciclo de vida da produção do painel MDF. O modelo avalia par a par as opções de cenários distintos e identifica a opção mais atrativa de acordo com um índice final. O índice final é composto por dimensões específicas, subdimensões e indicadores. A dimensão ambiental do modelo é baseada em ACV, a qual foi modelada no software Umberto e utilizou a base de dados Eco-Invent 2.2. Para a estrutura decisória do modelo e a construção de escalas cardinais foi utilizado o método MACBETH, através do software M-MACBETH. A validação do modelo ocorreu por meio da avaliação de três situações decisórias da produção do painel MDF (variações no processo produtivo, variações em parâmetros de processo e variações em espessura do produto). Os resultados apresentados contribuíram para avanços acadêmicos em construções de modelos de apoio à decisão baseados em ACV e multicritérios. Permitiram, ainda, interpretar e gerar aprendizados acerca do processo produtivo, do ciclo de vida do produto e da gestão da produção da indústria pesquisada. Neste sentido, concluiu-se que o modelo mostrou-se apto para apoiar e gerar aprendizagem em processos decisórios multicritérios baseados em ACV e em outros indicadores corporativos. / Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) allows identify opportunities to improve environmental performance, providing knowledge about products and processes and supporting decision-making in order to achieve advantages. Decision-making based on LCA results involves, in addition to the environmental aspects and impacts, others important criteria. In this sense, this thesis aimed to develop a multi-criteria model for decision-making based on life cycle assessment and corporate indicators. The model developed has interactive nature and can be generalized. The model was validated using data for different scenarios of MDF panel production life cycle. The pairwise model evaluates the options for different scenarios and identifies the most attractive option in accordance with a final index. The final index is composed of specific, sub-dimensions and indicators. The environmental dimension is based on an LCA, which was modeled in Umberto software and used Eco-Invent 2.2 as database. For the model structure and construction of cardinal scale was used MACBETH method using M-MACBETH software. The model validation was made by evaluation of three decision-making scenarios in MDF panel production (changes in production processes, changes in process parameters and changes in product thickness variations). The results allowed to reach academic advances in order to support decision models structures based on LCA and multi-criteria. The results allowed interpreting and generating knowledge about production process, product life cycle and industrial management. In this sense, it is concluded that the model is able to support and generate knowledge on decision-making processes based on LCA and other corporate indicators.

En el Perú, actividades ilícitas como la tala ilegal con fines comerciales, suponen una sustancial problemática para el progreso sostenible de la industria forestal maderera. Dicha situación impacta tanto en el mercado nacional como en el internacional. Si bien, en la última década el Perú ha potencializado su oferta exportable en cuanto a los productos de segunda transformación, como son los productos semielaborados de madera, la tala ilegal dificulta el posicionamiento internacional. De manera específica, EE.UU. corresponde a uno de los primordiales países de destino para tales productos y es a partir del año 2009 que el intercambio comercial se realiza en el marco del Acuerdo de Promoción Comercial existente entre ambas naciones. En tal sentido, el objetivo principal del presente estudio consite en analizar si la disminución de participación en el mercado de EE.UU., la afectación de las relaciones comerciales Perú - EE.UU., el aumento de la rigurosidad de la gestión forestal y la disminución de la disponibilidad de los recursos forestales son los principales efectos de la tala ilegal en las exportaciones de productos semielaborados de madera peruana al mercado de EE.UU. durante el periodo del 2013 al 2019 en el marco del APC Perú - EE.UU. Para el desarrollo, se empleó un enfoque cualitativo además de un diseño de teoría fundamentada. En ese sentido, se efectuaron entrevistas semiestructuradas a quince expertos con una amplia trayectoria en el sector forestal maderero peruano. Estas entrevistas, fueron codificadas y analizadas en el programa Atlas Ti, para finalmente establecer las conclusiones y recomendaciones de la investigación. / In Peru, illicit activities such as illegal logging for commercial purposes pose a substantial problem for the sustainable progress of the timber forest industry. This situation impacts both the national and international markets. Although, in the last decade, Peru has strengthened its exportable supply in terms of second-transformation products, such as semi-finished wood products, illegal logging makes it difficult to achieve international positioning. Specifically, the US corresponds to one of the main destination countries for such products and it is from 2009 that the commercial exchange is carried out within the framework of the Trade Promotion Agreement existing between both nations. In this regard, the main objective of this study is to analyze whether the decrease in participation in the US market, the impact on trade relations between Peru and the US, the increase in the rigor of forest management and the decrease in the availability of forest resources are the main effects of illegal logging on exports of semi-finished Peruvian wood products to the US market during the period from 2013 to 2019 within the framework of the Peru - US APC. For development, a qualitative approach was used in addition to a grounded theory design. In this sense, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fifteen experts with extensive experience in the Peruvian timber forest sector. These interviews were coded and analyzed in the Atlas Ti program, to finally establish the conclusions and recommendations of the investigation. / Tesis

<p dir="ltr">In response to the growing significance of wood as a sustainable resource and the challenges within the wood products industry, there is a pressing need for innovation and collaboration across sectors. This study underscores the importance of mapping the wood products industry to gain a comprehensive understanding of material flows, which is essential for educational and research endeavors. The findings aim to uncover new economic opportunities and advocate for sustainable resource management. To address the complexities of the wood products industry, we developed a Generic Map, including a version tailored for the U.S. hardwood sector. Moreover, Dive-in Chain Maps were introduced to elaborate on the main production chains: Sawmill (I), Veneer Mill (II), Reconstituted Wood Manufacturing (III), and Pulp and Paper Mill (IV).</p><p dir="ltr">The study suggests four strategies to augment the value of hardwood through production, design, material modification, and by-products management. We showcased some strategies through two case studies.</p><p dir="ltr">The first focuses on Cross-laminated Timber (CLT), demonstrating value addition to hardwood. We conducted a literature review on the availability of raw materials in the US region and evaluated their performance across various stages of laboratory testing. This was followed by evaluating the feasibility and environmental effects of utilizing yellow poplar for CLT production. Additionally, we compared the Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) outcomes of yellow poplar CLT with those of traditional softwood CLT. This comparison aims to provide further insights for developing future by-product management or end-of-life strategies.</p><p dir="ltr">The second case study examines thermal modification, proposing an innovative method for efficient thermal treatment and employing an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model to analyze the correlation between temperature, duration, and color change. We also compared the physical and mechanical properties of surface thermally treated samples to those of traditionally treated ones, discussing how different thermal treatments affect material properties.</p><p dir="ltr">Our findings illuminate the path for effective material flow and utilization, unveiling avenues for innovation and the creation of high-value products. Furthermore, the study provides strategies for waste minimization and informed end-of-life decision-making, thereby enhancing circularity and sustainability in the wood products industry.</p>

<a>Global trends and factors, such as the increased level of globalization, climate change, resource scarcity, and awareness of social and environmental responsibilities, as well as fiercer competition and lower profit margins in all industries, force organizations to act to retain, regain, or sustain their competitive advantages for long-term survival. These trends and factors are historically known to bring about innovations that drive the evolution of industries. Sustainability is considered to be such an innovation to achieve fiscally sound, environmentally conscious, and socially progressive organizations and supply chains. Sustainable Development and Sustainability notions are among trending topics of 21st century. Elevated sustainability concerns of various stakeholders have been forcing members of all industries to evolve into their more environmentally and socially responsible versions. This study was initiated through a comprehensive literature review phase that reviewed 477 articles published in five major databases from 1990 to 2018. The purpose of this review was to assess the current state-of-the art on the subject of lean-driven sustainability. Based on descriptive and contextual analysis, synergies, divergences, and the extent of two-way permeability of lean and sustainability concepts from the perspective of intra- and inter-organizational operations were identified along with future research opportunities. Fundamental strengths and weaknesses of both concepts, existing strong synergies and untapped potential, along with their key contributors, the potential-use cases of lean tools to derive sustainable solutions are highlighted in this review. Next, based on the findings of systematic literature review, an innovative, holistic, versatile and scalable tool was developed to assess and benchmark sustainability performance of organizations and supply chains. The proposed framework was established upon trivet structure of Triple Bottom Line philosophy and fueled by Lean, Six-Sigma and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies for accurate and effective measurement of sustainability performance. Completeness of the framework was ensured through development of first-generation Key Performance Indicator (KPI) pool with 33 indicators, a unique work environment assessment mechanism for safety and environmental protection issues in terms of 11 risk categories and by construction of an ownership structure for ease of framework deployment. Proposed framework is expected to help with true sustainability performance improvement and benchmarking objectives at a range of business levels from facility to sectoral operations. Upon completion of the development phase, the Sustainability Benchmarking Tool (SBT) Framework was validated at the facility level within the context of value-added wood products manufacturing. Strengths and weaknesses of the system were identified within the scope of Bronze Frontier maturity level of the framework and tackled through a six-step analytical and quantitative reasoning methodology. The secondary objective of the validation phase was to document how value-added wood products industries can take advantage of natural properties of wood to become frontiers of sustainability innovation. In the end, True Sustainability performance of the target facility was improved by 2.37 base points, while economic and environmental performance was increased from being a system weakness to achieving an acceptable index score benchmark of 8.41 and system strength level of 9.31, respectively. Social sustainability score increased by 2.02 base points as a function of better gender bias ratio. The financial performance of the system improved from a 33% loss to 46.23% profit in the post-improvement state. Reductions in CO₂ emissions (55.16%), energy consumption (50.31%), solid waste generation (72.03%), non-value-added-time (89.30%) and cost performance (64.77%) were other significant achievements of the study. In the end, SBT Framework was successfully validated at the facility level and target facility evolved into its leaner, cleaner and more responsible version of itself. Furthermore, manufacturing industries of all sorts are key stakeholders, which rely on universities to satisfy the demand for competent workforce. Society also expects universities to educate youth and contribute to their self-development by achieving both, scientific and intellectual knowledge saturation. To expand the contribution of the study to the body of knowledge in the fields of Sustainability and Modern Management techniques, an undergraduate level course curriculum that integrates modern management techniques and sustainability concepts with wood products industry dynamics was developed. Students’ pre- and post-education awareness of, and familiarity with sustainability, potential consequences of ignored sustainability issues, modern management techniques, global trends, innovation waves, and industry evolution were compared through a seventeen-question survey. Results showed that course content was successful at increasing sustainability awareness at both overall and individual sustainability pillar levels, At the end, 100% of students were able to develop complete understanding of various modern management techniques and stated that they felt confident to apply learnt skills to real life issues within their profession upon graduation. Overall, this study empirically documented how synergies between Lean, Sustainability, Six-Sigma and Life Cycle Assessment concepts outweigh their divergences, demonstrated viability of SBT Framework and presented a proven example of modern management techniques powered transdisciplinary sustainability curriculum.</a>