The wood products industry is important to Sweden's prosperity, and is currently facing several challenges by increased global competition. To avoid the gradual decline of the industry’s contribution to the country’s revenues and employment opportunities, the Swedish wood products industry needs to increase the proportion of the raw material that is refined. New and efficient manufacturing technologies are essential to support this development. The implementation of automation in manufacturing needs to be supported by conscious and well-defined strategies. However, currently, there is a lack of knowledge regarding automation decisions in this industry. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to increase knowledge regarding which aspects should be taken into account when automation decisions are considered in the wood products industry. Three research questions are addressed: (1) What is the current state of manufacturing operations in the wood products industry? (2) What are the potential opportunities for automation in the wood products industry? And (3) What challenges can arise from automation in the wood products industry?

The results presented in this thesis are based on four research papers. The first paper provides an overview of the current state of manufacturing operations in the wood products industry. The second paper examined the impact of the raw material on manufacturing operations in the wood products industry. The third paper assessed how the levels of automation in manufacturing impact operational performance. The fourth paper examined automation opportunities and challenges to gain a better understanding of the reasoning behind automation decisions in the industry.

In general, it is concluded that automation decisions in the wood products industry tend to be based on “gut feeling” and previous experience with automation rather than well-defined decisions and strategies. This is due to inadequate knowledge and familiarity with automation technologies in manufacturing. Furthermore, the findings showed that different aspects of manufacturing interact and impact each other. For this reason, it is essential to take into account other aspects of manufacturing when considering automation decisions.

The wood industry has great potential to support the development of a more sustainable future based on a circular economy. For Sweden to be able to maintain its competitive position as a leading wood industry nation, products with increased added value are needed. To realize this development, new and efficient automated solutions supporting the manufacturing systems in place in the industry are essential. However, although automation of manufacturing can result in competitive advantages, this is far from always being the case. A number of researchers have convincingly argued that investments in automation of manufacturing are more likely to succeed if they are the expression of well-grounded decisions made during the design of a manufacturing system. It is further argued that such decisions need to be linked to a company’s manufacturing strategy. And yet despite this, automation decisions are often made ad hoc and based on gut feelings.

The essential purpose of this thesis therefore is to support informed automation decisions in the context of manufacturing system development projects carried out in the wood products industry. To fulfill the purpose, multiple research studies have been conducted including literature reviews and case study method.

This thesis contributes with increased knowledge on the content and process of automation decisions in manufacturing system development projects conducted in the wood products industry. Close study of automation decisions made during manufacturing system design from a manufacturing strategy perspective has produced a set of guiding suggestions. These include the identification of aspects that need consideration when automation decisions are being made during the design of manufacturing systems. Furthermore, through studying the process leading to automation decisions during manufacturing system design, potential pitfalls for the wood products industry are exemplified and tactics used to support decision-making related to automation are suggested. Last, this thesis extends the current understanding about manufacturing systems in the wood products industry by presenting the drivers and challenges for automation of manufacturing.

Träindustrin har stor potential att stödja utvecklingen av en mer hållbar framtid baserad på en cirkulär ekonomi. För att Sverige ska kunna behålla sin konkurrensposition som en ledande träindustrination krävs produkter med ökat mervärde. För att förverkliga denna utveckling är nya och effektiva automationslösningar som stödjer de produktionssystem som finns i branschen nödvändiga. Men även om automatisering av produktion kan leda till konkurrensfördelar är det långt ifrån att alltid vara fallet. Forskare har hävdat att investeringar i automation är mer benägna att lyckas om de är baserade på välgrundade beslut som tagits under utformningen av produktionssystem. Det hävdas vidare att sådana beslut måste kopplas till ett företags produktionsstrategi. Trots detta fattas automationsbeslut ofta ad hoc och baseras på magkänslor.

Syftet med denna avhandling är därför att stödja informerade automationsbeslut i utvecklingsprojekt för produktionssystem som genomförs inom trämanufaktursindustrin. För att uppnå syftet har flera forskningsstudier genomförts inklusive litteraturgranskningar och fallstudiemetod.

Denna avhandling bidrar med ökad kunskap om innehållet och processen för automationsbeslut i utvecklingsprojekt för produktionssystem inom trämanufaktursindustrin. Studier om automationsbeslut som tagits under utformningen av produktionssystems ur ett produktionsstrategiskt perspektiv har producerat en uppsättning vägledande förslag. Dessa inkluderar identifiering av aspekter som bör beaktas när automationsbeslut fattas. Vidare, genom att studera processen som leder till automationsbeslut under utformningen av produktionssystem, exemplifieras potentiella fallgropar för trämanufaktursindustrin och olika taktiker som kan användas för att stödja beslutsfattande relaterat till automation föreslås. Slutligen utvidgar denna avhandling den nuvarande förståelsen om produktionssystem inom trämanufaktursindustrin genom att presentera drivkrafterna och utmaningarna för automatisering av produktionen.