Citation: Wieruszewski, M.; Turba ´ nski, W.; Mydlarz, K.; Sydor, M. Economic Efficiency of Pine Wood Processing in Furniture Production. Forests 2023, 14, 688. https:// doi.org/10.3390/f14040688 Academic Editor: Angela Lo Monaco Received: 16 March 2023 Revised: 20 March 2023 Accepted: 24 March 2023 Published: 28 March 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Article Economic Efficiency of Pine Wood Processing in Furniture Production Marek Wieruszewski 1 , Wojciech Turba´ nski 2 , Katarzyna Mydlarz 3 and Maciej Sydor 2,4, * 1 Department of Mechanical Wood Technology, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Pozna´ n University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Pozna ´ n, Poland; marek.wieruszewski@up.poznan.pl 2 Euroline sp. z o.o., 64-100 Leszno, Poland 3 Department of Law and Organization of Agribusiness Enterprises, Faculty of Economics, Pozna ´ n University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Pozna ´ n, Poland 4 Department of Woodworking and Fundamentals of Machine Design, Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Pozna´ n University of Life Sciences, 60-637 Pozna ´ n, Poland * Correspondence: maciej.sydor@up.poznan.pl; Tel.: +48-618466144 Abstract: The wood industry faces challenges due to rising prices and limited wood availability, putting pressure on material efficiency in wood processing. This justifies the analysis of the relationship between efficiency and economy in pine wood processing. The study aimed to measure the impact of variations in the thickness of logs, changes in the technology of their further processing, and changes in prices of raw materials and products on the material efficiency in the context of large-scale production of furniture elements made of pinewood. The raw material input consisted of three categories of log sizes, from which the specialized purpose lumber was produced. The lumber was then processed into semi-finished furniture elements with three technologies: without detecting natural wood defects, with human detection, and with automatic detection. The study was conducted in Poland from 2020 to 2022. The material efficiencies in every stage of the analyzed wood processing and the cost efficiencies were calculated and analyzed based on the results obtained under real industrial conditions. The main findings are as follows: (1) when comparing the logs in the three tested diameter ranges (14–23 cm, 23–30 cm, and more than 30 cm), it can be observed that the overall material efficiency of sawing is in the range of 70%–85% and increases with the thickness of the log; (2) the share of 38 mm specialized sawn timber in the total amount of sawn timber was 41%–58% and increased with increasing log diameter; (3) the economic efficiency of the technological process is 170%–290%, based on the log size and the technology of further processing employed. The determining factor affecting cost efficiencies is unexpected changes in raw material prices and product demand in 2022. The findings suggest that while improvements in processing technology can boost efficiency, they cannot fully offset the rise in raw wood material prices. Keywords: pinewood; lumber; prefabrication; material efficiency; cost efficiency; cost-effectiveness 1. Introduction Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), native to Europe and Asia, is Poland’s most abundant tree species and covers more than 60% of forest areas. The Scots pine tree can grow up to 50 m tall and live for more than 300 years. Pinewood, which has a straight grain and reddish-brown color, is a softwood that exhibits good dimensional stability, strength properties, and durability. The machinability of pinewood is medium relative to other wood species [1,2]. Due to its availability, it is commonly used in Europe for paper production, construction [3], furniture [4, 5], and firewood [6]. Currently, increased prices and reduced availability of wood negatively affect Europe’s wood industry [7]. In 2017–2022, the average annual prices of wood in Poland did not change, but in 2022, the average price of wood increased by 52% compared to 2021 (Figure 1). Forests 2023, 14, 688. https://doi.org/10.3390/f14040688 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/forests