ZLV Online

Abstract

The timber industry has a long-standing tradition in the Czech Republic. In the past it went through a number of changes and followed a course that was significantly different from the developments taking place in the countries of Western Europe. For some time the industry has been undergoing a process of restructuring. Due to the absence of a register of saws and their characteristics, a new survey was launched in order to monitor the capacity of sawmills currently operating in the Czech Republic and to establish their technical and technological parameters. The survey was conducted over two years and involved over 700 companies, of which 195 provided the requested data. The companies were classified into five groups according to their cutting capacity. The survey took into account the technological and material characteristics, the degree of mechanization, the question of adding value to final products, waste disposal and potential for further investments. The data were processed for all the five classes and the results were compared.