The members of the pre-fabricated single-family house industry perceive problems securing the quality of incoming material. Thus the implication is that they need to carry out a quality inspection and adjust the softwood timber as it arrives at their facilities in order to fit the production. Furthermore, due to the intense competition among companies in the pre-fabrication industry, there is a focus on reducing non-value-adding activities such as deficiencies. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to propose a number of propositions regarding quality deficiencies in softwood timber for the pre-fabrication of single-family houses. This study, conducted through interviews based on the theoretical aspects of properties, quality inspection and quality deficiency formulates seven fundamental propositions regarding quality deficiencies in this industry. The main differences among the companies studied are their purchased volume and extent of information and communication technology support in production. This fundamental description of quality deficiencies regarding softwood for the pre-fabrication of single-family houses will enable companies to focus on quality issues with their raw-material suppliers and thereby increase the competitiveness of softwood timber as a construction material in the industry.

In a changing business landscape, where globalization and new customer requirements create new business opportunities, some Swedish sawmills have taken over the production of components from their industrial customers. In light of the emerging network-centric perspective on business, sawmill managers' perceptions about component customers' operational requirements, customer interaction processes, and their sawmills' offerings are researched and discussed in this article. A multiple case study design, based on face-to-face interviews with Swedish sawmill managers and on various forms of secondary data, produced comprehensive information about sawmills' interaction processes with component purchasing customers. Thematic data coding facilitated the assessment of the research information in relation to the conceptual and empirical findings of previous research. The findings of the study indicate that more process orientation in housing-, joinery-, and furniture-manufacturing implies an opportunity for sawmills to make service-based offerings including not only physical goods, but also administrative services, logistics, and expert advice. The results of the study confirm the network-centric perspective on business where value is created through the interaction between firms. However, noteworthy barriers in the form of process-, culture-, as well as socially related factors at customer firms must be considered.

Recently, several Swedish sawmills have taken over production of components from customers in the furniture, joinery and house-manufacturing industries. The purpose of this study was to identify key factors in management of internal operations for sawmills with this strategy. A multiple case study design, based on face-to-face interviews with Swedish sawmill practitioners and on various forms of secondary data, produced comprehensive research information. Starting integrated production of components is a demanding strategy for sawmills. It requires deep knowledge about the customer and qualified skills in advanced further-processing of sawn wood. The complexity of quality management, production planning and cost calculation increases, and investments in processing equipment and customer relations reduce strategic flexibility. The diverging material flow complicates sawmills' possibilities to economize on scale, and they must instead economize on other factors, such as scope, combined operations and internal control. New tools for production follow-up and control, for production planning, for analysis of product profitability and for strategic partnership analysis are requested by practitioners. But, even if new analysis tools would facilitate better analysis and management of operations, the willingness and ability to innovate and learn among the personnel emerges as a key factor for success.

In the industry for the prefabrication of single-family houses, previous research had indicated that individual companies have problems in securing the product quality of incoming softwood timber. This implies that they need to carry out a quality inspection and adjust the softwood timber when it arrives at their facility in order to fit their production. Opinions within the industry concerning product quality deficiencies differ with regard to the handling procedures and the percentage of perceived deficiencies. However, there are prefabricators of single-family houses that need to find additional areas for use for their purchased softwood timber, and spend several working hours on softwood timber to meet the quality criteria agreed upon. A previous study by Eliasson and Gustafsson puts forward a number of proposals regarding the quality deficiencies of softwood timber in this context. The present work transforms some of these proposals into hypotheses and aims at describing and understanding what affects the perception of product quality deficiencies. Questionnaires were used to collect data. The paper concludes that the purchase volume is indicated to be related to the volume portion of the deficiency in the product quality and that the level of information- and communication-technology support in production (i.e. the degree of automation) is indicated to be related to the inspection activity point. An extension of the proposed hypotheses concludes that the inspection activity point on arrival and/or on delivery into production also affects how companies do perceive product quality deficiencies. Research regarding what affects product quality deficiencies is lacking in recognizing and knowing what is aligned with the perception of product quality deficiencies; the individual companies will have an opportunity to affect and manage their appearance and thereby enhance the use of softwood timber.