En route to intelligent wood machining – current situation and future perspectives

Wood materials are an important part of our daily life. Besides furniture, doors and window elements, parquet floors, veneering, ply wood, chip- and fibreboards, also structural elements for buildings are typical products. Due to the specific properties, variety and complexity of natural wood, wood materials and wood composites, the machining of parts made out of these materials exhibits specific challenges. In order to further improve productivity, quality and efficiency in wood machining, innovative solutions with respect to tool technology, process planning, machinery, process monitoring and intelligent control are necessary. This keynote paper reviews and summarizes scientific developments in wood machining in recent years. Furthermore, exemplary current an ongoing research activities are introduced. Finally, the paper presents and discusses future potentials regarding new approaches for intelligent process control in wood machining.