# Evaluation of Oak-Specific Consumption, Efficiency, and Losses from an Aesthetic Veneer Factory
## 1 Introduction  
In any log processing factory (be it of timber, chipboard, fiberboards, technical or aesthetic veneer, etc.) it is necessary to know the manufacturing losses for each technological operation, but also for the total factory, the main goal being to reduce losses and maximize the amount of primary product. In the alternative, an additional purpose of knowing these losses is to use these losses judiciously, finding the simplest and most economical method of use. In direct correlation with these technological losses, two other global characteristics of the factory are defined, such as the yield of the raw material use (efficiency) and the specific consumption index, defined with the following two calculation relations:  
\[\mathrm{E}=100-\sum\mathrm{L_{i}}\left[\%\right] \tag{1}\]  
\[\mathrm{L_{sc}}=100-\sum\mathrm{L_{i}}\left[\mathrm{m^{3}\;logs/m^{3}veneers}\right] \tag{2}\]  
where E is efficiency, in %; L is losses for each technological operation, in %; and \(\mathrm{I_{sc}}\) is index of specific consumption, in m\({}^{3}\)/m\({}^{3}\). In order to obtain superior efficiency in aesthetic veneers, it is necessary to know in detail the technological operations in the factory, so to use all methods of reducing losses and obtaining maximum quantities of aesthetic veneers. In the scientific literature, the way of expressing the losses in percentages and the efficiency also in percentages is used. For example, if one knows the value of the total losses of 52% at the factory level, one can immediately find an efficiency of 48% and can show that from a quantity of 100 m\({}^{3}\) logsone will obtain the method of percentage losses 0.48 \(\times\) 100 = 48 m\({}^{3}\) veneer and a specific consumption index of 1/0.48 = 2.082 m\({}^{3}\) logs/m\({}^{3}\) veneer. Specific to this technology of aesthetic veneers, but especially due to the fact that their price is given in per unit area, is that the specific consumption can be expressed in per unit area of veneer, respectively, per 1000 m\({}^{2}\) of veneer. For this expression, a block of 1 m\({}^{3}\) of veneer sliced into several veneers of a certain thickness is considered. It turns out that the number of veneers can be easily obtained from this 1-m\({}^{3}\) block of veneer, dividing the height of 1000 mm of the block by the thickness of the veneer. Based on these considerations, it can be determined that 1 m\({}^{3}\) of veneer could have the following surface:  
* 1000 m\({}^{2}\), when veneer thickness is 1 mm,
* 1428 m\({}^{2}\), when veneer thickness is 0.7 mm,
* 2000 m\({}^{2}\), when veneer thickness is 0.5 mm,
* 3333 m\({}^{2}\) when veneer thickness is 0.3 mm. If one considers the above specific consumer index (2.082 m\({}^{3}\) logs/m\({}^{3}\) veneer), one will obtain an index of the specific consumption per unit area as follows:  
* 2.083 m\({}^{3}\) logs/1000 m\({}^{2}\) veneers, when veneer thickness is 1 mm,
* 1.458 m\({}^{3}\) logs/1000 m\({}^{2}\) veneers, when veneer thickness is 0.7 mm,
* 1.041 m\({}^{3}\) logs/1000 m\({}^{2}\) veneers, when veneer thickness is 0.5 mm,
* 0.624 m\({}^{3}\) logs/1000 m\({}^{2}\) veneers, when veneer thickness is 0.3 mm. These values are given for similar moisture content of logs and veneers; otherwise, the shrinkage of the wood must be taken into account. It is observed that the technology of aesthetic veneers has a series of particularities of expressing the specific consumption, first of all, in relation to the ratio to 1000 m\({}^{2}\) of veneer, which depends on the thickness of the veneers (and the thickness of the veneers depends on the wood species; porous and soft wood will have the greater of the veneer thickness). It is also noted that the main solution to reduce specific consumption is to reduce the thickness of aesthetic veneers to 0.2-0.3 mm, an action that is not always possible for all wood species.