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The Role of Human Capital in an Organisation - A Case Study of the ‘State Forests’ National Forest Holding in Poland
Human capital is a key element necessary for the smooth operation of an organization based on sustainable development. It is not only important for building strategy but also affects the performance of day-to-day operations. Managers must constantly monitor the changes taking place around the organization and make quick decisions in line with sustainability. They enable the organization to adapt to current market conditions and meet closed-loop requirements. These solutions are an important issue in forest management organizations. Considering the expanded mission of forests, it is clear that the role of forests today is much broader than just protecting biodiversity. Forestry institutions need adequate staff and human resources to effectively carry out forest management tasks and properly analyze trends and patterns of the sustainable use of forest resources. The purpose of the article was to analyze and evaluate human capital through its commitment to the organization’s tasks within the framework of sustainability. The research involved a sample for employees working in a selected unit of the State Forest Holding in Poland. The research was based on an anonymous employee survey on job engagement. The following aspects were assessed, commitment to the organization, sense of responsibility to the organization, interest in the work, and willingness to make sacrifices for the company in order to meet the demands of a modern forestry company oriented to the requirements of the new forestry strategy. Our reanalysis showed that gender and job type do not have a significant impact on commitment. However, an employee’s age and length of service do influence the behaviour and commitment of state forestry employees.
Wood Biomass Resources in Poland Depending on Forest Structure and Industrial Processing of Wood Raw Material
(1) Wood is a widely available raw material on the market, which satisfies the industrial demand and which is used both as a source of biomass for the wood materials industry in a broad sense and for energy-supplying purposes. These areas prove the functional values and the possibilities of the directional use of low-quality wood products. One of the factors influencing the overall balance of the wood biomass is the form and quality of the wood material that cannot be further processed mechanically. This study was conducted to determine the influence of this material by presenting the dependence between the level of wood biomass resources and the conditions of wood acquisition and processing in Poland. (2) The basic directions of biomass acquisition were verified in correlation with the level of its acquisition from forest areas and with the form of by-products generated by sawmills. The research was based on the data from reference publications and analysis of the processing of raw wood in sawmills. The research was conducted on raw hardwood and softwood from coniferous and deciduous forests in Poland. (3) The research confirmed the influence of the processing method on the form and share of by-products. It also showed that the form of the wood biomass obtained was influenced by the region of Poland. (4) The research showed that the regionalisation and wood processing directions were correlated with the structure of the wood biomass acquired.
Economic Efficiency of Pine Wood Processing in Furniture Production
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.
Fuel use reduction and economic savings from optimization of road transportation of coniferous roundwood
One of the 10 priorities of the Green New Deal is sustainable transportation. It should be considered in the perspective of long-term ecological and economic sustainability, according to the trend of opportunities for sustainable development. The economic and environmental aspects of transportation related to the harvesting and movement of timber play a special role in the energy cost and their environmental impact per distance of raw material supply. The principles of rational and energy-efficient use of transportation equipment play a key role in the movement of raw timber. These are influenced by the availability of timber resources, limitation of vehicle payloads, reduction of energy consumption expressed in terms of reduction of fuel combustion, or current legal and road regulations for timber transportation. The paper evaluates economic and environmental factors in relation to the demand for fuels necessary for the implementation of road transportation of softwood timber. The aim of this paper was to present the current situation of the use of transportation means in the movement of bulky timber, as well as opportunities to optimize fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, affecting the economic and environmental effects. Previous studies on fuel consumption in the transportation of roundwood indicate irrational use of vehicles. This indicates unused payload capacity increasing energy inputs expressed in fuel consumption. It has been empirically investigated that this is the result of improperly approved transport sets adapted to the material being transported. In addition, it was shown that there is a clear correlation between the vehicle payload utilization rate and economic and environmental factors. The results of this study point to the potential to increase the use of transportation vehicles for timber transportation and reduce fuel combustion and CO2 emissions by 7–20%.
The Energy Potential of Firewood and By-Products of Round Wood Processing—Economic and Technical Aspects
According to most energy demand forecasts, woody biomass has the potential to become an important source of renewable energy, especially during the transitional period of energy transition. The aim of this article was to estimate the energy potential of the biomass from the forest and the biomass generated by the mechanical processing of wood raw material and also to show the spectrum of possibilities for the potential use of the biomass for energy production in Poland. This research used available statistical and literature data on the species structure of harvested wood and the qualitative and assortment structures of woody biomass. The basic parameters of the raw material were evaluated in accordance with the EU classification of energy wood. This study confirmed the relationship between the energy potential of woody biomass and energy demand in Poland. The correlation coefficient for these variables was r = 0.984. This correlation was reflected in the significant shares of biomass in the production of electricity (more than 9%) or heat (almost 14%). Energy wood resources in Poland are smaller than in other European Union countries, which affects the scale of the potential use of woody biomass for energy purposes. Nevertheless, the use of such a biomass is fully justified from the point of view of possible development.
The Potential of the Bioenergy Market in the European Union—An Overview of Energy Biomass Resources
One of the bases of the European policy and energy strategy is the biomass and bioenergy obtained from it. It is estimated that by 2023, the annual demand for biomass will have increased from the current level of 7 EJ to 10 EJ. There are significant differences between estimates of the bioenergy potential due to the fact that the authors of publications do not use consistent methodology and assumptions. Forest biomass, agricultural residues, and energy crops are the three main sources of biomass for energy production. Energy crops are likely to become the most important source of biomass. Land use and its changes are a key issue in the sustainable production of bioenergy as the availability of biomass determines its potential for energy security. This article is a review of the latest publications on the bioenergy potential of the member-states of the European Union. The consumption of energy and its potential were presented, with a special focus on renewable sources, especially biomass. The potential of biomass resources was presented and the types of biomass and its sources of origin were indicated. The research was conducted on the member-states of the European Union, whose policy is based on long-term development from the dependence on fossil resources to the dominance of renewable resources. As results from the research, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the potential of both forest biomass (from 4.8 EJ per annum to the forecasted 15 EJ per annum) and agricultural biomass from (from 2.3 EJ per annum to the forecasted 7 EJ per annum). The increase in the demand for energy biomass in the EU member-states is balanced by partial imports from non-EU countries.
Economic, Technological as Well as Environmental and Social Aspects of Local Use of Wood By-Products Generated in Sawmills for Energy Purposes
The article is the first in a series of works presenting the potential and possibilities of using for energy purposes wood waste and wood by-products generated at various stages of production in companies of the wood industry. The management of all wood waste and wood by-products is a pending issue due to the growing importance of the circular economy and broadly understood environmental protection. It is the environmental aspects and the climate targets defined by the EU that are the basis to determine the precise courses of action for the Member States and, as a result, also for companies. The article proves that regardless of the decisions taken by governments of individual countries in terms of broadly understood environmental protection, companies are free to implement pro-environmental solutions as part of their business activity. Due to the broad subject of the management of waste and by-products generated in different units of the wood industry, the possibilities of their use in terms of energy in primary wood processing companies–sawmills—are presented first. On the example of selected entities, the energy potential and possibilities of generating energy from renewable sources taking into account the principles of circular economy are presented. The possibilities of optimising production by improving redistribution of thermal energy, which may result in improving the economic efficiency of the assessed enterprises, were indicated.