Workplace management

Workplace members

Members:

Information on organisation

History:

The teaching of wood sciences at the School of Forestry and Wood Sciences has taken place since 1994. After the original Department of Wood Processing was extended in 2003, the Department of Timber Harvesting separated from it. At the beginning of 2013, the Department of Wood Processing divided into two new departments – the Department of Wood Products and Wood Constructions and the Department of Elementary Wood Processing. At present, the wood science departments are expanding not only in terms of instrumental equipment and human resources, but also in terms of the scope of their activities. The number of new study subjects and study programs is growing with respect to the needs of specialized practice. Options for organizing training, courses and cooperation in research projects are also increasing.

Focus:

The department focuses mainly on issues relating to the production of wood products and to the technology of manufacturing wood constructions. These areas include in particular the design and production of furniture and special wood products, which is also related to the issues of manufacturing and the use of wood-based materials. The field of wood constructions involves, above all, the design, engineering and production technologies of wood buildings and construction-joinery products.

Educational activity:

Employees of the department provide teaching of specialized subjects for bachelor, master and doctoral study programs. In our teaching, particular emphasis is placed on the practical side. Most seminars take place in PC rooms, workshops and specialized laboratories or in the form of excursions to production facilities. Field seminars and individual internships with wood processing companies form inseparable parts of our teaching. The basic study subjects include, for example: Furniture Production, Furniture Design, Interior Equipment, Special Wood Production, Wood Constructions, Construction-Joinery Products and Wood-Based Technical Materials. In accordance with the latest trends, our teaching utilizes specialized computer applications, e.g., for the design and technical preparation of furniture production, for controlling production processes or for designing wood buildings. In addition, electronic study materials are being prepared as teaching support. The teaching of some subjects is provided, on a collaboration basis, by external teachers from other colleges, such as the Chemical Technology College in Prague (Adhesives and Coating Materials), Czech Technical University Prague (Construction Joinery), Technical University Liberec (Tapestry), and other institutions, e.g., the Research and Development Institute of Wood Sciences Prague (Quality Management) etc. Employees of the department also participate in teaching foreign students as part of the Socrates/Erasmus program in the form of expert lectures requested by foreign universities as well as in the form of supervision of theses written by foreign students at the School of Forestry and Wood Sciences of the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague.

Research activity:

The department‘s activities in this field arise from individual employees fields of specialization in the context of the subjects they teach. The main partner organizations participating in research projects include the above mentioned colleges, other schools of the Czech University of Life Sciences and also foreign partners, such as the Institut für Holztechnologie Dresden (IHD), University of Alexandria and others. The research activities mainly cover the following issues: • The development, production, quality management and assessment of methods of use of wood-based materials. • The evaluation of the properties of adhesives and coating materials used in the wood processing industry. • The evaluation and optimization of selected properties of wood constructions, such as air permeability, acoustic and insulating properties, and also reinforcing structural elements using high-strength fibres and other materials. • The design and production of furniture, including assessing the life cycles of furniture products. • The use of CAD-CAP-CAM systems in the wood-processing and furniture-making industries for optimization of design, technical preparation of production and production cycle management. The outcomes of these research activities are regularly published at international conferences, in specialized magazines, monographies and scientific magazines with IF.

Other activities:

The department operates, amongst others, its own joinery workshop, which produces samples for teaching and for various research projects. The workshop also prepares exhibitions which present the school and the entire Czech University of Life Sciences at various fairs and similar events. The department’s employees also prepare various expert assessments and reports in the above mentioned fields. Our testing laboratory undertakes experimental measurements for the commercial sector and for professional practice, which may involve an assessment or verification of specific properties of materials and products, or a preparation for certifications. If required, we are able to to mediate a product certification with our partner organization – the Research and Development Institute of Wood Sciences in Prague.