Modeling technology adoption in the hardwood sawmill.

摘要

This study examined the adoption decision process for scanning and optimizing technology in hardwood sawmills. Data were collected through personal interviews with 2 hardwood sawmill groups including those that had adopted advanced scanning and optimizing technology (n=11) and those that had not adopted such technology (n=16). These sawmills were located in 7 states including Wisconsin, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and North Carolina. The interviewees rated the importance of decision factors in the adoption decision process. They also rated the influence of 4 sawmill departments on the adoption decision process. These data were compiled using the Analytic Hierarchy Process model. The initial premise that adopters of scanning and optimizing technology managed from a systems perspective was not found. When examining the influence of the 4 sawmill departments (log procurement, production process, sales and marketing, and customer) in the adoption decision process, technology adopters rated the production process more than 2 times higher than the next highest department. Non-adopters also rated the production process the highest; however, the overall rating of the 4 sawmill departments' influence was more evenly weighted in the non-adopter model..