Boris Bršel
The topic of the launch of new production technologies is usually wrongly associated, or confused, with the development and implementation of machines or software. I often hear that somewhere “they bought some new technology” or “they improved the technological process” or about “new software technology”. However, let us correct the confusion between the terms of technology and machines or software by explaining this terminological mismatch. By production technology, we mean a set of processes which lead from a material to a product, with the help of machines, tools and equipment in a logistics and production environment supported by software and a workforce. So if we are supposed to be talking about new woodworking and furniture-making technologies, we can laconically state that over the last three decades nothing truly noteworthy has happened. This is a stark contrast with the opinion generally stated by the media about the steep rise in new production technologies, difficult to comprehend, set in the environment of the fourth industrial revolution. But although the technology of furniture production has long been stagnant, it is still possible to find partial developmental improvements to its four pillars: the machine, the tool, the material and the operator.