In the wake of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent movement control order (MCO) in Malaysia, an on-line survey was undertaken involving 748 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the furniture industry. The main objective was to examine the impact of the pandemic and the subsequent MCO on the various business aspects of the SMEs as well as to make recommendations to the government on supportive measures for the SMEs. The survey found that although all aspects of the business were impacted, the two major concerns of the SMEs during this crisis were the financial management and the supply chain disruptions. Inevitably, it was found that most of the SMEs were operating well below capacity, which was a huge financial strain on their business viability. It was recommended that the government provide measures to help the SMEs manage their cash-flow and ease the restrictions to facilitate supply-chain commencement that is crucial to their business. The survey also revealed that most SMEs acknowledged the importance of automation and the adoption of technologies. Respondents regarded the shift towards Industry 4.0 was inevitable as a means increase their resilience when facing future uncertainties.

Imported wood resources, especially yellow poplar and Chinese poplar, are increasingly evident in the Malaysian furniture sector due to declining supply of domestic wood materials. In order to reverse this trend, paulownia, a fast-growing forest plantation tree species, is emerging as an alternative wood material source. This study evaluated the mechanical strength, including fatigue life, machining, adhesive bond, screw withdrawal, and finishing properties of paulownia against the imported wood of yellow poplar and Chinese poplar. The results revealed that paulownia has better properties than Chinese poplar, but it is inferior to yellow poplar due to its lower density. In terms of fatigue strength, all the wood species performed comparably equal, with the allowable design stress set at 40% of the wood species’ respective ultimate bending strength. Against these findings, paulownia is a promising alternative wood resource for furniture manufacturing in Malaysia, and it could possibly replace the imported yellow poplar and Chinese poplar. Nevertheless, the successful application of paulownia for furniture manufacturing will depend on its supply volume and economics in the future.