Wood-based panels (WBPs) such as chipboard, plywood and fiberboard, have become indispensable materials in everyday life – from furniture to outdoor paneling. With a global annual production of over 527 million cubic meters in 2022, the implementation of modern efficiency-enhancing measures can lead to large reductions in energy costs and raw material usage. Despite the widespread use of Industry 4.0 methods across all industry sectors, their application in the WBP sector has been very limited so far. This study highlights the untapped potential of Industry 4.0 in the WBP sector by the use of digital methods to improve finishing of WBPs with resin-impregnated papers in a short-cycle hot press by thermal modelling. For an accurate temperature estimation, precise heat transfer coefficients are of great importance. Currently, no data for these heat transfer coefficients are available in literature. We used experimental data in combination with a digital thermal model to determine the heat transfer coefficients of the system by using an optimization algorithm. These heat transfer coefficients for short-cycle hot pressing can be used in future modeling approaches to increase their precision. In this work, we describe the experimental setup used, the extensive measurement campaigns conducted and how the digital model was validated and adjusted to allow the optimization algorithm to produce accurate estimations of the system’s heat transfer coefficients. In conclusion, our study underscores the potential of Industry 4.0 methodologies in the underrepresented field of wood-based panel manufacturing by utilizing a combination of experimental and modern digital methods.