Strategic Design for an Integrated and Sustainable Forest Supply Chain - Essay Example

The key aspects of forest product logistics are the low-cost energy, very long cycle time, divergent product flows, and to take in account that wood is a biological material. The first challenge was integrating energy production within the forest value chain.

It includes the mathematical programming approach for integrated bio-refinery and forest products supply chain network design. There were also research questions to be answered while keeping the sustainability view in mind such as tradeoffs, optimal mix, selecting supply source, where the plants are built, which plant, what type of technology, etc. Integrated approach designs for bioenergy and forest products were developed. The biomass transformation process was analyzed with a sustainability approach. A model development approach was applied to supply to the customers.

Its objective function was to maximize the net present value. A case study was also observed regarding the above-discussed challenge and it concludes that MIP based strategic planning model was developed, pelletization seems to be the most profitable option, and integrated supply chain design creates significant values, using the modeling approach various scenario analyses can be carried out using real data that could support critical strategic decisions. The second challenge was collaborative forest planning and value chain design.

It included the two software Silvia and logical. Silvilab was used as a decision support system for forest management and logical was used for optimizing the value chain. Silvilab was a strategic planning tool used for forest management. It helped assess the impact of forest planning models on industrial development. Silvilab becomes the forest supplier of the logic whereas, Logilab integrates general mathematical models. The third challenge is material handling. It includes a dynamic FRP model for improved coordination of sawmill and logs yard operations.

Motivations for this purpose are keeping in view the forest perspective, and wood supply perspective. The problems are the often log yard management is neglected, rules of thumb are believed to be sufficient for inventory management and sufficient layout, and log yard management has attracted the research community to little amounts. The potential gains were observed by the increased coordination of log yard and mill operations. There was a suggestion for further studies that included sensitivity analysis of market conditions and lumber demands, logistic drivers including clearance cost and replenishing cost, and synchronization with upstream operations.

So it was observed that the FRP model was developed for the divergent manufacturing process, this model is multi-period and demonstrates the benefits of an integrated process, and it addresses tactical design issues. Hence, it was concluded that the forest products industry can be an economic factor in Canada. Collaborative operational planning needs more attention as it remains a challenge still today. The problems that were observed are real-time problems and large-scale problems. The solutions for these problems must be negotiated to cope with these problems in a real sense and FORAC with its dynamic environment and partnerships offers favorable opportunities to deal with these problems.