Journal article

A demand-based scenario optimization model for supply of raw material to the forest industry

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Author list: Hultqvist, Daniel;Olsson, Leif

Publication year: 2005

Start page: 331

End page: 340

Number of pages: 10

ISSN: 0887-4840


Abstract

There are usually many sources for the supply of raw material to a pulp or paper mill in Sweden. The decision-maker can procure raw material from the companys own forest(s), buy in from the owners of small forests, swap with other forest operators or purchase on the international market. Wood chips for these mills are brought from sawmills and have their own transportation system, but are included in the model presented here. Optimizing the supply of raw material at a tactical planning level is a challenging task, and can only be managed properly if elements of uncertainty are considered. The solution would otherwise give few options when disturbances occur, for example when weather conditions change. The deterministic equivalent of the scenario model is formulated and solved as a convex mixed integer quadratic model. In this paper, we have focused on model building since this is a challenging task in itself. The model is tested on one small sample problem and one full-scale problem. We show how to simulate and evaluate different strategies in the flow of raw materials, from harvesting operations to delivery at the mills. In our study, the full-scale problem has been solved within reasonable time using commercially available software, and the solution indicates that the hedging effect in the stochastic solution adds flexibility. Future work will involve the development of stochastic programming algorithms to solve large-scale instances of the problem using parallel computing.


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Last updated on 2017-06-10 at 12:01