Improving Log Transportation with Data Based Monitoring and Analysis in Northern Wisconsin and Upper Peninsula of Michigan

摘要

Minimizing transportation cost is essential in the forest products industry. Wood and chips are relatively low value, yet are dense heavy weight products to transport. As a result transportation cost represents a large portion of the final delivered product price. The Midwest forest products industry competes in a global market, and the region's value proposition is highly dependent on an affordable and efficient transportation system. Understanding of system efficiencies requires sufficient data, but while most individual forest products companies collect data on truck trip origin and destination, little is known about the actual daily truck activity within the region. One method to collect data on continuous truck movements is with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) data receivers. Since the cell phone coverage in the region is very sparse and unreliable, using satellite based GPS transponders is a logical alternative, but the use of such devices has been limited in the forest products industry, partially due to high cost of devices and partially due to the fact that the financial benefits of these tracking systems haven't been demonstrated for many owner operators, nor has this data been required for payment.