Decision Making Toolset for Woody Biomass Supply Chain in Karelia

摘要

The paper gives an overview of the models implemented in a new toolset for Russian logging companies. The toolset consists of a number of optimization tools, including the routing and scheduling of roundwood and energy wood harvesting teams, the sequencing of harvest areas, the estimation of available forest biomass potential in harvesting sites, and the planning of forest road networks. The optimization of routes is based on a two-phase algorithm where a heuristic optimization method is used to choose the best transportation paths and dynamic programming is used to choose the daily tasks and vehicle routing. The toolset has been tested in logging companies located in Russian Karelia. The results show that the toolset can be used to support a wide range of planning decisions at company level including truck routing, fleet utilization levels, and choice of transport method under new infrastructure assumptions.