Benchmarking collaborative timber supply chains

Abstract

ABSTRACT Implementing efficient timber transport strategies and methods requires that decision makers are able to analyse “What if” scenarios and to carry out benchmarking exercises with limited effort. To this end, we present a generic multi-actors optimisation model for timber transport planning under limited transport capacity which has been so designed as to facilitate the evaluation of alternative organisations by using a same panel of performance indicators. Each organisational scenario is modelled through a specific setting of the generic model and results in an optimal activity plan for each transport actor. As an application, we analyse a use case showing traditional non-collaborative practices, then we evaluate the performance gains which might be expected from a range of collaborative organisations in which clients, wood resources and transport resources meet varying degrees of mutualisation.