Joining up optimisation of wood supply chains with forest management: a case study of North Karelia in Finland

Hyvönen Pekka,Laitila Juha,Packalen Tuula,Lempinen Reetta,Lappi Juha

doi:10.1093/forestry/cpz058

Abstract

AbstractThis paper presents a spatially explicit methodology for integrated forest management and wood supply chain optimization over time in the context of a Finnish forest strategy anticipating new investments and renewal of business in the wood processing industry. The Finnish MELA simulator was used to generate multiple treatment schedules over time at the management unit level – each treatment schedule providing unique estimates of extracted wood volumes by different assortment categories for each time period. The J linear programming (LP) software was used to analyse different regional forest strategies in terms of wood supply and transportation costs to multiple market destinations. The analysis revealed clear differences both in wood flows and forest resources between strategies maximizing wood supply or optimizing wood supply to market destinations. In addition, the wood flows appeared responsive to new mill and increased demand. Further, the changes in factory price had a heavier impact on pulpwood supply than on sawlog supply. The same methodology can be applied for analysing the impact of new factories on wood flows from forest to factories and between factories or to support forest enterprises in planning their wood supply over multiple time periods and multiple destinations.

Highlights

Forestry plays an important role in climate change mitigation (Eriksson et al, 2012; Packalen et al, 2017)
When defining a regional forest strategy balancing the needs of the forest-based industry with other forest-related interests, there is a need for the integrated optimization of wood supply and forest management
It has not been possible to analyse spatially how the wood supply for multiple market destinations will react to a new factory or a new product line with a certain capacity, or how wood flows to other factories may change with implications for forest management

Summary

Introduction

Forestry plays an important role in climate change mitigation (Eriksson et al, 2012; Packalen et al, 2017). Wood-based products and energy can substitute for fossilbased products and energy. In this era of climate change mitigation, there is an obvious and increasing demand for wood both as a raw material and as an energy source. From the long-term forest managerial perspective and subject to certain ecological, social and economic sustainability constraints, it is important to maximize the discounted flow of future net income based on multiple forest products and services. When defining a regional forest strategy balancing the needs of the forest-based industry with other forest-related interests, there is a need for the integrated optimization of wood supply and forest management

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Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion