scholarly journals Roundwood and Biomass Logistics in Finland and Sweden

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-61
Author(s):  
Kari Väätäinen ◽  
Perttu Anttila ◽  
Lars Eliasson ◽  
Johanna Enström ◽  
Juha Laitila ◽  
...  

Logistics of roundwood and biomass comprise a high number of operations, machinery, storage sites and transportable roundwood and biomass assortments. Moreover, complex and highly varying operational environment through the year poses logistics challenges incurring additional costs. An extensive review of studies was conducted in Sweden and Finland concerning roundwood and biomass logistics, starting from roadside landings and ending with delivery to a mill or a conversion facility. The main aim of the review was to describe trends in roundwood and biomass logistics since the start of the century. Papers were classified to categories of truck transports and roads, terminals, multimodal transports, storage and supply chain logistics. Slightly over 50% of reviewed articles were constrained to biomass only, 31% to roundwood only and 14% to both. Rapid technology development, amendments concerning road transports, increasing environmental concerns and forestry sector’s push to decrease the logistics costs can be seen as the biggest drivers for the reviewed studies and their study objectives. These aspects will also drive and increase the demand for research and development in roundwood and biomass logistics in the future.

Author(s):  
Jonathan L. Arendt ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams ◽  
Richard J. Malak

Design is an uncertain human activity involving decisions with uncertain outcomes. Sources of uncertainty in product design include uncertainty in modeling methods, market preferences, and performance levels of subsystem technologies, among many others. The performance of a technology evolves over time, typically exhibiting improving performance. As the performance of a technology in the future is uncertain, quantifying the evolution of these technologies poses a challenge in making long-term design decisions. Here, we focus on how to make decisions using formal models of technology evolution. The scenario of a wind turbine energy company deciding which technology to invest in demonstrates a new technology evolution modeling technique and decision making method. The design of wind turbine arrays is a complex problem involving decisions such as location and turbine model selection. Wind turbines, like many other technologies, are currently evolving as the research and development efforts push the performance limits. In this research, the development of technology performance is modeled as an S-curve; slowly at first, quickly during heavy research and development effort, and slowly again as the performance approaches its limits. The S-curve model typically represents the evolution of just one performance attribute, but designers generally deal with problems involving multiple important attributes. Pareto frontiers representing the set of optimal solutions that the decision maker can select from at any point in time allow for modeling the evolution of technologies with multiple attributes. As the performance of a technology develops, the Pareto frontier shifts to a new location. The assumed S-curve form of technology development allows the designer to apply the uncertainty of technology development directly to the S-curve evolution model rather than applying the uncertainty to the future performance, giving a more focused application of uncertainty in the problem. The multi-attribute technology evolution modeling technique applied in decision-making gives designers greater insight when making long-term decisions involving technologies that evolve.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Pittman ◽  
J. Buchanan ◽  
Deborah Quimby

The ERDC 2020–2030 Strategy outlines the origination of the organization, future direction, and the methods used to accomplish its research and development mission. The Strategy details the Ends (where we are going and why), the Ways (how we will get there), and the Means (the resources needed to get there) by which we will achieve the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) strategy. To realize its vision and maintain its world-class status, ERDC strives to be the go-to organization for the Warfighter and the nation to solve large complex problems in its mission space. To strengthen the outcomes from the Ends, Ways, and Means, ERDC has adopted the philosophy of the Understand-Predict-Shape (UPS) paradigm. The UPS paradigm maximizes the potential of ERDC’s current research programs and helps contemplate, develop, and define the organization’s future portfolio. UPS represents a holistic view of the operational environment: How to better Understand the Present, Predict the Future, and Shape the Outcome. The ERDC leadership team has looked toward the future and defined major strategic Science and Technology campaigns that offer challenges that ERDC can, and should, effectively address.


1987 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
M.W. Dale

This paper presents a manufacturing systems engineering view of important issues relating to IT research and development. It argues for an approach to the next phase of information technology development which is heavily based on real-world applications with the dominant influences held by educated users and engineers who have added computing skills, rather than information technologists. It argues for ‘consolidation’ with particular attention to total systems integration and an emphasis on the need to professionally engineer the human interface.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (8) ◽  
pp. 2263
Author(s):  
Mahmood Ebadian ◽  
Shahab Sokhansanj ◽  
David Lee ◽  
Alyssa Klein ◽  
Lawrence Townley-Smith

In this study, an inter-continental agricultural pellet supply chain is modeled, and the production cost and price of agricultural pellets are estimated and compared against the recent cost and price of wood pellets in the global marketplace. The inter-continental supply chain is verified and validated using an integration of an interactive mapping application and a simulation platform. The integrated model is applied to a case study in which agricultural pellets are produced in six locations in Canada and shipped and discharged at the three major ports in Western Europe. The cost of agricultural pellets in the six locations is estimated to be in the range of EUR 92–95/tonne (CAD 138–142/tonne), which is comparable with the recent cost of wood pellets produced in small-scale pellet plants (EUR 99–109/tonne). The average agricultural pellet price shipped from the six plants to the three ports in Western Europe is estimated to be in a range of EUR 183–204 (CAD 274–305/tonne), 29–42% more expensive that the average recent price of wood pellets (EUR 143/tonne) at the same ports. There are several potential areas in the agricultural pellet supply chains that can reduce the pellet production and distribution costs in the mid and long terms, making them affordable supplement to the existing wood pellet markets. Potential economic activities generated by the production of pellets in farm communities can be significant. The generated annual revenue in the biomass logistics system in all six locations is estimated to be about CAD 21.80 million. In addition, the logistics equipment fleet needs 176 local operators with a potential annual income of CAD 2.18 million.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 104
Author(s):  
Wei-Hao Su ◽  
Kai-Ying Chen ◽  
Louis Y. Y. Lu ◽  
Ya-Chi Huang

This study collected literature on augmented reality (AR) from academic and patent databases to plot the historic development trajectory of AR and forecast its future research and development trends. A total of 3193 and 13,629 papers were collected from academic and patent databases, respectively. First, a network was established using references from the academic literature; main path analysis was conducted on this reference network to plot the overall development trajectory. Subsequent cluster and word cloud analyses revealed the following five major groups of AR research topics: AR surgical navigation applications, AR education applications, AR applications in manufacturing, AR applications in architecture, and AR applications in visual tracking. Subsequently, the relationships between the overall development trajectory and the five AR research topics were compared. Next, the title and abstract of AR-related academic and patent papers were subjected to text mining to identify keywords with a high frequency of occurrence. The results can provide a reference for industry, government, and academia when planning future development strategies for the AR field. This research adopted an integrated analysis procedure to plot the trajectory of AR technology development and applications successfully and effectively, predict future patent research and development directions and produce technological forecasts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-7
Author(s):  
Carolyn Ribes

Abstract Chemists find careers in the chemical industry very rewarding. The focus is on applied chemistry and in delivering solutions that meet customer needs, whether the customers are other industrial companies or individual consumers. Chemistry provides solutions to the global challenges facing our society, including the need for clean water, nutritious food, improved healthcare and wellness, affordable housing, and sustainable infrastructure. Within industry, chemists serve in a wide variety of roles. The largest fraction may be in research and development (R&D), although opportunities in manufacturing, technical service and development, supply chain, marketing, intellectual property protection, sales and commercial functions, and many other options are also open to chemists who want to apply their skills [1]. I was drawn to a career in industry because I’m results oriented and I wanted my work to be applied immediately and have an impact.


Pomorstvo ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-50
Author(s):  
Mladen Jardas ◽  
Čedomir Dundović ◽  
Paola Badurina-Tomić

In the paper importance is given to the organization of the supply chain for a more efficient delivery of goods to city centers. Logistics activities are closely related because they depend on each other. The ultimate goal is to bring the product/goods to the end customer/consumer as soon as possible, on time, at the lowest cost, in perfect condition and in the appropriate quantity. The mutual coordination and cooperation of all participants in the supply chain can result in a satisfied end-user/customer. The development of information – telecommunication technologies – will greatly affect the future development and efficiency of the supply chain by finding new transport solutions that would mostly affect city centers. The paper mostly emphasizes the context of the delivery conditions in Rijeka’s city center with a proposal for the location of a future centralized distribution center.


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