Effects of Spatial Boreal Forest Harvesting Practices on Efficiency through a Benchmarking Approach in Eastern Canada

In eastern Canada, harvesting practices and spatial organization of harvested sites are modulated according to ecosystem forest management objectives. We determined how spatial organization affects efficiency by evaluating wood procurement costs. A comparative analysis of efficiency was presented using a non-parametric technique, i.e., data envelopment analysis (DEA), which allows multiple variable analyses of different factors. A database of 50 harvested sites during the period 2015–2018, located along a north-south latitudinal gradient between 46° to 50°, was constructed with variables describing spatial organization (roads and dispersion of patches) and operational aspects (wood procurement costs). The evaluated financial efficiencies show high values greater than 70%. The causes of inefficiency were dispersion of the patches, distance to the mill, and the number of kilometers of built roads. When efficiency values were arranged by latitudinal location, northern sites exhibited a lower value of overall and scale efficiency due to the high values in the wood harvested, and developed road density of the zone.

Benchmarking Procurement Cost Saving Strategies for Wood Supply Chains

Intense international competition pushes the actors of wood supply chains to implement efficient wood supply chain management incorporating coordinated cost-saving strategies to remain competitive. In order to observe the effects of individual and coordinated decision making, mixed-integer programming models for forestry, round-wood transport, and the wood-based industry were developed and integrated. The models deal with operational planning issues regarding production, harvest, and transport and are solved sequentially for individual cost optimization of each wood supply chain actor as well as simultaneously by a combined model representing joint cost optimization in an integrated wood supply chain. This allows for the first time, benchmarking relative cost-saving potential of the wood procurement strategies coordinated transports, integrated supply chains, satellite stockyards, and higher truck payloads within a single case study setting. Based on case study data from southern Austria, results show the advantages of an integrated supply chain with a cost-saving potential of up to 24%. Higher truck payloads reinforce this potential and enable up to 40% savings compared to the predominant wood procurement situation in Central Europe. Wood supply chain integration for Central European circumstances seems to be feasible only for a limited consortium of a few companies, for example when restricted to a wood-buying syndicate supplying several industry plants or a few large forest enterprises, especially as both groups are commonly steering wood transport on their own. Consequently, further research on the challenging task of implementing integrated supply chains using the opportunities of digitalization to realize existing cost savings potential by deepening cooperation and intensifying information exchange is needed.

The Optimum Wood Procurement Scenario and Its Dynamic Management for Integrated Energy and Material Production in Carbon-Neutral Forest Industry

The digitalization of the forest sector, the increased demand of energy-wood, as well as faster market changes have increased the number of challenges for wood procurement of the forest industry. The aim of the study is to optimize wood procurement (upstream of supply chain) of energy and material production in integrated situations, and to consider the effects of production changes on the management of procurement regions. Three scenarios described integrated production situations in a carbon-neutral forest industry: (1) declining export, (2) energy reform, and (3) extensive energy reform. Time-varying capital-, cost-, and energy efficiency of the dynamic wood-flow model affected the competitiveness of the procurement regions. As a novel contribution, energy efficiency was modeled using the price of emission allowance as a cost parameter. The results show the positive effects of the energy reforms, which partly compensate for the declining exports. In addition, it is possible to change wood procurement in the regions in a market-oriented way. Decision makers should optimize purchases, inventories, and procurement resources as business processes, which are also considered success factors for the forest industry in integrated production situations. The strategic solution of extensive energy reform provides a potential approach for carbon-neutral customer-oriented supply chains, but it needs tactical energy efficiency analysis in future studies of sustainability, if the ultimate goal is to implement a carbon-free forest industry and bioeconomy.

Utilization of Image, LiDAR and Gamma-Ray Information to Improve Environmental Sustainability of Cut-to-Length Wood Harvesting Operations in Peatlands: A Management Systems Perspective

Forest industry corporations use quality management systems in their wood procurement operations. Spatial quality data are used to improve the quality of wood harvesting and to achieve environmental sustainability. Some studies have proposed new management systems based on LiDAR. The main aim of this study was to investigate how efficiently planning systems can select areas for wood harvesting a priori with respect to avoiding harvesting damage caused by forest machinery. A literature review revealed the possibility of using GISs, and case studies showed the criteria required to predict the required quality levels. Terrestrial LiDAR can be utilized in authorities’ quality control systems, but it is inefficient for preplanning without terrestrial gamma-ray data collection. Airborne LiDAR and gamma-ray information about forest soils can only be used for planning larger regions at the forest level because the information includes too much uncertainty to allow it to be used for planning in small-sized areas before wood harvesting operations involving wood procurement. In addition, airborne LiDAR is not accurate enough, even at the forest level, for the planning of wood procurement systems because wood harvesting remains challenging without field measurements. Therefore, there is a need for the use of manual ground-penetrating radar for determining the peat layer thickness and the depth to the groundwater table.

In-Depth Quantitative Analysis of Saharanpur Wood Handicraft Industry on the Specific Issues of Availability and Supply of Raw Material

The study was undertaken with the objectives to survey the source and chain of procurement process of the various types of wood being used in the market, assess their requirement of the kind of suitable wood preferred for a particular item of woodcraft for marketing in the particular countries and to explore the potential of alternate wood species which can be adopted by an artisan with existing technology/up-gradation of technology. The study was conducted through the collection of secondary data and primary data. The primary data was collected through a preliminary survey, a standardized questionnaire survey of various components of stakeholder’s namely (a) manufacturers and exporters, (b) commission agents/brokers, (c) traders, and(d) artisans. The present study revealed that 58% of manufactures and exporters and 86.38% of craftsmen agreed that the raw material procurement chain starts from the farmer’s field to Middleman then Commission agents and goes to the Craftsman. The majority of stakeholders responded that the middleman is the most important in the supply chain of the wood procurement process. The survey indicated that there is 0-5% incremental cost in every stage of the raw material procurement process and the approximately total incremental cost of wood is between 5-10% due to the existing supply chain. The data analysis related to a sequence of most demanding wood species for wood carving work indicated that 60% of commission agents/brokers responded for the sequence of Mango>Shisham>Poplar>Other, whereas 56.50% manufacturers and others. 83.33% commission agents/brokers, 85.71% manufacturers, and exporters, 97.87% traders, 98.26% craftsman responded negatively to the existence of imported wood species in the Saharanpur wood market.

The Mathematical Model of Forestry Machines Impact on Cryolitozone Forest Soils

In the Russian Federation, the permafrost zone are gaining increasing importance due to wood procurement operations. Active timber harvesting, accompanied by the simultaneous development of wood processing enterprises in the Far Eastern Federal District, leads to the depletion of available and exploitable forests in southern and central Siberia, Buryatia, and Khabarovsk territory. The exploitation of modern forestry machines, wheeled forwarders, in particular, broadens the question of their effectiveness. In specific production and geotechnical conditions, the cross-country ability and technological productivity of wheeled forwarders are of particular relevance. These circumstances, combined with the need to minimise technological pressure on the ecological environment raise the problem of optimisation of the forest machines. We developed a mathematical model for calculating parameters of the defrosting soil destruction process occurring at the border with the permafrost zone. The mathematical model allows assessment of the possible value depth of the induced track at the stage of the project design. The assessment is conducted with the account of the forest machine’s technical and maneuvering capabilities in specific natural and industrial conditions.

Improving Energy Efficiency in a Synchronized Road-Transportation System by Using a TFMC (Transportation Fleet-Management Control) in Finland

Previous studies have suggested that the use of high-capacity transportation (HCT) can lead to low-carbon road-transportation in the forest industry. This study shows the impacts (in terms of energy efficiency) of a three-year adaptation process of transportation (2014–2016) towards HCT that took place in a synchronized transportation system (STS). The use of three transportation fleet-management control (TFMC) methods was analyzed in various road infrastructures. Energy-efficiency calculations were undertaken based on the HCT vehicles’ mass limits (64, 68 and 76 t). The use of 76 t vehicles increased energy efficiency by 13.4% and reduced CO2 emissions by 3.5% (to 49.6 g/tkm). In addition, the results show that the energy efficiency of the STS could be improved by a further 3.1%. In this respect, the proposed TFMC was used to adjust the STS towards vehicle-group transportation while meeting the road-class constraints of local wood supply chains. Forest-industry companies in Finland and abroad can use the tailored TFMC to optimize the STS in the near future and to achieve the energy-efficient STS and the regulations of the European Commission in wood-procurement logistics.