Hamish D. Marshall, Glen Murphy, Kevin Boston. (2006). Three mathematical models for bucking-to-order. Silva Fennica vol. 40 no. 1 article id 356. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.356

Keywords: mechanical harvesting/processing; optimal bucking; mixed integer programming; dynamic programming; buck-to-value

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The aim of this paper is to investigate different mathematical approaches to buck-to-order log merchandizing. A new bucking-to-order planning model using mixed integer programming was developed to determine the optimal production from a stand given different market constraints and forest inventory data. Three different approaches: market prices, target cutting patterns and adjusted price list were tested for generating cutting instructions to fulfill the plan created by the new planning model. The three approaches were evaluated in four test stands. The market prices approach simply applied the market prices to each stand. The target cutting patterns approach applied the sample cutting patterns generated from the planning model to the stand. The adjusted price list used a dynamic programming algorithm embedded in a search heuristic to adjust both the prices and small end diameters of log products to achieve the production goals of the planning models. The results showed that developing a buck-to-order plan is important in obtaining good order fulfillment. The target cutting patterns and adjusted price list approaches certainly out performed the market prices approach. This paper shows that these two approaches are capable of achieving excellent order fulfillment. Further development and testing is needed to determine which method is the best at generating cutting instructions for buck-to-order merchandizing.

Marshall, Ensis Forests, Private Bag 3020, Rotorua, New Zealand E-mail: hamish.marshall@ensisjv.com
Murphy, Forest Engineering Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA E-mail: gm@nn.us
Boston, Forest Engineering Department, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA E-mail: kb@nn.us

article id 543, category Research article

Maarten Nieuwenhuis. (2002). The development and validation of pre-harvest inventory methodologies for timber procurement in Ireland. Silva Fennica vol. 36 no. 2 article id 543. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.543

Keywords: pre-harvest inventory; simulation; dynamic programming; value maximisation; optimal crosscutting

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This article describes the development and validation of a decision-support system for sawmill wood procurement, dealing specifically with the integration of the pre-harvest inventory procedures, site-specific dbh/height models and a generic taper equation, with a crosscutting simulator. The crosscutting simulation program faithfully mimics the process of cut-to-length harvesting and provides detailed information on the potential volume, logs count and diameter distributions for different log assortment specifications. Four data sets, consisting of a total of 4153 diameter and height measurements, were used in the validation process. The sites included two Sitka spruce clearfells, a Sitka spruce thinning and a Norway spruce clearfell. The evaluation process has shown that the developed decision-support system produced accurate results for a wide range of stand types, as long as sufficient large data sets were used, and that it provides the wood procurement manager of a sawmill with an efficient means of gaining a comprehensive insight into the yield potential of standing timber lots and, as such, represents a valuable aid to timber procurement and production planning.

Nieuwenhuis, University College Dublin, Dept. of Forestry, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland E-mail: maarten.nieuwenhuis@ucd.ie

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