Round wood transportation planning in the Argentine forest industry

Abstract

The forestry sector in Argentina is one of the main sources of growth in the country. It has gained renewed interest in recent years due to the opportunities offered by the activities involved in its value chain and its degree of development. 95% of the forest-based industry in the country is fed by round wood harvested in forest plantations (that is, planted forests). These plantations are mainly concentrated in the northeast region of Argentina (NEA), from where the main consumption centers of the country (Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Santa Fe) are supplied. Since the distances to be covered between production and demand nodes are important, the forestry logistics activities acquire a decisive role. The transportation of round wood has a great impact on the cost structures of companies, so implementing improvements in the planning of this activity translates into significant savings for companies in the sector. Based on this problem, mathematical programming models and heuristic algorithms have been developed focused on the efficient resolution of problems associated with planning the transportation of round wood. This paper presents the main results and advances of the doctoral thesis entitled “Modelos de optimización y estrategias de resolución para la gestión de la logística de abastecimiento y distribución de los recursos forestales”. The characteristics of the addressed problems, the methodology developed to solve them and the main results obtained are briefly described.