An educational game in collaborative logistics

We describe an educational game in collaborative logistics. The game is based on an award-winning application in cost allocation in transportation. The purpose of the game is to acquire an understanding of negotiation, coalition building, and cost/profit sharing when the players have different powers and hold different levels of information. The game is played with each player representing a single company. The challenge for the players is to find an efficient coalition and to share the benefits and costs of the collaboration. We describe the underlying case study, review basic concepts in game theory, outline the teaching case, and discuss experiences from running the game in several countries and with students in business, engineering, and forestry

Production planning in the pulp and paper industry

This paper examines the short term production planning problem encountered in the fine-paper industry. In this industry, different types of pulp are transformed by parallel papermachines into large rolls of paper sheets. The paper sheets are then cut and packaged based oncustomer needs. The paper machines usually represent the bottleneck stage in the productionprocess. At this bottleneck stage, a predetermined production sequence has to be maintained.The paper proposes a tight mixed-integer programming formulation to model this productionprocess. It is showed that real size problem instances can be solved with commercial integerprogramming solvers. Furthermore, we show that by adding some simple valid inequalities tothe proposed formulation, major improvements to the solution time can be achieve

Sustainable forest management using decision theaters : rethinking participatory planning

Involving stakeholders in the decision-making process can be very complex and time consuming. Decision theater (DT), which enables the combination of visualization and decision modeling capabilities together with human capacity of insight and interaction, is proposed for addressing this challenging problem in the forest sector. A generic framework for designing DTs to support participatory planning in the forest sector is proposed. To enable DT implementation and support decision-making in the DT in the province of Québec, Canada, the conceptual design of a decision-support system called Forest Community-DSS (FC-DSS) has been developed. Implementing FC-DSS along with other technologies in a DT environment can contribute to engage the stakeholders in the decision-making process by increasing participation frequency, collecting more inputs from the stakeholders, supporting the development and evaluation of alternative options and the selection of preferred alternatives. A DT-based collaboration approach would contribute to address the multiple issues of the stakeholders involved in participatory planning in Québec. Other Canadian provinces and other countries facing similar issues can benefit from the proposed approach

Exploring new forms of intermediation in the forest value chain

This paper proposes a method to restructure the forest value chain using intermediaries when a wider range of forest values should be managed for several stakeholders. This method leads to the definition of the strategic vision of the intermediary, including its value proposition and its required competencies, assuming that actors in the value chain are prepared to revise their business approach to enable effective collaboration and knowledge sharing. The method is used to support management of public forests in the Province of Quebec, in Eastern Canada. Basically, the intermediary, referred to as the integrator-supplier (IS) in the application case, enables several stakeholders, including the government, the forest industry, regional authorities, recreation organizations, and First Nations, to cnmmunicate, to set compatible goals, and to synchronize their activities. These activities and interactions must all be effectively carried out to maximize the overall benefits of forest management. Three critical issues for successful development of the IS are identified. The results present functional descriptions of seven development scenarios for effective use of intermediation in forest value chains

E-business in the Quebec forest products industry : perceptions, current uses and intentions to adopt

This paper proposes an analysis of e-business, its perceptions, current uses, and the intentions of companies to adopt these practices in the Quebec forest products industry. We use the results of an exploratory survey of this industry carried out during spring 2002. In accordance with other surveys, it is shown that despite its location in a country where information technology (IT) adoption level is generally high, the Quebec forest products industry still lags behind other sectors. The e-business uses of the surveyed companies in the Quebec forest products industry value chain are explored by category; year of establishment, number of employees and annual revenue. Actors surveyed include sawmills, other value added building material manufacturers, furniture factories, and pulp and paper mills. Perceptions, currents uses, and intentions of adoption are described with a comparison to the same industry in North America. In particular, this paper demonstrates that this industry somewhat lacks a strategic vision concerning the exploitation of IT tools. Finally, this paper proposes a critical review of the limitations of our study and develops future research directions

Biomass and carbon dynamics in forest management at a strategic scale

This study explored these two questions: (1) How much carbon can be stored in the forest? and (2) Which forest management regimes best achieve the dual objectives of high sustained timber yield and high carbon sequestration? A model that can be used to predict carbon sequestration potential within a forest region assuming a given management strategy was developed. First, a carbon sequestration unit that accounts for both the amount of carbon stocked and the time during which it is stocked was introduced. This unit was used to integrate the carbon dimension in a Model-III formulation for forest management adapted from the description of models used by the Chief Forester who is responsible of determining the annual allowable cut in the different forest management units in Québec. The CBM-CFS3 model was used to simulate carbon dynamics of above- and belowground biomass and dead organic matter, including soils. Different management scenarios were developed using the data of an actual forest management unit in Quebec. Managing this forest for carbon maximization instead of letting grow naturally with no harvest or other treatment, would increase the carbon stocks by 1.89%, and only 25% of the carbon stock is estimated to occur in the aboveground live pool. Six scenarios aimed at achieving the dual objectives of high sustained timber yield and high carbon storage were also computed and compared

Multi-agent coordination based on tokens : reduction of the bullwhip effect in a forest supply chain

In this paper, we focus on the supply chain as a multi-agent system and we propose a new coordination technique to reduce the fluctuations of orders placed by each company to its suppliers in such a supply chain. This problem of amplification of the demand variability is called the bullwhip effect. To reduce such a bullwhip effect, we propose a technique based on tokens to achieve a decentralized coordination. Precisely, classical orders manage the demand itself whereas tokens manage effects on company inventory due to variations of this demand. Finally, the proposed approach is validated by the Wood Supply Game, which is a supply chain model used to make players aware of the bullwhip effect. We experimentally verify that our coordination technique leads to less variable orders (i.e. the standard deviation of orders is reduced) while inventory levels are not excessively high but sufficient to avoid backorders.

Activity-Based Life-Cycle Costing applied to an innovative forestry company product portfolio

An accounting system helps to provide information for planning and control of production. This article presents a Life Cycle Costing by using an Activity Based Costing approach of an innovative forestry company. In order to perform a cradle-to-gate assessment the study covers the forest and industrial activities of the forest product processing. The costs of each product in the portfolio are determined by the treatment activities they undergo. The inventory covers several years of activity of the company, which makes it possible to calculate the uncertainty of the average results with Monte Carlo simulation presented in the result section. Based on the results a products portfolio analysis was performed to identify the development progress phases of the mains products to support the product rollover strategy decision

Multi-behavior agent model for supply chain management

Recent economic and international threats to occidental industries have encouraged companies to rethink their planning systems. Due to consolidation, the development of integrated supply chains and the use of inter-organizational information systems have increased business interdependencies and the need for collaboration. Thus, agility and the ability to deal quickly with disturbances in supply chains are critical to maintain overall performance. In order to develop tools to increase the agility of the supply chain and to promote the collaborative management of such disturbances, agent-based technology takes advantage of the ability of agents to make autonomous decisions in a distributed network. This paper proposes a multi-behavior agent model using different decision making approaches in a context where planning decisions are supported by a distributed advanced planning system (d-APS). The implementation of this solution is realized through the FOR@C experimental agent-based platform, dedicated to the supply chain planning for the forest products industry

Business models for collaborative planning in transportation : an application to wood products

In this paper, we propose a framework to describe collaboration in transportation. Then, we discuss the strategic, tactical, operational and real-time transportation planning decisions and raise issues about implementing collaborative decision processes. Also, we provide a literature review of transport decision-support systems that use collaborative planning in the wood fiber flow chain in forestry. Finally, we propose a typology of different business models associated with collaboration in transport