Wood Supply System's performance: productivity and log quality

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The forest products industry is one of Canada's leading manufacturing sectors and largest net exporter. It accounted for about $17.1 billion in Canada's economy in 2016. The sector is a cornerstone of the Canadian economy and a key component of the industrial structure and employment base of all regions of the country. The "Wood Supply System" (WSS) encompasses all business units and operations from the forest to the mills. It is concerned with all activities and processes taking place upstream from wood processing facilities. The forest environment poses significant challenges to conducting industrial processes. The harsh working conditions, weather, natural variability of the trees and terrain, and numerous sources of variation negatively affect performance of the WSS. This research program aims to improve the Canadian forest products industry's competitiveness by developing the knowledge, abilities, and innovative tools to improve the WSS's performance. To this end, two objectives are set. The first objective is to improve harvest systems' productivity. This can be done by better understanding the factors influencing the productivity of harvest machines and by developing innovative production system design methods. The second objective is to improve log quality delivered to wood processing facilities and increase value recovery. This can be done by better understanding the effects of harvest machines' settings on the amount and severity of damages on logs, and by sorting logs for value. This research proposal will develop knowledge, abilities and tools to improve productivity and efficiency of the WSS. Achieving the objectives presented in this proposal will significantly improve processes related to wood supply operations and value recovery. With an average of 60% of the total production cost, raw material sourcing is currently one of Canada's main performance inhibitors due to high operations costs. The forest industry needs various forms of expertise if they wish to efficiently conceive and direct their WSS. This proposal contributes towards the training of highly qualified personnel in that very important field of the forest industry.