Optimization of forest biomass upply chain - incorporating uncertainties

林业是加拿大的主要产业之一，对我们的经济有重大影响。它提供了80多万个就业机会，占国内生产总值的3%。由于加元升值、来自低成本外国生产商的激烈竞争、纤维成本高、米尔斯工厂老化、美国真实的房地产泡沫破裂以及不同的关税壁垒，这一重要部门面临着许多挑战。为了在全球市场上保持竞争力，森林部门必须作出困难的改变.应采取行动，使产品和市场多样化，投资于研发，吸引对该部门的投资，并实行税收改革。 生物能源和生物产品已被确定为研究和潜在产品及市场多样化的领域。与其他长期行业投资类似，生物能源项目的成功取决于对许多不同因素的仔细评估以及在不同规划和工程阶段的正确决策。长期决策包括关于生物能源工厂位置、生物质预处理设施位置、储存能力和位置、可行性分析、物流、运输和生物质处理的决策。规划和管理整个森林生物质供应链是一项挑战。利用森林生物质需要决定何时何地收集生物质，在何处进行预处理，如何运输，储存多长时间和储存在何处，以尽量减少成本（或尽量增加所产生的价值）并满足需求。多地点、多产品供应链计划问题中的不确定性问题也是需要考虑的重要问题。

Forestry is one of the major industries in Canada and has a significant impact on our economy. It provides more than 800,000 jobs and contributes 3% to country's Gross Domestic Product. This important sector has been faced with many challenges due to appreciation of the Canadian dollar, intense competition from low-cost foreign producers, high cost of fibre, aging mills, real estate bubble burst in the US, and different tariff barriers. To remain competitive in the global market- place, the forest sector has to make difficult changes. Actions should be taken to diversify products and markets, invest in R&D, attract investments in the sector and introduce tax reforms. Bioenergy and bioproducts have been identified as areas for research and potential product and market diversification. Similar to other long-term industry investments, the success of a bioenergy project depends on careful assessment of many different factors and proper decision making at different planning and engineering stages. Long term decisions include the decision on bioenergy plant location, biomass preprocessing facility location, storage capacities and location, feasibility analyses, logistics, transportation and handling of biomass. Planning and managing the entire supply chain of forest biomass is a challenge. Utilization of forest biomass requires deciding when and where biomass is collected, where it is preprocessed, how it is transported, how long and where it is stored to minimize the cost (or maximize the value generated) and satisfy the demand. Uncertainty issues in multi-site, multi-product supply chain planning problems are also important to be considered.