Wood Supply System's performance: productivity and log quality

林产工业是加拿大领先的制造业部门之一，也是最大的净出口国。2016年，它在加拿大经济中的贡献约为171亿美元。该部门是加拿大经济的基石，也是该国所有地区产业结构和就业基础的重要组成部分。“木材供应系统”(WSS)包括从森林到工厂的所有业务单位和业务。它涉及木材加工设施上游发生的所有活动和过程。森林环境对进行工业加工构成重大挑战。恶劣的工作条件、天气、树木和地形的自然变异性以及众多变化源对WSS的表现产生了负面影响。这项研究计划旨在通过开发知识、能力和创新工具来提高加拿大林产品行业的竞争力，以提高WSS的绩效。为此，制定了两个目标。第一个目标是提高收获系统的生产率。这可以通过更好地了解影响收获机械生产率的因素和开发创新的生产系统设计方法来实现。第二个目标是提高交付给木材加工设施的原木质量，增加价值回收。这可以通过更好地了解收割机的设置对日志的损坏数量和严重程度的影响，并根据价值对日志进行排序来实现。这项研究提案将开发知识、能力和工具，以提高WSS的生产力和效率。实现本提案中提出的目标将大大改进与木材供应业务和价值回收有关的进程。原材料采购平均占总生产成本的60%，由于运营成本较高，目前是加拿大主要的业绩抑制因素之一。如果森林业想要有效地构思和指导其WSS，就需要各种形式的专业知识。这项建议有助于培训森林工业这一非常重要领域的高素质人员。

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.