Opti-wood

Opti-wood is a modern decision-support system (DSS) for efficient planning of logging and wood transport operations, construction and maintenance of forest roads

Opti-Wood is designed for use at wood harvesting enterprises as a production optimization tool for planning, management and control. Opti-Wood is not an accounting system, but integrates with accounting systems of the Customer.

When finding solutions, the system takes into account their impact on the entire production chain from selecting local harvest sites and road construction to the supply of wood to consumers.

The Opti-Wood system operates on two levels of control:

Strategic level

Using information from the accounting system about customer orders and characteristics of available harvesting sites, the System determines the optimal set of sites and the harvesting schedule within the planned period (up to 1 year) to meet existing needs. The plan is based on maximum efficiency of the entire production chain (construction and maintenance of forest roads, pre-harvest site preparation, wood harvesting and transportation) and takes into account constraints on cutting volumes, production capacity, seasonal availability of harvesting sites and roads, etc.

For each harvesting site it is possible to choose the optimal composition of produced assortments, taking into account the presence and location of consumers.

Next, the System calculates the minimum required number of logging and forest transport machinery sets to implement the plans, the harvesting sites are optimally distributed between the machinery sets and tasks for each machinery set are created taking into account their features.

To implement harvesting plans, the System automatically generates pre-harvest site preparation plans that link planned harvesting sites to specific contractors and production targets.
In addition, the System, if necessary, creates plans for the construction / repair and maintenance of those sections of forest roads that will be used to transport wood, relocation of machinery, etc., with the possibility of detailing the operations and linking assignments to contractors and machinery sets.

Operating level

The system calculates the optimal routes for wood transportation vehicles, taking into account warehouse stocks, needs, routes with multiple supply points, transportation of several assortments, traffic situation, etc., with creation of specific shift tasks for each vehicle.

In addition, the System supports a number of additional functions, which facilitate the user experience and enable to further increase the efficiency of the decisions made:

Calculation of indicators and comparison of plans: The system calculates for each type of generated plans a number of technical and economic indicators and generates a large number of reports for different indicators, which allows users to compare different scenarios of production organization and improvement.
Monitoring the plans implementation: The system receives information from the accounting system about the actual works performed and generates a series of reports of plan-actual analysis, which allow to evaluate the progress and degree of implementation of generated plans
Evaluation of contractors: The system stores and processes data about contractors, customers and machinery sets, receives from the accounting system information about the quality of their work and calculates the rating of contractors and their machinery sets to determine the feasibility and extent of their further involvement.
Road network management: To improve the visibility of planning results, the System has a digital map-based tool that stores, processes and presents information about location of harvesting sites, warehouses, consumers, garages, quarries, etc., and also allowing users to determine the best routes and relocation time between these points on the existing road network, taking into account features of each section of roads, etc. 

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Opti-Wood uses unique mathematical models and algorithms to effectively address the following main tasks:

  • select the local harvesting sites  for harvesting, taking into account economic efficiency, regulatory requirements, seasonality, and other factors
  • assign selected harvesting sites to harvest machinery teams
  • calculate the number of required vehicles for transporting the timber for each month and optimal routes of their runs
  • calculate logging, transporting and road construction costs
  • plan the road network construction with minimum costs per m3 of harvested wood
  • calculate the volumes and structure of deliveries to ensure the balance of the consumer needs and production capacities
  • assess the parameters of interaction with contractors and customers

Advantages

  • Improved reliability and efficiency of the information received

  • Improved efficiency of using enterprise financial resources

  • Increased profitability due to taking into account market needs, and identifying additional sales opportunities, e.g. with higher marginality

  • Reduced time for managerial decision-making by increasing the “transparency” of supply chains and the speed of obtaining relevant information
  • Reduced total costs, warehouse stock volumes, and number of required vehicles due to complex accounting of all factors throughout the whole supply chain

Features

  • The System uses Customer accounting systems, which eliminates duplication of information
  • Intuitive interface and complete adaptation for Customer processes allow starting the practical use of the System very quickly
  • Support of multi-user mode with various functions and access rights