Optimal storing, transport and processing for a forest-fuel supplier

The supplier of forest fuel has a large number of interrelated activities to coordinate on the way from raw material source to consumer. Transports, storing and intermediate processing must be decided on for a number of different raw materials. In this paper, an analysis is performed on the energy supply system of Jämtlandsbränslen, a subsidiary of the Swedish Cellulose Company. Included are several forest supply regions, one central processing site and one consumer. Optimal solutions are derived for a problem with an infinite sequence of years, where each year is divided into six periods. The problem is solved as an ordinary linear programming problem. Results are given on optimal production flows, storing and procurement. The usefulness of the applied analytical approach for deriving rules for operational planning is discussed.