Supply Chain Planning Models in the Pulp and Paper Industry

The pulp and paper industry depends on a long and integrated supply chain. Forest products start in forest harvest areas as trees and end up as multiple products used in the day‐to‐day life of all people. The lead time from the first step to the last is long and involves many steps operated by several companies and organizations. In this overview paper we describe the supply chain in its entirety, its participants and the planning problems arising along the chain. We divide the planning problems into strategic, tactical and operative in a supply chain matrix, describe their characteristics and provide applications as illustrations. We discuss the need for information and decision support for planners in each of these areas. This relates to planning within a single company as well as integrated planning across several. A number of tailor‐made systems have been developed and published in the literature and we describe these tools/systems together with their characteristics and results. We conclude with a discussion of current issues and outline future research areas.