A Mathematical Model for the Integrated Optimization of Harvest and Transport Scheduling of Forest Products

The costs related to forest harvesting and wood transport are key to the economic viability of forest investments. These operations compose a major share of the total cost of wood production and thus need to be conducted in an efficient manner. In this paper, we propose a novel optimization model to tackle this issue and perform the daily and weekly plan of harvesting operations, in order to minimize the costs related to the machinery operation, movement, and wood transportation, subject to demand constraints. Our results show that transportation costs dominate the total cost of these operations. The model proposed is appropriate and can be effectively applied to optimize the operational planning of harvesting activities. Nevertheless, instances with a large number of stands may lead to a substantial increase in the complexity and computational burden. We conclude that operations research techniques can provide a solid basis for decision-making in harvest scheduling problems and increase the efficiency of forest management.