With the transition towards digital forestry, the drama of supply chain uncertainties is a problem of the past. Our tool Linda Forest is built specifically with this in mind: Supporting accurate and timely wood procurement. In this blog post we discuss the problem of inaccurate wood flow estimations and how enhanced information for forest product transactions promote sustainability goals and reduces costs.
Inaccurate Forest Inventories are Problematic for Supply Chain Planning
Managing the flow of timber is a constant balancing act. As mills require a steady flow of wood, meeting the demand requires up-to-date knowledge of the available supply. Uncertainty about purchased forest products introduces storage costs in order to avoid idle production. Furthermore, uncertainty of tree quality information increases waste wood, supply chain inefficiencies and lost revenue. This fact is highlighted in a case study where the ability to accurately allocate logs to the correct products leads to 49% increase in gross profits with complete inventory knowledge regarding timber quality information (Alam et al. 2014). This translates to minimised loss of sales and reduced inventory carrying costs. In a previous article, we highlighted how accurate timber quality information reduces wasted timber and benefits sales participants. Accurate forest inventory information for supply chain transactions reduces uncertainty of material flows, minimises inventory costs and improves sales margins.
Linda Forest Helps You Find the Forest Inventories You Need
Improvements to information available at decision making directly translates to improvements to supply chain planning and raw material flows.
Our Linda Forest tool can help you make timely decisions for wood sourcing with the best available intelligence. The underlying forest inventory models already span over tens of millions of hectares in the Nordics and Baltics enabling you to get accurate information precisely where you need it from. Acquire the most recent forest stand information to optimise your wood procurement operation. Source timber from your own- or third-party forests and identify harvestable areas. We enable you to integrate our data stream with your ERP and GIS solutions. Beyond procurement, Linda Forest is equally suitable for scouting investments in forest land and in the future, we see Linda Forest enabling carbon projects scouting.
Summary of benefits for Linda Forest:
- More visibility in supply chain planning.
- Accurate forest data for transactions decreases the need to store timber in standing storage, roadside or at terminals reducing costs.
- Optimise harvests and minimise lead time to mills.
- Decrease the risk for quality damages.
Interested in hearing more? Get in touch!
References
Alam, M. B., Shahi, C., & Pulkki, R. (2014). Economic impact of enhanced forest inventory information and merchandizing yards in the forest product industry supply chain. Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, 48(3), 189-197.
