Question: How do you know what sort timber to cut down for your customers?

This is an age old question for the tree felling industry. How to maximise the return to the company by cutting the needed timber and delivering to the nearest location (hence reducing transportation and downgrading costs)?

The Market Supply Model is a clever piece of software which bridges the gap for forestry companies attempting to match their standing timber with customer's orders from the lumber yards.

    

The software operates in two clear stages:

1. It helps the forecaster to predict what timber will be cut during the week by combining the key sources of information: bushman's estimate, pre-harvest inventory, production history and previous forecast history.

2. It applies a heuristic algorithm which balances the transportation cost with the cost of downgrading timber while matching the forecast production with the current demand.