TITLE:
Simulation and Optimization Techniques for Sawmill Yard Operations—A Literature Review
AUTHORS:
Asif Rahman, Siril Yella, Mark Dougherty
KEYWORDS:
Sawmill Yard; Logistics; Timber Tucks; Log Stackers; Simulation and Optimization
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Intelligent Learning Systems and Applications,
Vol.6 No.1,
February
14,
2014
ABSTRACT: Increasing costs and competitive business
strategies are pushing sawmill enterprises to make an effort for optimization
of their process management. Organizational decisions mainly concentrate on
performance and reduction of operational costs in order to maintain profit
margins. Although many efforts have been made, effective utilization of
resources, optimal planning and maximum productivity in sawmill are still
challenging to sawmill industries. Many researchers proposed the simulation
models in combination with optimization techniques to address problems of
integrated logistics optimization. The combination of simulation and
optimization technique identifies the optimal strategy by simulating all
complex behaviours of the system under consideration including objectives and
constraints. During the past decade, an enormous number of studies were conducted to simulate operational inefficiencies in order
to find optimal solutions. This paper gives a review on recent developments and
challenges associated with simulation and optimization techniques. It was
believed that the review would
provide a perfect ground to the authors in pursuing further work in optimizing
sawmill yard operations.