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Abstract-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.
Keywords Supply chain planning, pulp and paper industry, logistics, forest industry.
1. INTRODUCTION
The pulp and paper industry produces a great number of paper and other cellulose based fibre products. The total quantity of cellulose-based products consumed every year world-wide exceeds 360 million tonnes. Newspapers, copy papers, various types of tissue, bottle labels, cigarette papers, and coffee filters are just a few examples of products regularly used in our everyday life. There is a large number of activities involved in the production and distribution of these products; from planting of the seeds of the trees producing the cellulose, until the product is used by the final consumer, and subsequently disposed of or recycled. Such a network of activities is known as a supply chain (SC) in the management and Operations Research (OR) literature. Interest in the supply chain perspective has increased in recent years. Information systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, are now crucial for the management of most companies by providing updated information about the various parts of the chain within a company. The information flow between organizations is an area which still needs further attention. Having information available is, however, insufficient for appropriate management. Managing the supply chain...