- 1 - A bi-level decision model for timber transport planning Kamel Moad 1,2 , Julien François 1 , Jean-Paul Bourrières 1 , Luc Lebel 2 and Morgan Vuillermoz 3 1 CNRS, University of Bordeaux, IMS Laboratory UMR 5218, Talence Cedex, France 2 For@c, University Laval, Québec, Canada 3 FCBA Institut technologique, Paris kamel.moad@ims-bordeaux.fr, julien.francois@ims-bordeaux.fr, jean-paul.bourrieres@ims-bordeaux.fr, luc.lebel@sbf.ulaval.ca Abstract. We propose a decision model to optimize the transport of wood from the forest, based, first, on the elaboration of a multi-period multi-product tactical plan of aggregated activities to assess the global capacities required. The tactical plan is then refined into daily routing plans to minimize the global distance travelled by a truck fleet. Benchmarking our decision model with an industrial case in the Aquitaine region has shown a significant performance improvement. Keywords: Forestry logistics, wood supply, tactical planning, routing optimization 1 Introduction This paper addresses the specific problem of timber transport from the forest to the clients, e.g. sawmills, paper mills. Section 2 highlights some specificities of the wood sector regarding the actors and the processes involved in transport activities, then reviews the literature on wood transport management. Our decision model to plan timber transport is detailed in Section 3, whereas Section 4 is devoted to the benchmarking of our results with an industrial case. 2 Challenges of wood transport 2.1 Ecosystem of the wood supply chain Sourcing and transporting timber from the forest to the transformation sites involves several processes which may variably be internalized or outsourced by the actors. In the typical configuration shown in Fig. 1, the processes are orchestrated by a Forest Operator who purchases standing timbers from Forest Owners. The Forest Operator has a panel of clients (e.g. Sawmills) to supply from any appropriate source. Each physical operation is usually subcontracted: harvesting (including felling, delimbing, and primary transport) to Loggers, transport to Haulers. Further details on the forestry process are given in [1]. Other configurations are also frequently encountered, in which some of the actors have internalized some or all of the processes. For instance, a transport company may have integrated the wood Figure 1: Actors of the wood Supply Chain