Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

Technology for Canada's forest product sector has been exclusively designed to produce low cost dimension lumber for the United States. This technology and business strategy do not work well for Coastal BC, where the competitive advantage is the high quality of the timber supply. What is needed in Coastal British Columbia is a flexible and integrated supply chain designed to efficiently produce custom products for higher valued markets, taking advantage ofthe unique wood characteristics. Commodity products should be produced as consequence products instead of being the focus ofproduction. Trees should be carefully merchandized before cutting, and their use targeted for value maximization along the supply chain. The length ofthe supply chain must be reduced from months to days. The supply chain also must reflect the value of vital ecosystem services like water, recreation and carbon sequestration. Achieving this goal will require a new production strategy, new forest policies, and major investment in technology along the value-chain. Industry and government will act only ifthey face acceptable levels of risk. They need to know if the raw material matches the new products, if these products can be placed in the marketplace competitively, and, how to best locate and configure the new manufacturing technology. They must consider impacts of climate change mitigation and potential for wood-based energy systems. There is no model that integrates all ofthese decisions. We propose to work with FPInnovations to develop an agent-based integrated process simulation model that will be the first to integrate forestry and production decisions. The model will be tied to a spatial GIS database ofBC's coastal region, and will include timber growth and yield, production of water, carbon sequestration, and recreation. We will simulate the entire supply chain using 4 types of interacting agents: industry agents, market agents, regulatory agents and environmental organization agents. The model will be used to design a new production system aimed at efficiently manufacturing forest products just-in-time in the correct species, dimension, and quality.