Salvaged Wood Logistics Management: Simulation-based learning in hands-on workshops for establishing sustainable and resilient timber supply strategies in Austria
The security of supply of the Austrian timber supply chain is massively threatened by climate change with frequent and severe calamities as well as supply chain risks induced by this, such as bottlenecks in rail wagons or truck transport, storage, handling and take-over capacities. Lack of resilience in timber supply leads to a loss of competitiveness and jobs as well as increased CO2 emissions along the supply chain of this important economic sector. Countering this threat requires the establishment of a sustainable innovation path in order to pass on the latest findings from research to practice in a way that is suitable for the target group and to establish a platform for feedback from practice to science in order to derive relevant research agendas from pressing practical problems and to adapt existing computer-aided logistics models for broad use along the Austrian timber supply chain in a tailor-made manner.
This is where the LogWork project makes a significant contribution, in that practitioners from regional forestry, forest associations, Austrian Federal Forests, the freight trade and the timber industry train logistics management in the event of damaged timber in hands-on workshops using specifically adapted computer simulation models and can directly assess the performance of their strategies and measures on the basis of a series of key figures and experience the effects on other supply chain actors. For this purpose, numerous national and international research findings on timber transport planning in the event of damaged timber are prepared in a didactic and competence-oriented manner, digital twins as well as optimisation and simulation models are adapted for intuitive usability in practice and comprehensive planning documents, calculation tables and practical guides are condensed to the essentials. Using emergency scenarios, the handling of these tools is extensively trained in hands-on workshops so that they can be used in a well-founded manner in real calamity situations. The innovation achieved is documented empirically in questionnaire studies and expert interviews and, together with the workshop design developed and the graphic processing of the computer models, contributes significantly to the generation of publishable knowledge on "serious game-based learning", "stakeholder workshop", "contingency planning" and "wood supply chain management".
Duration
01.03.2023-28.02.2025
Funded by
Bundesministerium für Landwirtschaft, Regionen und Tourismus, Stubenring 1, 1010 Wien, Österreich
Project partners:
Waldverband Österreich
Contact
Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Honorarprofessor Dr.nat.techn. Peter Rauch
Dr. Ing. Christoph Kogler B.Sc. MSc.
BOKU organizational units involved