A SYSTEMIC APPROACH TO CONSIDER COMPLEXITY IN SAWMILL MODELING

The lumber industry is challenged to operate more efficiently. Sawmill systems use much equipment with various technologies and their manage ment methods are very much influenced by size of operation, employee s kills, hierarchy levels, and the high volatility of softwood lumber co mmodity markets. Because of interactions between the different manufac turing system components, its management becomes a complex matter. It is therefore difficult to assess the effect of given perturbations or improvements on the overall system. This study proposes a modeling app roach based on the concept of system that provides a comprehensive vie w for modeling and analyzing sawmill systems. Adaptations of existing formalisms to represent operating, information, and decision sub-syste ms are put forward, while assembling these three sub-systems in an ove rall model gives a new vision of the sawmill and a powerful tool for s ystems integration. This modeling approach could be used for diagnosti c as well as for sawmill improvement. Various examples are provided on the application of this approach.