Allocation of Mobile Chippers for a Concentrated Bioenergy Demand

Allocation of mobile chippers is a tactical problem of management in a bioenergy supply chain. It influences the entire supply cost of the wood chip since the transportation distance and the chipping productivity decide the transportation cost. Great and concentrated demands of woody biomass require multiple suppliers, and there should be the best allocation of mobile chippers which minimize the entire supply cost. This study aims to clarify better management of the supply chain consisting of multiple players for a great and concentrated demand for wood chip. The model was a supply chain for a typical biomass power plant with 5.8 MW capacity. Suppliers were assumed to select mobile chippers from two sizes, 140-kW and 353-kW. By the model simulation, it was clarified that the well-considered allocation of two different mobile chippers could reduce the entire supply cost less than the conventional system using a fixed chipper at the power plant. The best management was to use only the 353-kW chippers, and secondly to allocate the less productive chippers closer to the demand to prevent the incline of the transportation cost. However, the possible conflict was also specified as the increased cost of the suppliers using more productive chippers in the second best allocation strategy. This result emphasizes the necessity of resolving such conflict by making the collaborative relationship among stakeholders which has been pointed out by other researches as well to sustain the better condition of the supply chain.