Allocation of Stands and Cutting Patterns to Logging Crews Using a Tabu Search Heuristic
Authors
Glen Murphy
New Zealand Forest Research Institute, Rotorua, New Zealand
Abstract
An algorithm that combines tabu search principles with a simple improvement- swapping heuristic has been developed for allocating stands and cutting patterns to logging crews for a single time period. A limited set of market and operational constraints has been included. Individual crew productivity has also been taken into account. The algorithm has been implemented in Visual Basic. Tests have been carried out on up to 60 stands, 10 logging crews, and seven cutting patterns. The "best" solutions have usually been found within a few hundred iterations.
