A dynamic linear programming approach to adaptive logistics - Application to optimal coordination under risk in the forest sector

Typical decision problems in companies in the forest sector are sequential. Important information, which was not available when the first decisions in the chain were taken, becomes available before the final decisions have to be made. The optimal decisions can usually not be found via deterministic multi period optimisation methods. This paper focuses on a linear programming approach to the true adaptive, large dimension, multi period problem with sequential information. You can handle such problems in case "dynamic information constraints" are introduced. An application to a forest company sample problem is discussed. The objective is to minimize the expected present value of the total cost (including costs of harvesting, transport and stocks) during one year. The developments of snow, rain and road problems are not known in advance.