Routing model applied to forest inventory vehicles planning

Abstract In forest production processes, conducting studies regarding the stages of forest harvesting and transportation important because it is related to the cost of wood production. However, other stages are also significant important and must be studied such as forest inventory. Information provided by the forest inventory are important for the operation planning by all forest companies, because they can be employed to support some decisions involving the available forest resources. We use the Vehicle Routing Problem model to optimize the Forest Inventory Activity Planning and analyze the importance of using this technique for improving this activity. The study is conducted using the data from the forest inventory of a company located in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. To evaluate the model in this context, different scenarios are considered, where the monthly schedules are compared with the actual model used by the company.