Moving harvest crews between blocks can add significant cost to an operational schedule, particularly when assignments are spread across a large land base.
Woodstock Scheduler’s Crew Movement feature allows planners to include these movement costs directly in the model. By considering the cost of moving crews from one block to another, or between groups of blocks, the model can identify crew assignments that reduce unnecessary movement while meeting scheduling requirements.
The feature combines movement costs with sequence planning, giving forestry organizations a more realistic way to account for where crews work and how they move between assignments.
Key Takeaways
- Crew Movement incorporates the cost of moving crews between blocks and sequences into the scheduling model.
- The Sequence Builder can automatically group blocks using user-defined parameters.
- Road-distance data can provide a more realistic basis for sequences than straight-line distance.
- Generated sequences can be manually edited to reflect operational knowledge.
- Including movement costs helps the solver make more cost-aware crew assignment decisions.
How Crew Movement Optimization Works
Related: Why Tactical Optimization Still Pays Off When Forestry Plans Change.
A crew schedule determines which harvest units are assigned to each crew and when the work takes place. Crew Movement adds another factor: the cost of getting the crew from one assignment to the next.
Woodstock Scheduler uses sequences to represent an ordered group of blocks and the movements between them. Treatment decisions are then made for the sequence rather than independently for every block.
The starting point is the spatial layout of the available harvest units.
The Sequence Builder can then group those blocks automatically according to parameters defined by the user. In the example below, straight-line distance between blocks is used to create six separate sequences.
This allows the model to account for shorter movements within a sequence as well as larger relocations between sequences that may be farther apart.
Planners are not locked into the generated result. Individual movements can be added or removed, and complete sequences can also be created or deleted manually in the Maps View.
Understanding Move Costs and Big Move Costs
Two types of movement cost can be represented in the model.
Move costs are triggered whenever a crew moves from one block to another. The blocks do not have to belong to a sequence for the cost to apply.
Big move costs apply when a crew moves from the final block of one sequence to the first block of another sequence.
Distinguishing between the two allows the model to represent the difference between routine moves within an operating area and larger crew relocations that may be significantly more expensive.
These costs are included in the model so the solver can consider crew movement alongside the other requirements of the harvest schedule.
Data Requirements for Crew Movement
Crew Movement builds on an existing functional harvest crew scheduling model. It requires configured movement-cost inputs and can optionally use road-distance data to better represent how crews move between harvest units.
Road Distances
Road-distance data is optional but can provide a more realistic representation of how crews actually move between harvest units.
When road distances are unavailable, the Sequence Builder can use straight-line distance from the centre of one block to another. However, geographic proximity does not always reflect the actual route a crew must travel.
The following example uses road-network distances for the same group of blocks shown earlier. Notice that the resulting sequences differ from those created using straight-line distance.
Road-distance data can also better reflect the time and cost associated with moving crews between assignments. This gives the model a more realistic basis for comparing movement decisions than straight-line distance alone.
Using Sequences in the Optimization Model
Creating sequences is only part of the process. They must also be incorporated into the model used to generate the final crew schedule.
In a Crew Movement configuration, the sequences created in Scheduler are imported into the Woodstock model. Combined with move-cost data, they allow the solver to evaluate assignments while considering the cost of moving between blocks and sequences.
The sequences generated earlier do not remain only as a visual planning aid. Once created, they can be imported into the model and used as part of the optimization solution.
The final solution can then assign crews across these predefined sequences. In the example below, the blue crew begins in the western sequence and moves east, while the brown crew progresses through sequences beginning farther northwest.
Viewing the same assignments at a larger scale makes the effect of sequencing easier to see. The crew movements follow the groups of blocks established before the model run rather than moving independently between dispersed assignments.
The value becomes especially clear when the sequence-based solution is compared with a schedule generated without predefined sequences.
In the example below, removing the sequences results in a much larger move for the brown crew.
This comparison illustrates the practical purpose of Crew Movement: allowing the model to consider the operational cost of relocation when deciding where crews should work next.
Frequently Asked Questions
A move cost applies when a crew moves from one block to another. A big move cost applies when the crew moves from the final block of one sequence to the first block of another, allowing the model to represent the higher cost of larger relocations.
No. Straight-line distances can be used when road-distance data is unavailable. Road distances can, however, provide a more realistic representation of the routes and travel time involved in moving crews between harvest units.
Yes. Users can add or delete individual movements and manually create or remove entire sequences. This allows operational knowledge to be incorporated alongside automated sequence generation.
Crew Movement allows movement costs to influence crew assignments within the scheduling model. This can reduce unnecessary or expensive relocations and produce a schedule that better reflects the cost of moving crews between assignments.
Build Crew Movement Costs Into the Schedule
Crew movement can be easy to overlook when harvest blocks are scheduled independently, but repeated or long-distance relocations can increase operating costs and consume productive crew time.
Woodstock Scheduler’s Crew Movement feature incorporates these movements into the scheduling model. With appropriate movement costs, sequences, and distance data, planners can generate schedules that account for both where crews work and how they move between assignments.
This provides a more realistic basis for crew assignment decisions and better visibility into the operating costs associated with the schedule.
Put Woodstock Scheduler to work reducing crew movement, planning, and harvest costs.
