On February 25th 2020 the Institute of European Studies hosted a liaison meeting of experts on wood supply chain management at the University of Berkeley with friendly support by the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research and the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation.

The meeting was organized by Christoph Kogler, a current visiting scholar at the Institute of European Studies, and a diverse group of researchers from the Department of Industrial Engineering, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, Haas Business School, Berkeley Forests, Institute of Transportation Studies as well as visiting scholars from the European Commission were invited.

The meeting focused on current and future challenges of wood supply chain management in Austria and California. Climate change increases the frequency and impact of forest calamities such as forest fires, windstorms and bark beetle infestations. That abruptly causes high volumes of salvage wood, which have to be transported out of the forest to limit further damage or loss of wood value.

California (forest fires) as well as Austria (windstorms) are highly affected by those and similarities in the need for advanced contingency planning after risk events were discussed. Research approaches and methods of different scientific disciplines to overcome those challenges were exchanged, compared and analyzed. The discrete event simulation method was confirmed to provide a high suitability for advanced contingency planning, because complex interdependencies can be visually illustrated and demonstrated to stakeholders and different model configurations show effects of decision before real, costly, dangerous, inefficient or long-lasting changes are made.

Program:

3:00–3:15 pm Welcome and Introduction

3:15–3:35 pm Presentation 1
“Wood Supply Chain Management in Austria”
Christoph Kogler, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

3:35–3:55 pm Presentation 2
“Decision Support by Discrete Event Simulation for the Wood Supply Chain”
Christoph Kogler, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

3:55–4:15 Discussion 1
Challenges in Austria, similarities to California

4:15–4:30 pm Presentation 3
“Wood Supply Chain Management in California”
Bill Stewart, Co-Director Berkeley Forests

4:30–5:00 pm Introductory Workshop
“Distinguishing Features of the Discrete Event Simulation Method”
Lee Schruben, Past Chair Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research College of Engineering, Holder of INFORMS Simulation Society Lifetime Professional Achievement Award

5:00–5:20 pm Discussion 2
Application of discrete event simulation for wood supply chain research

5:30–8:00 pm Working dinner
Reflection, future cooperation, next steps

I gratefully appreciate the support of the Austrian Marshall Plan Foundation, which sent me to Berkeley, provided a grant and co-sponsored this event. Moreover, I would like to thank the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Research for their co-sponsorship. A big thanks to the IES Austrian Studies Program, especially to Prof. Jeroen Dewulf, who encouraged me to organize this event and introduced me to so many great researchers, and Julia Nelsen, who guided me through all bureaucratic processes at UC Berkeley and ensured a professional symposium set-up.

I personally benefited enormously from the symposium because I got in touch with many well-respected researchers at UC Berkeley and arranged one on one follow-ups with them. Moreover, I learned a lot about the Californian wood supply chain, which enables the adaption of my models and thus the development of research cooperation.

Furthermore, I got deep insights into the discrete event simulation method for which only very few low-level courses and seminars are available at Austrian universities. The event feedback was stunning and the presented simulation model of the Austrian wood supply chain was well received. This event allowed me to practice my English, develop my organizational skills and helped me to become a better researcher and teacher.

(Christoph Kogler, March 3 2020, Berkeley)

Christoph Kogler

Participants