A Description of Supply Chain Planning Problems in the Paper Industry with Literature Review

Abstract

The paper industry supply chain is highly complex and consists of many processes and planning tasks. It starts with the collection of raw wood and ends up in different paper products from paperboard to high class art papers. Managing the supply chain is difficult and the permanently changing business environment constantly brings new challenges. This paper starts with outlining the challenges in the supply chain management of today’s paper industry. After that we evaluate the state of research to determine planning problems covered by the literature. The purpose is to catch up time-wise on the previous overview from 2009 and also to update the planning problems. This overview paper summarizes comprehensively the paper industry as of today. It provides a reference work for researchers and other interested parties, and uncovers areas for future research.