Université Laval
FORAC - Forest to customer

Research program

Overview of the main research themes of the FORAC consortium.

The FORAC Research Consortium proposes an ambitious research program that adopts a systemic approach to managing the forest products value chain, within the framework of the NSERC Alliance program, which fosters collaboration between academic researchers and partners from the private and public sectors.

The program is structured around three complementary research axes that support the forest sector in its efforts to:

  1. Understand – Leverage large-scale data and advanced analytics to drive technological modernization;
  2. Plan and manage – Apply network science to improve coordination, integration, and operational efficiency across the value chain;
  3. Act – Adapt systems to enhance resilience in the face of global change and evolving market and environmental conditions.

Each of these axes will be explored through specific research projects, with a focus on one or more levels of the value chain, namely the forest, supplu chain facilities, and markets.

This research program aims to build a multidisciplinary research team that will develop and test, in collaboration with partner organizations, solutions that respond to the need to adapt Canada’s forest products value-creation network. The program also places emphasis on training highly qualified personnel who are essential to the sector’s long-term sustainability.

AXIS 1: Understand – Leverage large-scale data and advanced analytics to drive technological modernization.

Numerous data sources already exist throughout the forest value chain, and new data-acquisition methods are continuously emerging. This diversity creates opportunities for organizations to develop a more accurate picture of their activities and of the impacts of their decisions. Data analytics and artificial intelligence therefore form the foundation upon which new planning approaches and more adaptive strategies will be built, in response to current and future economic, environmental, and social disruptions.

AXIS 2: Plan and manage – Apply network science to improve coordination, integration, and operational efficiency across the value chain.

In recent years, research efforts have focused on improving the integration, design, planning, and management of the forest value chain. Despite these advances, significant challenges related to effective coordination across sector activities persist. These challenges have led industry stakeholders to express the need for agile operational management tools that support enhanced planning, control, and coordination, enabling organizations to better anticipate and respond to disruptive events affecting their operations.

AXIS 3: Act – Adapt systems to enhance resilience in the face of global change and evolving market and environmental conditions.

Forest sector organizations are facing increasing challenges, including higher operating and production costs, more frequent climate-related disruptions, and major regulatory changes affecting access to fibre. This context requires enhanced adaptive capacity and the deployment of robust strategies to ensure operational continuity and to strengthen the resilience of forest supply chains in the face of ongoing and systemic disruptions.