Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this degree project is to give an overview of the planning system of four Swedish forest companies. The involved companies are ATA TIMBER, SYDVED, BERGS SKOG and VIDA SKOG. The study is based on information from a literature study and by interviews with personals from the four companies.

Each company is described to get a better insight of the companies work and what potential they have. The description of the planning process comes after that. The companies are described separate from each other and will be compared later in this essay. In the end of the essay the companies give their own views on new decision support systems and how they think the future will be considering new customer demands and competition on the market.

All four companies are very similar in the aspect how they run their business. Two of the companies have executive posts and the other two have team leaders instead of superior managers. The responsibilities in all departments are quite the same. Each organization has its own CEO and several departments which include logistics, administration and purchasers departments. SYDVED also has some support department and some middle managers. VIDA SKOG has its own certification liable. All of the companies work with flat organizations to simplify their work, and to create more participation among its employees. The sawmills are specialized in various timber assortments to increase their efforts. Great Britain is the largest market. SYDVEDS primary objective is to supply their owners industries and then sell to domestic actors. All companies depend on what they can obtain from private suppliers and therefore they work hard to create long term business relations by providing multiple services. The companies support research in one way or another and they think it’s very important to keep up in the changes in the industry.