Background
Our client, CMPC, is a Chilean multinational with presence in 11 countries and more than 50 production plants of wood, pulp, packaging products and sanitary products, all made on the basis of totally sustainable products.
With the purpose of "We create natural fiber for a better future" CMPC develops the best solutions for people’s needs through 3 business units: Cellulose, Biopackaging and Softys.
CMPC has a focus on growth and innovation, is committed to the sustainability of the planet, with communities that share territory and with Diversity and Inclusion, fostering spaces for growth for all people.
The challenge
CMPC is constantly building and maintaining forest roads for the logistics of timber harvesting.
Forest roads building takes into account several factors:
- Quantity of wood to be transported
- Rainfall in the area
- Mechanical characteristics of the soil performed through a sampling process and a California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test. This analysis is performed for building new roads and test results are stored in a database.
All this process is used to calculate a theoretical thickness of gravel that must be deposited in each section of the road to withstand (without deformation) the weight of trucks transporting wood. This first gravel road surface thickness ranges between 18-34 cm, with an average of 24 cm.
Formerly, two sizes of aggregate were used for the roads: a layer of bolus (larger diameter) for the lower layer and a layer of gravel (smaller diameter) for the upper. Currently only gravel is used, except for some problem points where bowling is also required.
All these data are available for the existing roads and the designed gravel thickness for each section (sample sheet in the annex).
Once the timber is transported by truck, roads are left unused until the next harvest, which takes place 15 to 21 years later. During those years, the roads are minimally maintained, essentially for fire control and weather plays a key role in the erosion of the gravel road surface.
Later, one year before they are needed again for the next harvest, CMPC reassesses the forest roads to ensure that they will bear the expected truck traffic considering:
- The road’s withstanding capacity
- The water drainage capacity (clean ditches)
- Sufficient road width
To assess the current status, a road check consists of making a run-off every 300 m. approximately (with a speed of 5-8 km/day) to obtain the thickness of the remaining gravel.
Considering that these roads had sufficient stabilization by the traffic of trucks during the previous harvest, a minimum thickness of 12 cm. of gravel / aggregate is required, sufficient to ensure the required withstanding. So, if the check in a road section shows that this layer is shorter, they will need to add gravel to reach the target 12 cm. thick.
The road review process is entirely manual, requires a very significant effort and does not take advantage of new technologies (e.g. digital) that make it more efficient and faster.
There are different types of trucks according to their axles, which can be loaded with wood logs or woodchips, but in any case their maximum weight is 45 tons (datasheet with the types of trucks according to their axle load in the annex).
Videos of the production of the road review process can be also found in the annex.
* Note: You must register and accept the challenge to be able to download the annex with the referred documents and videos
What our customer is looking for
CMPC is looking for efficient and modern alternatives to ensure the capacity of the forest roads to bear the traffic of new harvests, by means of a:
- More efficient (faster and less expensive) measurement of the current gravel / aggregate layer thickness or
- Alternative assessment of the road’s withstanding capacity in each section before the first trucks transit, though some corrections or adjustments might be made during the first 2 or 3 days of transit.
In addition, as a secondary objective, CMPC is also looking for reviewing:
- Condition of ditches for water drainage, as well as their transverse slopes.
- Geometry of the road, i.e. the width and slope that needs improvement.
You may also propose solutions to be adopted for the construction of new roads, in a way to make future assessments easier years later.
Deliverables
This is a challenge with 1 round of submissions with the following deliverables:
- Proposed solution/s to one or more of the needs described in the section "What our customer is looking for", with a description of the operation, specification of equipment and facilities (photos, drawings, sketches...), required investments and expected results.
- Proposal for testing the solution in the field, to be carried out by the solver or through a partner proposed by the solver or - if needed - provided by CMPC. This proposal should include:
- Approach to conduct a pilot test: Technology, scope, minimum required equipment, estimated time, project phases and your level of support.
- Required budget, to be defined by the solver ($20,000 USD has been considered as an initial budget for this pilot, although this amount is not limited and will depend on the technical justification provided by the solver).
Please submit your documents in PDF format. In addition to your main submission document, you can add annexes to support your solution. Please use a compressed zip format to upload all documents.
Evaluation criteria
Proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Feasibility evidence of the proposed system (maturity of solution, reliability)
- Speed of measurement at least every 300 m. (and faster than the current process speed of 8 km/day approx.)
- Online measurements, with no need for post-processing of captured data in the field
- Lower estimated costs of the solution
- Quality of the technical support in the realization of the pilot to be carried out in the field, in Chile
- Higher simplicity of the solution (space requirements, use, equipment...) and ease of implementation
The 3 selected finalists will have an online presentation meeting with CMPC challenge owners to present and defend their proposal. This challenge might be solved with one or more winners with complementary solutions.
Tournament structure and schedule
This is a one-round challenge with the following deadlines:
- 7 weeks for the submission (deadline is January 21st, 2025) + 4 weeks for the evaluation
Awards
$20,000 USD as a reference budget for the pilot (to be confirmed or modified in your proposal). This amount includes an award recognition and the execution of some tests in the field to evaluate the solution under different road conditions.
Confidentiality
According to general terms & conditions.
Intellectual property
According to general terms and conditions. In the case of co-developing a new solution with CMPC, industrial property rights will be shared according to each party contribution.
