THE PERFORMANCE OF SAWMILLS IS STRONGLY DEPENDENT ON HOW LOGS ARE SAWN INTO LUMBER IN ORDER TO SATISFY THE CUSTOMER DEMANDS. TO DO THIS, SAWMILL MANAGERS HAVE TO DECIDE WHICH CUTTING PATTERNS HAVE TO BE APPLIED TO LOGS OF DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS. OPTIMIZATION MODELS HAVE BEEN PROPOSED TO ASSIST DECISION MAKERS IN THIS PROCESS, BUT ONLY THE PROFIT MAXIMIZATION AND THE COST MINIMIZATION OF THE DECISIONS HAVE BEEN CONSIDERED AS THE MODELS OBJECTIVE. IN THIS PAPER, A LINEAR OPTIMIZATION MODEL WAS FORMULATED TO ADDRESS LUMBER PRODUCTION PLANNING AND APPLIED TO A REAL PROBLEM. THE CURRENT DECISIONS AT SAWMILLS WERE COMPARED WITH FIVE DIFFERENT OBJECTIVE FUNCTIONS: THE TWO PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED PLUS WASTE MINIMIZATION, LOG NUMBER MINIMIZATION AND PRODUCTION TIME MINIMIZATION. ONLY PROFIT MAXIMIZATION AND WASTE MINIMIZATION MODELS REPORTED POSITIVE ECONOMIC RETURNS. ALTHOUGH THE CURRENT DECISION AT SAWMILLS ALSO REPORTED A POSITIVE ECONOMIC RETURN, THE SAME ECONOMIC RESULT WAS OBTAINED WITH SIGNIFICANTLY FEWER RESOURCES USING THE WASTE MINIMIZATION MODEL. THE EFFECTS OF THE DIFFERENT OBJECTIVES ON THE PRODUCTION INDICATORS WERE DISCUSSED.

MEASUREMENTS OF CURRENTS, WAVES AND WINDS WERE MADE IN SENO DE RELONCAVÍ, CORCOVADO GULF, (PACIFIC COAST/WEST AREA) OF CHILOÉ AND THE DARWIN CANAL INLET. THESE OBSERVATIONS WERE COMPLEMENTED WITH HISTORICAL DATA, WITH THE AIM OF DETERMINING WIND, CURRENT AND WAVE EXTREME VALUES AND LOCAL VARIABILITY NORTH OF THE PATAGONIC FJORDS IN CHILE. RESULTS SHOWED THE PREDOMINANCE OF THE NORTH WIND AND LOCAL WAVE REGIME (HS < 0.5 M) FOR THE NORTH COAST OF SENO DE RELONCAVÍ. THE WEST OF CHILOÉ IS CHARACTERIZED BY LONG WAVES (HS > 2 M) ORIGINATING IN THE PACIFIC AND THE DOMINANCE OF THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST WIND DRIVEN BY REGIONAL CIRCULATION. IN THE AREA OF CORCOVADO GULF AND THE DARWIN CANAL INLET, THE WIND FOLLOWS THE DIRECTION OF THE TOPOGRAPHY, WHILE AT ITALIA ISLAND LOCAL WAVES ARE PREDOMINANT (HS < 0.5 M). IN CORCOVADO GULF A COMBINED LOCAL AND LONG WAVE REGIME (HS ~2M) WAS OBSERVED. FURTHERMORE, RESULTS SHOWED THAT THE TIDE IS THE MAIN COASTAL CURRENT FORCING MECHANISM IN THE AREA OF THE FJORDS AND CANALS, DIFFERING FROM THAT AT CHILOÉ AND ITALIA ISLAND (PACIFIC COAST/WEST AREA), WHERE WIND IS THE MAIN DRIVER OF COASTAL CIRCULATION. DIFFERENCES FOUND BETWEEN BOTH ZONES, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN INLET AND OFF THE COAST ZONES, NORTH OF THE PATAGONIC FJORDS IN CHILE, ARE EVIDENCE THAT THE TOPOGRAPHY PLAYS A FUNDAMENTAL ROLE IN THE WIND AND CURRENT DIRECTIONS.