SOLUTION FOR THE CONSTRAINED GUILLOTINE CUTTING PROBLEM BY SIMULATED ANNEALING

Since the Simulated Annealing method was identified as a useful tool f or solving optimization problems, several applications have been made in order to study its performance in various problems. This method is especially adequate for problems in which, it is not possible to repre sent the whole domain of solutions through a set of algebraic equation s. In this study the constrained two-dimensional cutting problem is fo rmulated and solved. The formulation of this problem is based on the m apping of a cutting pattern on a binary tree, facilitating the random generation of neighbor solutions. A rigorous numerical analysis establ ishing the best set of parameters to salve any instance of the problem is accomplished. Further, we present a set of comparative results wit h other methods that also permit a solution to the problem. (C) 1997 E lsevier Science Ltd.