SOLVING A ONE-DIMENSIONAL CUTTING-STOCK PROBLEM IN A SMALL MANUFACTURING FIRM - A CASE-STUDY

This paper presents an evaluation of four different sequential approac hes to solving the one-dimensional cutting-stock problem in an industr ial setting where trim loss and pattern changes costs are of importanc e. The evaluation is made with sample problems generated from data of a manufacturing company as well as with real problems. Triangular dist ributions, which are representative of many practical environments, ar e introduced as proxies to the distribution of the lengths required. C onclusions are drawn based on the various problem sizes and distributi ons tested.