Theory and practice of cutting and packing problems

Abstract

The main subject of this thematic project is the study of Cutting and Packing Problems (CPP), which covers a large number of combinatorial optimization problems. These problems share the common feature of fitting items inside an object. This fitting, in its actual sense, can define the cutting of pieces in stock to produce the demanded items, as well as, the packing of boxes in a container. Besides the various practical applications of this actual sense version, cutting and packing problems also arise naturally in symbolic arrangements as important subproblems in the use of scarce resources which is the essence of operations research problems, such as, project selection, lot sizing, job allocation, etc. CPP's relevance comes from the increasing pressure that the industries have been receiving in order to optimize their processes. This pressure comes from, among other reasons, the increasing competition imposed by the new world economic order. Brazil is following this path and it is experiencing deep changes in its productive sector with respect to the modernization of its productive processes, better quality control of its products and administrative rationalization. This project aims to develop mathematical models for problems arising from the cutting and packing industrial sector, the development and/or improvement of solution methods, the development of computational studies, the identification of new practical problems, as well as, the review of problems in the literature. Studies on cutting and packing problems have been undertaken by many researchers in different education/research centers in S. Paulo state. They have been carried in a independent way or by means of joint research works. This project seeks to maintain this integration and to aggregate new research groups working in this subject, aiming the exchange of different experiences and knowledge developed independently. With this, we aim to achieve improved quality research, avoid parallel work, improving overall performance by the synergy of the cooperative work. (AU)