The Two-Dimensional, Rectangular, Guillotineable-Layout Cutting Problem with a Single Defect

In this paper, a two-dimensional cutting problem is considered in which a single plate (large object) has to be cut down into a set of small items of maximal value. As opposed to standard cutting problems, the large object contains a defect, which must not be covered by a small item. The problem is represented by means of an AND/OR-graph, and a Branch & Bound procedure (including heuristic modifications for speeding up the search process) is introduced for its exact solution. The proposed method is evaluated in a series of numerical experiments that are run on problem instances taken from the literature, as well as on randomly generated instances.Two-dimensional cutting, defect, AND/OR-graph, Branch & Bound

Two-dimensional placement compaction using an evolutionary approach: a study

The placement problem of two-dimensional objects over planar surfaces optimizing given utility functions is a combinatorial optimization problem. Our main drive is that of surveying genetic algorithms and hybrid metaheuristics in terms of final positioning area compaction of the solution. Furthermore, a new hybrid evolutionary approach, combining a genetic algorithm merged with a non-linear compaction method is introduced and compared with referenced literature heuristics using both randomly generated instances and benchmark problems. A wide variety of experiments is made, and the respective results and discussions are presented. Finally, conclusions are drawn, and future research is defined

On three soft rectangle packing problems with guillotine constraints

We investigate how to partition a rectangular region of length $L_1$ and height $L_2$ into $n$ rectangles of given areas $(a_1, \dots, a_n)$ using two-stage guillotine cuts, so as to minimize either (i) the sum of the perimeters, (ii) the largest perimeter, or (iii) the maximum aspect ratio of the rectangles. These problems play an important role in the ongoing Vietnamese land-allocation reform, as well as in the optimization of matrix multiplication algorithms. We show that the first problem can be solved to optimality in $\mathcal{O}(n \log n)$, while the two others are NP-hard. We propose mixed integer programming (MIP) formulations and a binary search-based approach for solving the NP-hard problems. Experimental analyses are conducted to compare the solution approaches in terms of computational efficiency and solution quality, for different objectives

Models and Solutions of Resource Allocation Problems based on Integer Linear and Nonlinear Programming

In this thesis we deal with two problems of resource allocation solved through a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming approach and a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Chance Constraint Programming approach. In the first part we propose a framework to model general guillotine restrictions in two dimensional cutting problems formulated as Mixed-Integer Linear Programs (MILP). The modeling framework requires a pseudo-polynomial number of variables and constraints, which can be effectively enumerated for medium-size instances. Our modeling of general guillotine cuts is the first one that, once it is implemented within a state of-the-art MIP solver, can tackle instances of challenging size. Our objective is to propose a way of modeling general guillotine cuts via Mixed Integer Linear Programs (MILP), i.e., we do not limit the number of stages (restriction (ii)), nor impose the cuts to be restricted (restriction (iii)). We only ask the cuts to be guillotine ones (restriction (i)). We mainly concentrate our analysis on the Guillotine Two Dimensional Knapsack Problem (G2KP), for which a model, and an exact procedure able to significantly improve the computational performance, are given. In the second part we present a Branch-and-Cut algorithm for a class of Nonlinear Chance Constrained Mathematical Optimization Problems with a finite number of scenarios. This class corresponds to the problems that can be reformulated as Deterministic Convex Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming problems, but the size of the reformulation is large and quickly becomes impractical as the number of scenarios grows. We apply the Branch-and-Cut algorithm to the Mid-Term Hydro Scheduling Problem, for which we propose a chance-constrained formulation. A computational study using data from ten hydro plants in Greece shows that the proposed methodology solves instances orders of magnitude faster than applying a general-purpose solver for Convex Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Problems to the deterministic reformulation, and scales much better with the number of scenarios

An anytime tree search algorithm for two-dimensional two- and three-staged guillotine packing problems

[libralesso_anytime_2020] proposed an anytime tree search algorithm for the 2018 ROADEF/EURO challenge glass cutting problem (https://www.roadef.org/challenge/2018/en/index.php). The resulting program was ranked first among 64 participants. In this article, we generalize it and show that it is not only effective for the specific problem it was originally designed for, but is also very competitive and even returns state-of-the-art solutions on a large variety of Cutting and Packing problems from the literature. We adapted the algorithm for two-dimensional Bin Packing, Multiple Knapsack, and Strip Packing Problems, with two- or three-staged exact or non-exact guillotine cuts, the orientation of the first cut being imposed or not, and with or without item rotation. The combination of efficiency, ability to provide good solutions fast, simplicity and versatility makes it particularly suited for industrial applications, which require quickly developing algorithms implementing several business-specific constraints. The algorithm is implemented in a new software package called PackingSolver

A general genetic algorithm for one and two dimensional cutting and packing problems

Cutting and packing problems are combinatorial optimisation problems. The major interest in these problems is their practical significance, in manufacturing and other business sectors. In most manufacturing situations a raw material usually in some standard size has to be divided or be cut into smaller items to complete the production of some product. Since the cost of this raw material usually forms a significant portion of the input costs, it is therefore desirable that this resource be used efficiently. A hybrid general genetic algorithm is presented in this work to solve one and two dimensional problems of this nature. The novelties with this algorithm are: A novel placement heuristic hybridised with a Genetic Algorithm is introduced and a general solution encoding scheme which is used to encode one dimensional and two dimensional problems is also introduced