A heuristic approach to minimize the number of saw cycles in small-scale furniture factories

This paper addresses a two-dimensional cutting stock problem arising in furniture factories. The problem involves the simultaneous optimization of two, usually conflicting, objectives: minimizing the total number of objects and maximizing the cutting machine productivity in terms of the number of objects that are simultaneously cut. A heuristic algorithm to solve the problem is proposed based on variables and constraints generation. The main idea is to add, in a dynamic way, bounds to the frequency of some chosen cutting patterns. At each iteration a solution is generated and at the end we have a set of non-dominated solutions. A computational study was conducted using real data from a small-scale furniture factory. The results show that the proposed algorithm finds solutions that are as good as or better than the ones used in practice in the furniture factory.CNPqFAPESPCAPESUniv Fed Triangulo Mineiro, Av Dr Randolfo Borges Jr 1250, BR-38025180 Uberaba, BrazilUniv Estadual Paulista, UNESP, R Cristovao Colombo 2265, BR-15054000 Sao Jose Do Rio Preto, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Inst Ciencia & Tecnol, Av Cesare Mansueto Giulio Latte 1201, BR-12247014 Sao Jose Dos Campos, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Inst Ciencia & Tecnol, Av Cesare Mansueto Giulio Latte 1201, BR-12247014 Sao Jose Dos Campos, BrazilWeb of Scienc