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

A Quasiphysical and Dynamic Adjustment Approach for Packing the Orthogonal Unequal Rectangles in a Circle with a Mass Balance: Satellite Payload Packing

Packing orthogonal unequal rectangles in a circle with a mass balance (BCOURP) is a typical combinational optimization problem with the NP-hard nature. This paper proposes an effective quasiphysical and dynamic adjustment approach (QPDAA). Two embedded degree functions between two orthogonal rectangles and between an orthogonal rectangle and the container are defined, respectively, and the extruded potential energy function and extruded resultant force formula are constructed based on them. By an elimination of the extruded resultant force, the dynamic rectangle adjustment, and an iteration of the translation, the potential energy and static imbalance of the system can be quickly decreased to minima. The continuity and monotony of two embedded degree functions are proved to ensure the compactness of the optimal solution. Numerical experiments show that the proposed QPDAA is superior to existing approaches in performance

Three-Dimensional Knapsack Problem with Pre-Placed Boxes and Vertical Stability

A three-dimensional knapsack problem packs a subset of rectangular boxes inside a bin with fixed size such that the total value of packed boxes is maximized. Each box has its own value and size and can be freely rotated into any of the six positions while its edges are parallel to the bin\u27s edges. A Mixed Integer Linear Programming is developed for the 3D knapsack problem, while some practical constraints such as vertical stability are considered. However, the given model can be applied to two dimensional problems as well. The proposed solution methodology is based on the sequence triple. Simulated annealing technique is used to model the heuristic approach. Moreover, the situation where some boxes are pre-placed in the bin is investigated. These pre-placed boxes represent potential obstacles. Numerical experiments are conducted for bins with and without obstacles. The results show that the heuristic approach is successful and can handle different kinds of instances

Problems, Models and Algorithms in One- and Two-Dimensional Cutting

Within such disciplines as Management Science, Information and Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Operations Research, problems of cutting and packing (C&P) of concrete and abstract objects appear under various specifications (cutting problems, knapsack problems, container and vehicle loading problems, pallet loading, bin packing, assembly line balancing, capital budgeting, changing coins, etc.), although they all have essentially the same logical structure. In cutting problems, a large object must be divided into smaller pieces; in packing problems, small items must be combined to large objects. Most of these problems are NP-hard. Since the pioneer work of L.V. Kantorovich in 1939, which first appeared in the West in 1960, there has been a steadily growing number of contributions in this research area. In 1961, P. Gilmore and R. Gomory presented a linear programming relaxation of the one-dimensional cutting stock problem. The best-performing algorithms today are based on their relaxation. It was, however, more than three decades before the first `optimum? algorithms appeared in the literature and they even proved to perform better than heuristics. They were of two main kinds: enumerative algorithms working by separation of the feasible set and cutting plane algorithms which cut off infeasible solutions. For many other combinatorial problems, these two approaches have been successfully combined. In this thesis we do it for one-dimensional stock cutting and two-dimensional two-stage constrained cutting. For the two-dimensional problem, the combined scheme provides mostly better solutions than other methods, especially on large-scale instances, in little time. For the one-dimensional problem, the integration of cuts into the enumerative scheme improves the results of the latter only in exceptional cases. While the main optimization goal is to minimize material input or trim loss (waste), in a real-life cutting process there are some further criteria, e.g., the number of different cutting patterns (setups) and open stacks. Some new methods and models are proposed. Then, an approach combining both objectives will be presented, to our knowledge, for the first time. We believe this approach will be highly relevant for industry

Operational Research: Methods and Applications

Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order. The authors dedicate this paper to the 2023 Turkey/Syria earthquake victims. We sincerely hope that advances in OR will play a role towards minimising the pain and suffering caused by this and future catastrophes

Three-dimensional cutting and packing problems and integration with vehicle routing

Orientador: Vinicius Amaral ArmentanoTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: A adoção de contêineres em grande escala tornou possível o desenvolvimento do transporte multimodal. Atualmente, carregamento de caixas em contêineres é uma importante atividade em empresas que têm no transporte de carga um fator logístico de alto custo. Este trabalho apresenta o desenvolvimento e aplicação de metaheurísticas com memória adaptativa para a resolução de problemas de corte e empacotamento tridimensional, bem como a integração destes com o problema de roteamento de veículos. Mais especificamente, são tratados os problemas de carregamento de contêiner, bin packing tridimensional e roteamento de veículos capacitados com restrições de empacotamento tridimensional. Uma nova abordagem, baseada em cubóides de tamanho variável, é utilizada para calcular os padrões de carregamento tridimensional em todos os métodos propostos. Restrições de orientação, estabilidade, centro de gravidade, projeção da base de apoio e múltiplos destinos são consideradas. Extensivos testes computacionais são realizados para demonstrar o desempenho das abordagenspropostasAbstract: The wide-scale adoption of the containers made the development of the multimodal transport possible. Nowadays, shipment of boxes in containers is an important activity for companies that have in the load transport a logistic factor of high cost. This work presents the development and the application of metaheuristics with adaptive memory in order to solve three-dimensional cutting and packing problems, as well as their integration with the vehicle routing problem. In particular, problems of container loading, three-dimensional bin packing and vehicle routing with three-dimensional packing constraints are considered. Furthermore, a new approach based on maximal cuboids that fit in given empty spaces is used to calculate the packing patterns in the proposed methods. Constrains on orientation, stability, center of gravity, overhang and multiple destination are considered. Extensive computational experiments are carried out to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approachesDoutoradoAutomaçãoDoutor em Engenharia Elétric

A Cookbook of Self-Supervised Learning

Self-supervised learning, dubbed the dark matter of intelligence, is a promising path to advance machine learning. Yet, much like cooking, training SSL methods is a delicate art with a high barrier to entry. While many components are familiar, successfully training a SSL method involves a dizzying set of choices from the pretext tasks to training hyper-parameters. Our goal is to lower the barrier to entry into SSL research by laying the foundations and latest SSL recipes in the style of a cookbook. We hope to empower the curious researcher to navigate the terrain of methods, understand the role of the various knobs, and gain the know-how required to explore how delicious SSL can be

Operational Research: Methods and Applications

Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order