Algorithms for cutting and packing problems

Orientador: Flávio Keidi MiyazawaTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: Problemas de Corte e Empacotamento são, em sua maioria, NP-difíceis e não existem algoritmos exatos de tempo polinomial para tais se for considerado P ¿ NP. Aplicações práticas envolvendo estes problemas incluem a alocação de recursos para computadores; o corte de chapas de ferro, de madeira, de vidro, de alumínio, peças em couro, etc.; a estocagem de objetos; e, o carregamento de objetos dentro de contêineres ou caminhões-baú. Nesta tese investigamos problemas de Corte e Empacotamento NP-difíceis, nas suas versões bi- e tridimensionais, considerando diversas restrições práticas impostas a tais, a saber: que permitem a rotação ortogonal dos itens; cujos cortes sejam feitos por uma guilhotina; cujos cortes sejam feitos por uma guilhotina respeitando um número máximo de estágios de corte; cujos cortes sejam não-guilhotinados; cujos itens tenham demanda (não) unitária; cujos recipientes tenham tamanhos diferentes; cujos itens sejam representados por polígonos convexos e não-convexos (formas irregulares); cujo empacotamento respeite critérios de estabilidade para corpos rígidos; cujo empacotamento satisfaça uma dada ordem de descarregamento; e, cujos empacotamentos intermediários e final tenham seu centro de gravidade dentro de uma região considerada "segura". Para estes problemas foram propostos algoritmos baseados em programação dinâmica; modelos de programação inteira; técnicas do tipo branch-and-cut; heurísticas, incluindo as baseadas na técnica de geração de colunas; e, meta-heurísticas como o GRASP. Resultados teóricos também foram obtidos. Provamos uma questão em aberto levantada na literatura sobre cortes não-guilhotinados restritos a um conjunto de pontos. Uma extensiva série de testes computacionais considerando instâncias reais e várias outras geradas de forma aleatória foram realizados com os algoritmos desenvolvidos. Os resultados computacionais, sendo alguns deles comparados com a literatura, comprovam a validade dos algoritmos propostos e a sua aplicabilidade prática para resolver os problemas investigadosAbstract: Several versions of Cutting and Packing problems are considered NP-hard and, if we consider that P ¿ NP, we do not have any exact polynomial algorithm for solve them. Practical applications arises for such problems and include: resources allocation for computers; cut of steel, wood, glass, aluminum, etc.; packing of objects; and, loading objects into containers and trucks. In this thesis we investigate Cutting and Packing problems that are NP-hard considering theirs two- and three-dimensional versions, and subject to several practical constraints, that are: that allows the items to be orthogonally rotated; whose cuts are guillotine type; whose cuts are guillotine type and performed in at most k stages; whose cuts are non-guillotine type; whose items have varying and unit demand; whose bins are of variable sizes; whose items are represented by convex and non-convex polygons (irregular shapes); whose packing must satisfy the conditions for static equilibrium of rigid bodies; whose packing must satisfy an order to unloading; and, whose intermediaries and resultant packing have theirs center of gravity inside a safety region; Such cutting and packing problems were solved by dynamic programming algorithms; integer linear programming models; branch-and-cut algorithms; several heuristics, including those ones based on column generation approaches, and metaheuristics like GRASP. Theoretical results were also provided, so a recent open question arised by literature about non-guillotine patterns restricted to a set of points was demonstrated. We performed an extensive series of computational experiments for algorithms developed considering several instances presented in literature and others generated at random. These results, some of them compared with the literature, validate the approaches proposed and suggest their applicability to deal with practical situations involving the problems here investigatedDoutoradoDoutor em Ciência da Computaçã

Ant colony optimisation and local search for bin-packing and cutting stock problems

The Bin Packing Problem and the Cutting Stock Problem are two related classes of NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. Exact solution methods can only be used for very small instances, so for real-world problems, we have to rely on heuristic methods. In recent years, researchers have started to apply evolutionary approaches to these problems, including Genetic Algorithms and Evolutionary Programming. In the work presented here, we used an ant colony optimization (ACO) approach to solve both Bin Packing and Cutting Stock Problems. We present a pure ACO approach, as well as an ACO approach augmented with a simple but very effective local search algorithm. It is shown that the pure ACO approach can compete with existing evolutionary methods, whereas the hybrid approach can outperform the best-known hybrid evolutionary solution methods for certain problem classes. The hybrid ACO approach is also shown to require different parameter values from the pure ACO approach and to give a more robust performance across different problems with a single set of parameter values. The local search algorithm is also run with random restarts and shown to perform significantly worse than when combined with ACO

Solving Two-Dimensional Cutting and Packing Problems

RESUMEN: En este proyecto se aborda el problema bidimensional de empaquetamiento (2DBPP) que consiste en colocar, sin solapamientos, un conjunto finito de rectángulos en el mínimo número posible de contenedores bidimensionales rectangulares idénticos. Estos problemas tienen numerosas aplicaciones industriales: en el sector de corte (madera, cristal, etc.), en el transporte de mercancías, en las telecomunicaciones, etc. El problema es NP-duro y muy difícil de resolver en la práctica en un tiempo razonable. Aún hoy en día la determinación de una buena formulación MIP es un reto. En este trabajo se ha optado por utilizar la formulación y el método de resolución presentado en [10], que es considerado el estado actual del arte en la resolución de (2DBPP) [5]. A lo largo del mismo se han utilizado distintos algoritmos como generación de columnas, MAC, ramificación y poda y heurísticos, junto con métodos de programación lineal continua y entera, alguno de ellos con implementación propia usando los lenguajes de programación Matlab y C. Además, se han realizado experimentos numéricos utilizando la colección de problemas NGCUT [2].ABSTRACT: This project addresses the two-dimensional packaging problem (2DBPP) which consists of allocating, without overlaps, a finite set of rectangles into the minimum number of identical two-dimensional rectangular containers. These problems have many industrial applications: in the cutting area (wood, glass, etc.), in the transportation of goods, in telecommunications, etc. The problem is NP-hard and very difficult to solve in a reasonable time. Even today determining a good MIP formulation is challenging. We use in this work the formulation and resolution method presented in [10], which is considered the current state of the art for solving (2DBPP) [5]. Throughout it, different algorithms have been used such as column generation, MAC, Branch and Bound and heuristics, along with continuous and integer linear programming methods, some of them with our Matlab and C codes. In addition, numerical experiments have been performed on NGCUT problem set [2].Grado en Matemática

Bin Packing and Related Problems: General Arc-flow Formulation with Graph Compression

We present an exact method, based on an arc-flow formulation with side constraints, for solving bin packing and cutting stock problems --- including multi-constraint variants --- by simply representing all the patterns in a very compact graph. Our method includes a graph compression algorithm that usually reduces the size of the underlying graph substantially without weakening the model. As opposed to our method, which provides strong models, conventional models are usually highly symmetric and provide very weak lower bounds. Our formulation is equivalent to Gilmore and Gomory's, thus providing a very strong linear relaxation. However, instead of using column-generation in an iterative process, the method constructs a graph, where paths from the source to the target node represent every valid packing pattern. The same method, without any problem-specific parameterization, was used to solve a large variety of instances from several different cutting and packing problems. In this paper, we deal with vector packing, graph coloring, bin packing, cutting stock, cardinality constrained bin packing, cutting stock with cutting knife limitation, cutting stock with binary patterns, bin packing with conflicts, and cutting stock with binary patterns and forbidden pairs. We report computational results obtained with many benchmark test data sets, all of them showing a large advantage of this formulation with respect to the traditional ones

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