A heuristic for a rich and real two-dimensional woodboard cutting problem

Cutting operations in manufacturing are characterized by practical requirements and utility criteria that usually increase the complexity of formulations or, even worse, are difficult to be modeled in terms of mathematical programming. However, disregarding or just simplifying those requirements often leads to solutions considered not attractive or even useless by the manufacturer. In this paper we consider a rich two-dimensional cutting stock problem that covers the whole specification of a family of wood cutting machines produced by a worldwide leader in industrial machinery manufacturing. A sequential value correction heuristic is implemented to minimize the employed stock area while reducing additional objective functions.