how to cut skirting from long lengths to minimise wastage?

[johnthehappyguy]

Hi,

I have a huge quantity of different lengths of skirting board to cut from 5.5 metre lengths.

If I cut them in random order then I will get a lot of wastage - ie. lots of long offcuts from the 5.5m length.

Is there some sort of program, where I can feed in the lengths I want, and the programme will say:- what length to cut from what board ? in order to minimise wastage.


eg if I need 2 lengths at 2m , 2 lengths at 3m and 1 length at 1.5 m,

The most economical way to cut is:-

Board 1 cut 2m plus 2m plus 1.5m =5.5m = no wastage in board number 1

Board 2 cut 3m + 1.5m = 4.5m = 1 metre wastage in board 2


A bad way to cut would be:-

Board 1 cut 3m + 2metres = 5m = 0.5m wastage in board 1
Board 2 cut 3m + 2metres = 5m = 0.5m wastage in board 2
Board 3 cut 1.5m = 3.5m wastage in board 3

As I have about 28 sizes to cut, it gets quite complex.

On a previous project I worked it out on paper with trial and error to get the best combination, however it took me about three hours to do.

I hope I have explained the problem well enough.

Is there any sort of on-line calculator or programme that can help me minimise this type of wastage.

Thanks very much,

johnthehappyguy

 

[endecotp]

This is a classic undergraduate computer science problem. See e.g.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cutting_stock_problem

For an online solver, try

http://kgolding.co.uk/woodcutcalc
http://windowcut.tk/

 

[noseall]

Always plan for your longest lengths first.

 

[foxhole]

I cut the longest lengths first from the full lengths and then match the off-cuts to the smaller cuts.