Optimization of part placement and cutting problem in the manufacturing sector

Cutting and packing problem is the placement of a large number of regular or irregular shapes into a surface or object without overlapping regularly. This problem, which takes part in combining optimization methods, is known as NP-Complete problem, which is difficult to solve with mathematical model. The purpose of this problem is to minimize the amount of waste that will be produced by using the available material efficiently. In this thesis, two dimensional cutting and packing problem which is one of the problems which is widely seen in various industrial and manufacturing sectors has been investigated and various applications have been developed. In this manner, solution approaches have been developed for cutting and packing problem using heuristic methods such as bottom-left, no-fit polygon and bottom-left fill and metaheuristic methods such as Simulated Annealing (SA) and Tabu Search (TA). In experimental studies, bottom-left and bottom-left fill methods are used for placement process, no-fit polygon method is used for no overlap between placed parts and metaheuristic methods such as SA and TA algorithms are used for faster and efficient packing process. As a result of experiments conducted with heuristic methods, it seen that, the waste rate varies between 11.2% and 15.26%. As a result of experiments carried out with metaheuristic methods, the waste rate varies between 2% and 7.2%, and these waste rate is pretty good for most industries. Experimental results show that the packing process using metaheuristics methods is more efficient. KEYWORDS: Cutting Stock Problem, Packing Problem, No-Fit Polygon, Bottom-Left Placement Theorem, Optimization, Minimum Waste