The article Cutting stock problem with usable leftovers: A review, published in the European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR), one of the leading journals in operational research, explores the current challenges of optimized cutting and the management of reusable leftovers. Co-authored by Victor Senergues, PhD and Research Project Manager at Reeverse Systems, it provides a structured view of existing approaches and innovation prospects for manufacturers.
In many industrial environments, a proportion of materials (aluminum, steel, PVC, etc.) remains unused after cutting. When they can be reused, these offcuts represent an important lever for improving material performance, reducing waste and boosting the competitiveness of industrial processes.
This article provides an in-depth review of the cutting stock problem with usable leftovers, an optimization problem which aims to determine the best cutting strategies while integrating the value of usable leftovers.
It consists in finding the best way to cut standard materials to satisfy a given demand while minimizing losses and costs, despite a combinatorial explosion of possible solutions.
In this publication, the authors highlight several key areas for manufacturers:
Reducing the volume of material losses (up to 15% of material saved, depending on the scenarios studied) and the associated carbon footprint,
Optimization of production, purchasing and storage costs,
Improved calculation of cutting plans thanks to automated integration of reusable offcuts in optimization models,
Opening up new avenues of research and application.
By bringing together scientific expertise and operational challenges, thisresearch is helping to advance thinking on a more efficient and sustainable industry.
This article is the fruit of a collaboration between IMT Atlantique, the Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes (LS2N), the Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP) and Reeverse Systems. In particular, it incorporates advances from the previous work of co-author Adriana Cristina Cherri, dating back to 2014.
This collective dynamic illustrates the importance of synergies between academic research and industrial expertise in developing concrete solutions to the challenges of materials optimization.
We would also like to thank François Klein, Olivier Péton and Nadjib Brahimi for their invaluable contributions and scientific expertise.