On a pattern sequencing problem to minimize the maximum number of open stacks

Abstract Consider a wood cutting setting where different panels have to be cut from large boards. Each cut panel size is put into a stack which remains opened until the last panel of that size is cut. The problem considered here deals with the sequencing of the patterns in order to minimize the maximum number of open stacks during the production run. A branch and bound method for solving this problem is presented which uses a greedy type scheme to select the next node to branch.