The third dimension of two-dimensional cutting

A number of papers in Operational Research literature have described and discussed approaches to one and two dimensional cutting stock, or trim loss problems; only a handful describe implementation in an industrial setting. It seems that in this area of Operational Research, as in many others, implementation lags far behind theory. In this paper, written jointly by the client and the researcher, we suggest that there is an equally important 'third dimension' concerned with practical and interpersonal issues which is often overlooked in tackling cutting stock problems. We describe work with an international timber company who were concerned about this issue because they were attempting to market a waste cutting optimisation computer package for the furniture and packing case industries. To explore the issue we used techniques developed by our research group at the University of Bath, UK, including an interactive software package called which is designed to assist in the exploration of complex decision making issues.