2D Cutting Stock Optimization Software Survey
Rita Macedo a, Elsa Silva a, Cludio Alves ab , Filipe Pereira e Alvelos ab, J. M. Valrio de Carvalho ab, Claudio Arbib c , Fabrizio Marinelli d, d d d Ferdinando Pezzella , Luigi De Giovanni , Luca Gambella
Centro de Investigao Algoritmi, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Departamento de Produo e Sistemas, Universidade do Minho, 4710-057 Braga, Portugal
Dipartimento di Informatica, Universit degli Studi dell'Aquila via Vetoio, I-67010 Coppito, L'Aquila, Italy
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Informatica, Gestionale e dell'Automazione, Universit Politecnica delle Marche Via Brecce Bianche, I-60131, Ancona, Italy

Abstract

We present a detailed survey of software packages for two-dimensional cutting stock problems. Cutting stock problems (CSP) may involve a variety of objectives and constraints, which directly depend on technological and organizational parameters of each company. Therefore, this comparison was based on some of the packages main features, the most relevant to the problems context. Generally speaking, CSP are optimization problems consisting of placing a given set of small objects, called items, into a given set of larger ones, called stock sheets, usually with the objective of reducing the waste to a minimum. These problems, with all their extensions and variants, are well known to be NP-hard [1]. This means that all algorithms currently known for finding optimal solutions require a number of computational steps that may grow exponentially with the problem size rather than according to a polynomial function. There are two main approaches to solve this problem: exact and heuristic methods. Heuristic methods have greater flexibility in taking into account problemspecific constraints and offer a good trade-off between the quality of a solution and its computational effort. They are required to provide good, but not necessarily optimal
solutions. Exact algorithms are mainly based on linear/dynamic programming and branch-and-bound techniques. Many researchers provided surveys and categorized bibliographies on this subject (Dowsland and Dowsland [2], Dyckhoff and Finke [3] , Lodi et al. [4, 5], Dyckhoff et al. [6], among others). Moreover, Dyckhoff [7] defined a formal typology for cutting and packing problems, in which he systematically integrated various kinds of problems and notions. This typology was improved by Wscher et al. [8] with the definition of new categorization criteria. The two-dimensional version of the cutting stock problem (2D-CSP) can be stated as
1 follows: a given set of small items, each item i { ,., m} of width wi , height hi and
demand of bi pieces, has to be cut out of a virtually infinite supply of stock sheets of
1 width W and height H (where 0 < wi W and 0 < hi H , i { ,., m}), usually in order
to minimize the number of stock sheets used. The 2D-CSP can be further classified into several categories, depending on the problem's specific constraints. It can be regular, if the shapes of the items to be cut can be described by few parameters, or irregular, otherwise. Cutting irregular shapes is also known as nesting. Regular cuts can be rectangular or non-rectangular, according to whether the items are rectangles or have a different shape, respectively. Rectangular cutting is called oriented, if an item of width wi and height hi is considered to be different from another one of width hi and height wi , and non-oriented otherwise. If a sheet (or any sheet fragment produced during operation) can only be cut from side to side, then we speak of guillotine-type cutting patterns; observe that problems allowing non-guillotine patterns are generally much harder to solve. A staged pattern is a guillotine pattern cut into pieces in a limited number of phases. The direction of the first stage cuts may be either horizontal or vertical (parallel to one side of the stock sheet), and the cuts of the same stage are in the same direction. The cut directions of any two adjacent stages must be perpendicular to each other. If the maximum number of stages is not allowed to exceed n, the problem is called n-staged. When there is no such restriction, the problem is called non-staged. Whenever a final stage is allowed only to separate small items from waste areas, the problem is called non-exact. Otherwise, it is called exact.

Optimization software packages for 2D-CSP are tools used to produce the most efficient cutting patterns on several stock sheet material boards, taking into consideration technological and organizational parameters of production. Optimized cutting is vital for economic production of cut component pieces, particularly for mass-production industries, because small improvements in the cutting patterns can result in major savings in material and a considerable reduction in production costs. Although waste minimization is usually the main objective of this problem, there may be others, like minimizing the total cost, or the number of different cutting patterns. Besides this, in cutting processes, and in particular in the wood industry, a multitude of additional constraints are very often necessary, and so the software may provide features such as saw kerf compensation, guillotine or free type of cuts, cutting patterns based on wood grain orientation, edge banding specifications, among others. The software technology is based on algorithms designed to achieve optimal or near optimal solutions for the cutting patterns. These algorithms are often heuristic approaches and use a number of user-definable parameters, which constrain the number of combinations to be examined in the search of the optimal solution, so that the computational time turns out to be acceptable, even in high dimensional problems. This software survey aims at highlighting the differences among industry-oriented software packages presently available in the market.
A full version of this paper is available online at http://www.scoop-project.net.

Acknowledgements

This is research for Project SCOOP (Sheet cutting and process optimization for furniture enterprises) (Contract No COOP-CT-2006-032998), funded by the European Commission, 6th Framework Programme on Research, Technological Development and Demonstration, specific actions for SMEs, Cooperative Research Projects.

Online supplement for

R. Macedo, E. Silva, C. Alves, F. Alvelos, J. M. Valrio de Carvalho, C. Arbib, F. Marinelli, F. Pezzella, L. De Giovanni, L. Gambella (2008). 2D Cutting Stock Optimization Software Survey. OR/MS Today ().

ABSTRACT

We present a detailed survey of software packages for two-dimensional cutting stock problems. Cutting stock problems (CSP) may involve a variety of objectives and constraints, which directly depend on technological and organizational parameters of each company. Therefore, this comparison was based on some of the packages main features, the most relevant to the problems context. The softwares technology is based on algorithms designed to try to achieve optimal or near optimal solutions for the cutting patterns. These algorithms are often heuristic approaches and use a number of userdefinable parameters, which constrain the number of combinations to be examined in the search of the optimal solution, so that the computational time turns out to be acceptable, even in high dimensional problems. The software survey aims at highlighting the diversity of software packages, oriented to industrial applications, available on the market.

Keywords: two-dimensional cutting stock problems, software

Introduction

Cutting stock problems (CSP) are among the earliest ones studied in Operations Research, as they occur, with different constraints, in many real-world applications of business and industry, motivating several areas of research. Generally speaking, they are optimization problems consisting of placing a given set of small objects, called items, into a given set of larger ones, called stock sheets, usually with the objective of reducing the area of generated waste to a minimum. These problems, with all their extensions and variants, are well known to be NP-hard [1]. This means that all algorithms currently known for finding optimal solutions require a number of computational steps that may grow exponentially with the problem size rather than according to a polynomial function. Over the years, two main approaches to solve this problem have emerged: exact and heuristic methods. Heuristic methods have greater flexibility in taking into account problem-specific constraints and offer a good trade-off between the quality of a solution and its computational effort. They are required to provide good, but not necessarily optimal solutions. Exact algorithms are mainly based on linear/dynamic programming and branch-and-bound techniques. Due to the complexity and extensive nature of these problems, many different optimization formulations and solution approaches arise in the literature, according to their dimension, application field and special constraints and requirements. Therefore, many researchers provided surveys and categorized bibliographies on this subject (Dowsland and Dowsland [2], Dyckhoff and Finke [3] , Lodi et al. [4, 5], Dyckhoff et al. [6], among others). Moreover, Dyckhoff [7] defined a formal typology for cutting and packing problems, in which he systematically integrated various kinds of problems and notions. This typology was improved by Wscher et al. [8] with the definition of new categorization criteria. The two-dimensional version of the cutting stock problem (2D-CSP) can be stated as follows: a given set of small items, each item i { ,., m} of width wi , height hi and 1 demand of bi pieces, has to be cut out of a virtually infinite supply of stock sheets of

to minimize the number of stock sheets used. The 2D-CSP can be further classified into several categories, depending on the problem's specific constraints. It can be regular, if the shapes of the items to be cut can be described by few parameters, or irregular, otherwise. Cutting irregular shapes is also known as nesting. Regular cuts can be rectangular or non-rectangular, according to whether the items are rectangles or have a different shape, respectively. Rectangular cutting is called oriented, if an item of width wi and height hi is considered to be different from another one of width hi and height wi , and non-oriented otherwise. If a sheet (or any sheet fragment produced during operation) can only be cut from side to side, then we speak of guillotinetype cutting patterns; observe that problems allowing non-guillotine patterns are generally much harder to solve. A staged pattern is a guillotine pattern cut into pieces in a limited number of phases. The direction of the first stage cuts may be either horizontal or vertical (parallel to one side of the stock sheet), and the cuts of the same stage are in the same direction. The cut directions of any two adjacent stages must be perpendicular to each other. If the maximum number of stages is not allowed to exceed n, the problem is called n-staged. When there is no such restriction, the problem is called non-staged. Whenever a final stage is allowed only to separate small items from waste areas, the problem is called non-exact. Otherwise, it is called exact. Optimization software packages for 2D-CSP are tools used to produce the most efficient cutting patterns on several sheet materials boards, taking into consideration technological and organizational parameters of production. Optimized cutting is vital for economic production of cut component pieces, particularly for mass-production industries, because small improvements in the cutting patterns can result in major savings in material and a considerable reduction in production costs. Although waste minimization is usually the main objective of this problem, there may be others, like minimizing the total cost, or the number of different cutting patterns. Besides this, in cutting processes, and in particular in the wood industry, a multitude of additional constraints are very often necessary, and so the software may provide features
such as saw kerf compensation, guillotine or free type of cuts, cutting patterns based on wood grain orientation, edge banding specifications, among others. The software technology is based on algorithms designed to achieve optimal or near optimal solutions for the cutting patterns. These algorithms are often heuristic approaches and use a number of user-definable parameters, which constrain the number of combinations to be examined in the search of the optimal solution, so that the computational time turns out to be acceptable, even in high dimensional problems.

Detailed Software Survey

Cutting stock problems may involve a variety of objectives and constraints, which directly depend on technological and organizational parameters of each company. Therefore, this comparison between the referred software packages was based on some of the packages main features, the most relevant to the problems context, that are displayed in several tables, grouped in eleven different topics. The topics and corresponding tables, as well as the information they contain, are listed below.

2.1.1.1

A General Information

Table 1:

Product
Softwares commercial name.

2.1.1.2

Company
Company that developed the product.

2.1.1.3

Country
Companys head office country.

2.1.1.4

Year Introduced
Year of the products commercialization. 5

2.1.1.5

Products web page.

2.1.2.1

Table 2:

Languages

All the languages supported by the product.

2.1.2.2

Latest Version
The most recent products version released.

2.1.3.1

Table 3:

System Requirements

Recommended system requirements to run the software.

2.1.3.2

Price Information

Products purchase price.

2.2.1.1

B Optimization

Table 4:

Minimize waste

Option to set as main optimization objective the minimization of the material waste.

2.2.1.2

Minimize cost
Option to set as the main optimization objective the minimization of the projects total

2.2.1.3

Minimize number of different layouts
Option to set as main optimization objective the minimization of the number of different layouts.

2.2.1.4

Best sheet size calculation
Option to determine the best sheets dimensions for the set of defined items.

2.3.1.1

C Cutting Constraints

Table 5:

Guillotine cutting
Option to impose that cuts are only allowed to be uninterrupted, going from one side of the sheet to its opposite side, i.e., that the items are obtained through a sequence of edge-to-edge cuts, parallel to the edges of the sheet.

2.3.1.2

Free cutting
Option to include cuts without the guillotine constraint.

2.3.1.3

Rotation of items / Fixed Orientation
Option to rotate items (by 90) during calculations, to obtain greater efficiency, or, on the other hand, to fix their orientation.

2.3.1.4

Maximum cut length
Option to not include cuts longer than the specified. This option applies to situations where the cutting tool can only handle cuts up to a certain length.

2.4.1.1

D Performance

Table 6:

Time limit
Definition of a maximum period of time, after which the calculation will stop.

2.4.1.2

Adjustable optimization level
Possibility to define a balance between the speed and the quality of the optimization.

2.5.1.1

E Cutting options

Table 7:

Kerf width consideration
Consideration of the materials loss (width of the saw blade) due to cut.

2.5.1.2

Reuse of offcuts
Whether the leftover pieces from other cuts, that satisfy pre-defined minimum size requirements, can be stored for later use.

2.5.1.3

cut off.

Safety margins

Allowance to define a certain part of waste around the perimeter of a sheet that will be

2.5.1.4

Sheets priority
Option to settle, in a same calculation, different priorities for different sheets to be

2.5.2.1

Table 8:

First cut orientation

Option to settle the first cuts orientation.

2.5.2.2

Sheets of different sizes
Possibility to use sheets with different sizes (of different materials) in the same calculation.

2.5.2.3

Edge banding calculation
Automatic adjustment of the items rough dimensions, to result in the correct finished size after applying banding, to the specified edges, according to the bandings material thickness.

2.6.1.1

F Import/Export Data

Table 9:

Import from
Some applications from which data can be imported.

2.6.1.2

Export to
Some applications to which data can be exported.

2.6.1.3

CNC G code for cutting machine
Ability to export G code to CNC machines.

2.7.1.1

G Other Features

Table 10

Material database
Whether a materials database is provided.

2.7.1.2

Inventory tracking
Whether it is possible to keep track of how much inventory there is on hand, and to adjust its level after each project is completed.

2.7.1.3

Customer proposals creation
Automatic creation of a well formatted pricing document to present to potential customers.

2.7.1.4

Pricing tool
Possibility to calculate the total price of a project, based on a variety of inputs of direct or indirect costs.

2.8.1.1

H Manual layout rearrange

Table 11:

Items position
Ability to manually rearrange the automatically generated cut maps by changing the items position in the layout.

2.8.1.2

Items rotation
Ability to manually rearrange the automatically generated cut maps, by rotating items.

2.8.1.3

Items removal
Ability to manually rearrange the automatically generated cut maps by removing items from the layout.

2.8.1.4

Items insertion
Ability to manually rearrange the automatically generated cut maps by inserting new items or inserting into a certain layout an item from another one.

2.8.1.5

Items size altering
Ability to manually rearrange the automatically generated cut maps by changing the items sizes.

2.9.1.1

I Outputs

Table 12:

Cuts coordinates
Indication of each items coordinates in the corresponding sheet.

2.9.1.2

Number of cuts
Indication of the total number of different saw cuts.

2.9.1.3

Trajectory of cuts
Option to visualize the lines that indicate the cutting-out sequence of each layout.
To fill in the referred tables, a thorough analysis of the twenty two software packages trial versions, as well as of the available manuals, was performed, in order to collect all the information as accurately as possible. In those cases where the software comes in more than one version, the information below always refers to the most complete one.

TABLE 1

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNcutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 Company Adelaide Computer Energy Technos Ltd Dimensions softwares Woodworking Software Soft Consult RK Software MagicLogic Cutting Software Optimal Programs XY Soft Rasterweq Software R&R DRUMMOND Asrokette Algorithms VRSoft Ltd Cutting Optimizer Joiners Placet TMachines, s.r.o. Cutting Home Optimalon Softwares Boole & Partners Small BITS Nirvana Technologies Private Limited Productivity Software Country Australia Russia Brazil USA Czech Republic Slovakia Canada USA, UK USA USA USA USA Belarus Serbian Austria Slovakia Russia Canada France South Africa India USA Year Introduced URL http://www.acecut.com/default.h tm http://www.techno-sys.com/ http://www.cortecerto.com/engli sh/main.htm http://cutlistplus.com/default.asp x http://www.softconsult.cz/us/ind ex.asp http://www.rksoft.sk/ http://www.cuttingstock.com/home.cfm http://www.optimalprograms.co m/ http://www.optimizecutter.com/ http://www.rasterweq.com/index.php http://www.rrdrummond.com/ http://www.astrokettle.com/inde x.html http://vrsoft.msk.ru/index.htm http://www.cutmaster2d.com/ind ex.html http://www.itmanagement.at/joi nersplanet/english/index.html http://tmachines.com/cutlogic2d.htm http://www.cuttinghome.com/in dex.html http://www.optimalon.com/defa ult.htm http://boole.club.fr/english/index _eng.php http://www.smallbits.co.za/inde x.htm http://www.nirvanatec.com/ http://www.sheetlayout.com/

TABLE 2

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Suite Cutting Languages Most European, East Asian, or right-to-left languages English English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Dutch Same language as Windows English Czech, German, Nederlands, Greek, English, Spanish, French, Croatian, Italian, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Serbian, and Bulgarian English, German, French. Spanish (South America), Portuguese (Brazil) and Dutch English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, Swedish and Dutch English Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish English English, French and Italian English and Russian English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Serbian and Croatian English and German Chinese, English, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish English and Russian English English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Turkish, Chinese and Danish English English English Latest Version Version 6.2.1 Version 4.2 Version 2.43 Version 2006 Version 3.15 Version 2.36c
Release2.7.1 (Build 1) Version 5.7.1 Version 4.7.9 Version 2.3 Version 7.0 Version 1.85 Version 1.52 Version 1.3.2.7 Version 1.0 Version 1.5 Version 1.43 Version 4.3a Version 3.7.1.1 Version 5.04 Version 9.07
SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9

TABLE 3

Product System Requirements Pentium 100 or higher PC 16 MB RAM 100 MB free hard disk space VGA monitor (800 x 600 minimum or higher) Windows 2000/XP/2003 Price Information

ACE Cutting Optimizer

$ 499.95 - $ 1149.95

Astra R-Nesting

Windows 95 (not less than OSR2) Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP operational systems.
Light 1 copy. 2-3 copies. 4 and more copies. Professional 1 copy 2-3 copies. 4-5 copies. 6 and more copies.
$90 $75 $60 $200 $150 $120 $100

Corte Certo

Cutlist Plus

Merick Calc 3.15

PENTIUM 133 MHz processor ( 166 MHz for use with Windows NT ) 32 Mb of RAM ( 64 Mb for use with Windows NT ) Windows compatible printer Windows 95/ 98/ 2000 or Windows NT 4.Mb free on hard drive. Windows XP or later 24 bit video display with a minimum resolution of 800 x 600. Display resolution of 1024 x 768 or better is recommended. Processor: 486-100MHz and higher (Pentium-Pentium4) Memory: 530kB free RAM (basic memory) Hard disk: min. 2MB, opt. 10MB free (after program installation) Video: colour VGA and better, program works with CGA, Hercules a EGA too Mouse: Microsoft komp Printer: Bubble Jet or Laser Printer HP comp. MS DOS 5.0 and higher, W95, W98, WME, W2000, WXP Windows 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP Min. resolution; 800 x 600 Fully compatible with both Windows 95/98 and Windows NT/2000

MINI.. $ 200 STANDARD. $ 550 PLUS.. $ 850
LT Edition. $29.95 Silver Edition. $89 Gold Edition.. $249
Full program version. $99 Multilicense. $199

Optimik

MINI 100.. 70 MIDI 1000.. 140 MAXI Unlimited.. 210

Plan IQ

Real Cut 2D
Processor: 100 MHz / 500 MHz RAM: 16Mb / 32Mb Hard disk space: 10Mb / 10Mb Display: 800x600 / 1024x768 Graphics (colors): 16 bit (65535) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 98 or higher. Tested on Win NT 4.0, Me and XP.
ATOC.. $895 GC.. $895 UCGC.. $1250

80 / $100

System Requirements Disk space for installation: 4 Mb. RAM: 64 Mb or larger. Processor Speed: No lower limit, but the speed of the processor will directly affect the speed of the program. Pentium 500 MHz processor 128 MB of RAM 40 MB of free hard disk space Graphic system capable of displaying 800x600 pixels in 256 colors Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP Pentium - 233 MHz processor or better 32 MB of available memory 10 MB of free hard disk space Graphic system capable of displaying 800x600 pixels in 256 colors Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT 4.0/ME/2000/XP IBM PC or compatible Windows operating system CD ROM drive Intel Pentium class processor Hard disk with 10 MB free space Pentium II or higher. Graphic system capable of displaying 800x600 pixels or higher resolution SVGA monitor. Windows 95/98/NT/2000/Me/XP. Pentium 166 MHz processor. 16 B of RAM 10 MB of free storage space in hard drive; Graphic system capable of displaying 800x600 pixels in 265 colours. Windows 95/98/NT. Pentium 100 MHz processor. 16 MB of RAM. 40 MB of free hard disk space. Graphic system capable of displaying 800x600 pixels in 256 colours. Windows 95/98/NT 4.0/ME/2000/XP. PC 486 with 3 inch disk with Windows 3.x , 8 Mbyte memory 4 Mbyte of free hard disk space. You should use Courier New Font and VGA or SVGA (Minimum 800 x 600). Windows 95/98/NT Pentium processor or compatible Windows 98 operation system

Sheet Cutting Suite

Lite version.. Standard version. Site License Lite version.. Standard version.

1900 2900

SmartCUT
100 parts. 50/$parts. 90/ $120 Unlimited parts. 130/ $170

The Itemizer

Complete program. $299 Email program. $279

2D Load Packer

Standard. $390 Uniform. $290 Single. $190

BestCut

Cut Master 2D
Pro 1 workstation. 125$ 2/9 workstations 80$ Lite 1 workstation. 80$ Small Edition (up to 50 parts). 99$ Medium Edition (up to 200 parts). 219$ Premium Edition (up to 2500 parts). 419$ $799

Cutlight

CutLogic 2D
System Requirements 64 MB RAM 15 MB of free Hard Disk space 256 of colours display 800x600 Windows 98/NT/Me/2000/XP/2003 Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT/XP Microsoft.NET Compact Framework 1.0 installed in Pocket PC Pentium-IV, 1000 MHz (or higher) 128 MB (or more) of RAM 40 MB (or more) of free hard disk space Windows 98/NT/2000/Xp or later -
Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking
$200 $297 $197 for each additional license. R650 (rand)

Sheet Layout 9

Hobbyist. Small Shop. Small Shop Plus. Commercial
$34.95 $89.95 $139.95 $219.95

TABLE 4

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 Minimize waste Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Minimize cost No No No Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No Minimize number of different layouts No No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No No Best sheet size calculation No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No

TABLE 5

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 Guillotine cutting Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Free cutting No No No No No No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No Yes No No Rotation of items / Fixed orientation Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No No Yes No No Yes No Maximum cut length Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

TABLE 6

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 Time Limit No No Yes No No No Yes No No No No Yes No No No No No Yes No No No Adjustable optimization level No Yes Fast or normal nesting Yes Fast, normal, high1 or high2 No Yes Speed (0-9) Yes A, B, C, D, AA, BB, CC, D or choose best variant of calculation Yes Optimization level (1-4) Yes Small time of execution (weak optimization) or Large time of execution (strong optimization) Yes Fastest - Max. Optimization Yes Quick / Full (slower) No Yes Intensity (0-20) Yes Minimum optimization - Maximum optimization Yes Minimum (highest speed), Medium (Normal speed) or Maximum (Lowest speed) No No Yes Fast, Normal or Perfect Yes Fast, Standard 1, Standard 2, Advanced 1, Advanced 2, Personified or DC Optimized No Yes Quick results - Optimized results No

TABLE 7

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 Kerf width consideration Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Reuse of offcuts Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No Safety margins No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Sheets priority No No Yes No No No Yes No Yes No No No Yes No No No No No No No No

TABLE 8

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 First cut orientation No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Sheets of different sizes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Edge bandig calculation No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

TABLE 9

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Import from MS Excel; Lotus Notes; TXT; DXF XML; MS Excel; Astra Exchange File MS Excel; MS Word; CSV TXT; CSV TXT CSV MS Word ; MS Excel TXT; MS EXCEL CSV TXT; CSV MS EXCEL MS EXCEL; XML CSV AutoCad; TXT; Project Cutting 2 MS Excel; Cabinet design softwares (PolyBoard, TopWood, Obvie, KitchenDraw, ) CSV CSV; TXT; DXF ASCII files; File Wizard; CSV Export to TXT; DXF MS Excel RTF; CSV; Html; XML; DXF; ERP TXT TXT CSV; MS Excel MS Word; MS Excel HTML; DXF(AUTOCAD); CNC G code files CSV DXF for CAD and CNC purposes XML ; AUTOCAD DXF CSV MS Excel; TXT MS Excel; Cabinet design softwares (PolyBoard, TopWood, Obvie, KitchenDraw, ) DXF; CSV; XML MS Excel; DXF CNC code for cutting machines No No Yes (G code) No Yes No No No Yes No Yes No No No No No No Yes

Opticut

Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9

No Yes Yes

TABLE 10
Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 Materials database Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Inventory tracking Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes No No No Yes No Yes Yes Customer proposals creation No No Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No Yes No Pricing tool No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

TABLE 11

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 Items position No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No Items rotation No Yes Yes No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No No No No No No No No Items removal No Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No Items insertion No Yes Yes No No No No No No No Yes No No No No No Yes No No No No Items size altering No Yes Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No

TABLE 12

Product ACE Cutting Optimizer Astra R-Nesting Corte Certo Cutlist Plus Merick Calc 3.15 Optimik Plan IQ Real Cut 2D Sheet Cutting Suite SmartCUT The Itemizer 2D Load Packer BestCut Cut Master 2D Cutlight CutLogic 2D Cutting 3 GNCutter 32 Opticut Panel Optimizer Plus 2D for Woodworking Sheet Layout 9 Cuts coordinates Yes No Yes No No No Yes No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes No No Yes No Number of cuts No No Yes No No No No No No No No No No No No No No Yes No No Yes No Trajectory of cuts No Yes Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No No No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

Conclusions

This may be considered a representative survey, although it is not exhaustive, since there are other software packages on the market. This software survey highlighted the differences among industry-oriented software packages presently available in the market. While some turned out to be very simple applications, others stood out in terms of variety of features and user-definable parameters specially conceived to meet the furniture industry requirements.

References

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