A Bin Packing Algorithm for Steel Production

Abstract

The paper presents a novel method for steel cutting optimization, which is performed by means of a two dimensional bin packing algorithm, with bins of different sizes. Our model extends previous mixed integer programs for bin packing, accounting for many of the issues arising in the steel manufacturing industry. In particular the proposed method can satisfy customer requirements on product quality. The developed algorithm can also deal with parameters variability occurring after the rolling processes. The final problem is formulated as a mixed integer non linear program (MINLP). This model directly applies to steel cutting, but it can be easily adapted in all of its parts, or just some of them, to other (industrial) rectangular cutting problems on different surfaces.