Cutting stock: Position of free cut

The position of the free cut problem is the particular assortment problem where the board supplier produces boards of a fixed length and offers the user the opportunity to specify a free cut at the same point on every board. The problem is to determine that point which will minimize overall waste when customer orders come to be cut. A heuristic procedure is proposed for this problem. Several potentially good cutting positions are identified from a feasible solution of the cutting stock problem using the large original board length as the stock size. These cutting positions are further analysed to select the best one. Some computational tests performed showed promising results.