| Article ID: | iaor2001488 |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Volume: | 6 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Start Page Number: | 199 |
| End Page Number: | 213 |
| Publication Date: | Mar 1999 |
| Journal: | International Transactions in Operational Research |
| Authors: | Scheithauer Guntram |
| Keywords: | Loading, containers, packing |
New relaxations are developed in this paper for problems of optimal packing of small (rectangular-shaped) pieces within one or several larger containers. Based on these relaxations tighter bounds for the Container Loading Problem (CLP) and the Multi-Container Loading Problem (MCLP) are obtained. The new relaxations for the CLP and MCLP lead to linear programming problems. A corresponding solution approach is discussed which is based on a column generation technique. Results of computational tests are also given.