Cutting and Packing in Production and Distribution

Within such disciplines as Management Science, Information
and Computer Sciences, Engineering, Mathematics and
Operations Research, problems of cutting and packing (C& P)of
concrete or abstract objects appear under various
specifications although they have essentially the same
logical structure. This book tries to give a description and
categorization of C& P-problems as a whole, making them
comparable in such a way as to clearly mark their
similarities and differences with respect to the underlying
planning problems. The purpose is to create a basis of
knowledge which presents suggestions for selection,
development and utilization of appropriate solution
approaches.
For this purpose the book
- creates a consistent terminology for C& P problems,
- developes anappropriate characterization scheme of 34
properties, and
- typifies more than 300 real C& P-problems published in the
German and English literature.
Moreover, the book contains a collection of nearly 700
German and English references on C& P-problems.