Assessing the Effectiveness and Efficiency of Selected Solution Approaches for Two-Dimensional Stock Cutting Problems (Part I): Case Study Printed Circuit Boards

In the context of industrial production, the cutting problem exists in many technical disciplines. A two-dimensional stock cutting problem (2DCSP) aims to minimize the scrap that are cut from a set of rectangular stocks. Due to its NP-hard nature, the research is structured in four parts as: Rule-based approach (Part I), AI-based approach (Part II), Hybrid approach considering rule-based, AI-based, and brute force approaches (Part III), and comparison of efficiency and effectiveness of the approaches (Part IV). As being the first part of the comprehensive research, this paper aims to introduce the industrial applications of the problem and basics of the approaches in concern. A rule-based approach is applied to solve a 2DCSP for Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The promising component placement results are discussed in terms of practical application and directions for future studies are provided.