Four things actually move the needle on cutting waste: accurate kerf, using every stock length you hold, a real minimum-offcut threshold, and letting a solver — not list order — decide the combinations. Here's each one, with a real example.
Not every leftover piece from a cut bar is waste. Here's the practical line between a reusable offcut and true scrap, and how a cutting optimizer should treat each one.
Aluminium extrusion jobs usually mean several different required lengths cut from a handful of stock bar lengths per profile. Here's how mixing stock lengths in the optimization — not just the order list — reduces waste, with a real worked example.
The mathematically optimal cutting plan can use far more distinct cutting patterns than a slightly less efficient one — and more patterns means more setup changes and more room for error at the saw. Here's the actual trade-off.
Most shops start their cutting list in Excel. Here's where that breaks down as a job grows, and how to go from a spreadsheet of lengths to an actual optimized cutting plan without re-entering everything by hand.
1D cutting optimization arranges pieces along the length of a bar. 2D arranges shapes across the area of a sheet. Here's what that difference actually means for the software, the math, and which one you need.
The cutting stock problem is the math behind every cutting list: given lengths you need and stock you have, find the combination that wastes the least. Here's how it actually works, with a real worked example.
Saw kerf is the material a blade removes on every cut. Here's what determines it, how to measure yours, and why a cutting list that ignores it runs short of material.