I don't think there's any easy way to write an optimization program. I too
am dealing with cutting and optimizing material, and I have been trying to
develop a way to optimize cut lists, but I don't have what it takes. The
problem is that to effectively optimize you have to test every possible
combination of the material, and then the program has to decide in every
possible case what stock material to use. I'm sure there's a "real" way to
do it, but with my rudimentary skills, I don't know of a way.

Good luck to you!

"ezexperiment" wrote:

I have random quantity lengths which I need to cut from standard stock
lengths. Is there a formula to calculate this 'Nesting' Facility.

a b c
d
eg. random quantity lengths = , , ,

Available stock Lengths = 9.0, 10.5, 12.0, 13.5, 15.0

Nesting Answer = a+d b+c
1@ 10.5 + 1@ 12.0