On Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:18:55 -0500, "wabbleknee"
wrote:

I have to cut PVC pipe for various jobs. These PVC pipes come in a 10 ft
length. I am trying to maximize the cuts and generate less scrap. i.e.
The first column "A" is Qty, "B" is length (inches) and "C" is sum. Can I
put this in a look up table?? and have it pick lengths "B" not to exceed 10
feet (120 inches) and continue on until all lengths are satisfied? This
particular job requires 5 10 ft pieces, with about 5 feet scrap.

A B C
2 26.00 52.00
3 24.00 72.00
1 22.75 22.75
2 22.00 44.00
2 21.25 42.50
2 20.00 40.00
4 13.00 52.00
1 11.75 11.75
2 11.00 22.00
2 10.00 20.00
1 9.75 9.75
2 9.00 18.00
4 7.75 31.00
2 6.50 13.00
2 5.50 11.00
2 5.38 10.75
2 4.75 9.50
2 3.50 7.00
26 2.13 55.25


You are working with whole feet units of measure on the pipe at ten
feet.

Your cut lengths, however, are a much finer resolution at what appears
to be 1/4 inch.
So my suggestion would be to make the sorting program and be sure to
keep whatever scraps you get for future jobs. You can even keep a scrap
inventory right in the sheet (and truck).

Seems like a variation of a "bubble sorter", which is an old computer
programming term for a specific type of sorting method.

There can be a goal of targeting minimizing losses on all pipes, OR you
could stop at a given minimum and keep that scrap piece for another time,
and use another pipe length for the next set of cuts. The goal of that
additional parameter would be so that more often than not, your scrap
remainders will be usable lengths, whereas if you cut leaving only an
inch or whatnot, you remainders will truly be lost scrap.

The other thing is the mentality of the cutter. If you optimize this
process, they have to understand not to simply cut 26" segments until
they get 12 pcs cut (as an example), they have to follow a sorted cut
sheet and go through and mark all the uncut pipe first, which causes a
lot less mistakes than trying to do it right there at the cut-off saw.

Another way is to make an av\ctual pipe list where each pipe is called
out, not simply "ten of these".
So 50 pipes would be a 50 line cut list, and the print out product
would be the sorted cut sheet for whatever base length you have
(presumably other base lengths could be entered).

This will require VB for the sorting list from what I can tell. some
genius could write function code to do it with some temp tables, etc, and
get you there without a macro, but not easily.