Well you seem to know what you are talking about, but i dont follow...I think
this might be beyond what i am comfortable attempting...

Dana wrote:
how many 12' sticks I would need, to get for example:
5- 3' pieces,
2- 4' pieces,
3- 5' pieces, and
1-10' piece.

I think solver might be
able to figure that out for me, but I don't know for sure.
Any thoughts or examples out there? ]

Hi. I'm sure you'll get great responses, so here's just one idea.
Cutting-Stock problems are usually the toughest.
Excel Solver can not usually do these types of problems because of the
complexity, and size of the problem if done "Brute-Force."
One usually runs a secondary program to generate Patterns. The number of
patterns is usually much smaller and more manageable.
For example, Pattern_1 might be to cut your 12' material into two 5-ft
sections with 2' waste.
Another Pattern might be to cut four 3-ft sections with zero waste. Etc.

Do single patterns first. The 10' cut can't be combined with anything else.
Cut your 1-10' section, have 2' scrap, and remove 10' cuts from further
consideration.

You now need to cut {3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5}

For this problem, I might run it through a Subset Program and look at all
2047 Subsets. (2^11-1 = 2047).
This is a small size, and can be done quickly.
Send the output to Excel's Dictionary object to remove duplicates. now you
are only looking at 143 Patterns.
Next, remove patterns that Total 9 and less, or greater than 12.
You remove patterns that total 9 or less because you can always add another
3' section and still be <= 12. Therefore, these patterns are a waste for
consideration.

Now, you've got only 6 patterns, and this is much easier to work with:

P1) {5, 5},
P2) {3, 3, 4},
P3) {3, 3, 5},
P4) {3, 4, 4},
P5) {3, 4, 5},
P6) {3, 3, 3, 3}

Your total requirement is 38'. We note that 3-12' only gives you 36'.
So, your best case now is to use 4 - 12' Materials.
Now, use Solver to pick how many of each pattern above you need.

You now know you will have multiple solutions when you pick a total of 4
patterns from above.
Here is just one of many techniques to go from here. Usually, you try to
minimize waste. I would try to Maximize waste of one of the cuts.
The larger the waste, the more chance you have of being able to cut a
smaller pattern for profit should the need arise.

I would set a constraint to make one more 5' cut for a total of 4.

I would cut
1 pattern of P6 (4-3')
1 pattern of P4 (1-3', 2-4')
and
2 patterns of P1 (2-5')
.
** However, on the second pattern here, just cut one 5' piece. You now
have 3-5' pieces. Don't cut the other 5'. Leave the material at 7' for use
elsewhere

Again, there are many ways to attack this problem.

I have a problem that I think, hope, can be solved with solver, although i
havent used solver enough to know how. I get material in 12' lengths and
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
able to figure that out for me, but i dont know for sure. Any thoughts or
examples out there? Thanks a lot, i really appreciate it.

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