CutPlanner – Automated production planning

Benefits

  • Reduction of production costs
  • Estimate of material costs
  • Calculation of material costs
  • Time saving
  • To be used as a developer's tool kit

Software CutPlanner

CutPlanner is a software package for use in the textile manufacturing industry for automatic cut order planning.

Contact us!

Are you interested in a cooperation or do you have any questions? We will be happy to help you!

Further information

The info sheet provides you with all the information about CutPlanner in a clear and printable format.

A cut plan is an assignment of sizes and fabric types to markers. For each of these markers, the required number of plies is computed to fulfill the order’s specifics.

The objective of CutPlanner is to minimize total production costs. They consist of the costs for the fabric used, and several production costs incurred by making the markers, preparation of the cutting process, and the picking of pieces to be cut.

CutPlanner provides two different modes of operation to calculate material consumption:

  1. Conventional mode: The user dictates the estimated yield values that specify the material consumption, which depends on the number of sizes in a marker.
  2. Exact mode: CutPlanner engages an integrated automatic marker making engine to calculate the real material consumption. Here, the user does not have to supply any estimations: the software runs automatically.

There is a trade-off between speed and accuracy. In conventional mode, the computed costs are only estimations, but a solution is reached very quickly. In exact mode, the computation of a solution takes more time, but real costs are used for its calculation. In other words, the solution in exact mode is closer to the real outcome. If the yield data for some or all markers is already available for the user, this information can be given to CutPlanner. Consequently, the computation time decreases because these markers do not have to be nested during the computations. Furthermore, already existing solutions can be given to CutPlanner, in order to be improved by the software.

Example: Solution by calculation of material costs

Material utilization 86.33%, calculation time: 20 minutes. The given examples were computed using CutPlanner on a standard PC. The different colors of the pieces in the markers represent the different item sizes.

Demand:

  SIze 1 size 2 size 3 size 4 size 5
fabric 1 20 30 40 40 30
Fabric 2 10 20 20 20 10
Fabric 3 30 40 50 50 40
Meaning of colors
© Fraunhofer SCAI

Result:

© Fraunhofer SCAI
© Fraunhofer SCAI
© Fraunhofer SCAI

Example: Solution by estimating material costs

Material utilization 81.99%, computation time: <1 minute.

Demand:

  SIze 1 Size 2 Size 3 Size 4 Size 5 Size 6
Fabric 1 78 94 110 102 86 70
Fabric 2 51 62 73 67 56 45

 

© Fraunhofer SCAI
Result of the estimate: Material utilization 81.99%

Yield Table:

One Size 81.00% Four sizes 81.80%
Two Sizes 81.50% Five sizes 81.90%
Three sizes 81.70% Six sizes 82.00%

Another example solution by calculating the material utilization

Example solution by calculation of material costs, material utilization 91.44%, calculation time: 30 minutes
© Fraunhofer SCAI
Example solution by calculation of material costs, material utilization 91.44%, calculation time: 30 minutes

Methods

CutPlanner combines the latest optimization techniques in order to achieve the best results in a very short time. CutPlanner utilizes linear programming techniques specialized for large problems, which are adapted to the special problem characteristics of cut order planning.

To expand upon these strategies, fast local search algorithms, pattern recognition techniques, and effective heuristics are also employed.

Additionally, dynamic parameter choices are used in all cases. CutPlanner uses advanced technology for integration of nesting software allowing fast and accurate cost estimations.

Software

CutPlanner addresses developers of CAD- and ERP-systems for the textile manufacturing industry. The software package is organized as a software library (DLL) and can be seamlessly integrated into other software environments and GUIs by the developers of such systems.

Fraunhofer SCAI also offers the creation of custom-made stand-alone applications for the end user that can be used to create solutions from special data formats.

CutPlanner runs on the latest Windows operating systems.

 

Contact us!

Are you interested in detailed information about CutPlanner or in a cooperation? We will be happy to help you.