A Sequential Heuristic for the Efficient Management of a Work Center’s Stocking Area

In our partnership with a leading company specializing in automatic cutting machines for reinforcement processes, we address the management of a work center whose optimization calls for the solution of four distinct subproblems. Focusing on the third one, the subproblem asks for the effective packing of items on the identical buffers of a stocking area. The items arrive divided into subgroups (i.e., patterns), are associated with orders, and have time windows. We devise an SVC heuristic that efficiently determines feasible packing solutions while simultaneously minimizing the number of used buffers, lowering operations and fragmented orders. The SVC incorporates the idea of reachable points to restrict the location sets on the buffers. The experimental campaign highlights the SVC’s effectiveness in achieving optimality for small realistic instances, with a specific emphasis on reducing fragmented orders. Additionally, the approach showcased its ability to explore the multi-objective space and demonstrated scalability in solving practical instances.