This paper addresses to the two-dimensional cutting problem where a rectangular plate is to be cut into smaller rectangular pieces, in such a way as to minimizing the waste. However, the plate has a number of well-located defects. We propose an AND/OR-graph approach to represent the feasible solutions and a branch and bound method in order to search the graph. Computational experiments show that the approach is effective.
cutting and packing problems; AND/OR-graph search; combinatorial optimization