Resolution of strip-packing problems with genetic algorithms

This paper studies strip-packing problems. It is our aim to optimise the position of a number of rectangular shapes on a base surface in order to minimise wastage of material. As the problem is a complex NP-complete one, a heuristic based on genetic algorithms (GA) is used to solve it. The main problem is the wide variety of genetic algorithms available in the literature, which makes it hard to know which variation is best suited to this type of problem. We conclude that using a cyclic crossover GA with fitness by area and variable mutation works best for this problem.