Sequential heuristic for the two-dimensional bin-packing problem

A heuristic approach for the two-dimensional bin-packing problem is proposed. The algorithm is based on the sequential heuristic procedure that generates each pattern to produce some items and repeats until all items are produced. Both guillotine and non-guillotine patterns can be used. Each pattern is obtained from calling a pattern-generation procedure, where the objective is to maximize the pattern value. The item values are adjusted after the generation of each pattern using a value correction formula. The algorithm is compared with five published algorithms, using 50 groups of benchmark instances. The results indicate that the algorithm is the most efficient in improving solution quality.