A rule-based approach to the trim-loss problem

This paper presents a heuristic algorithm for the solution of the rectangular trim-loss problem. The algorithm is an application of artificial intelligence techniques in a system domain similar to that of the trim-loss problem- a rule-based system. Experiments were conducted to find the most effective rules in terms of stock sheet utilization. Test runs on a personal computer using previously published experimental data sets indicate the new algorithm performs comparably to the other algorithms. In addition, the developed Pascal program required little execution time or computer memory.