An Application of Cutting-Stock Problem in Green Manufacturing: A Case Study of Wooden Pallet Industry

Abstract

The cutting-stock problem is used to minimize the impact of wasting material during the stock cutting process. The linear programming model is developed and implemented on Microsoft Excel to solve for the optimal cutting plan with the criteria of minimizing material waste. The case study of pine wood stock cutting in wooden pallet industry demonstrates the benefit of using the approach in terms of reducing production cost and carbon emission. The results show that waste can be reduced up to 70.86% resulting in a cost reduction of 977,352 Baht/year. The amount of carbon dioxide equivalent emitted from the life cycle of pine wood is reduced by 22,713 kg CO2-e/year or approximately 5.32% reduction.