Dunlop Foams Group – Material Optimisation

The Problem:

The cutting of polyurethane foam products, such as pillows and cushions, requires large foam blocks to be cut into smaller component sized pieces. Dunlop Foams receives orders daily requiring numbers of foam blocks to be cut into many potentially different sized items according to these customer orders. The problem they face is that there are many ways to cut large foam blocks into the smaller pieces needed, but the amount of wasted material depends on the order in which the blocks are cut to size.

Solution:

Adelaide Operations Research undertook research into various algorithms that could be applied to the optimal foam cutting problem. Using historical data, and keeping track of off-cuts from each order fulfilled, we determined that the wasted material over a three month period could be reduced by approximately one-third - a saving of potentially $800,000 per year in raw materials.

Adelaide Operations Research subsequently developed software to

• Implement the selected foam cutting algorithm,
• Track leftover materials from the fulfillment of each order,
• Provide instructions to foam cutters on which off-cuts to use and what series of cuts to use to to fulfill an order.

The software is in the final development stages and will be field trialled in the second half of 2004.