Constrained two-dimensional guillotine cutting problem: upper-bound review and categorization

In the two-dimensional (2D) cutting (2DC) problem, a large rectangular sheet has to be dissected into smaller rectangular pieces with the aim of maximizing the total profit associated with the extracted pieces. When the number of copies of each piece to be extracted is bounded, it is referred to as constrained 2DC (C2DC) problem. The C2DC has been widely studied by the operations research community for its applications and theoretical issues. In this work, we recall the best exact and heuristic solving approaches for the C2DC and we provide a review and a categorization of the available upper bounds. We also discuss improvements and combinations of these upper bounds and give directions for their effective exploitation. Finally, we demonstrate the loss of accuracy of several exact methods present in literature because of the effect of the used antiredundancy strategies on the implemented bounding criteria. This work, based on more than 90 contributions, has a twofold target. For researchers working in C2DC, it provides a useful insight on the topic. For expert practitioners, it represents a systematic collection of the main findings and achievements, posing also the basis for future research.