Solving two dimensional layout optimization problems with irregular shapes by using meta-heuristic

There are two main approaches popular with researchers to solve two dimensional layout optimization problems that involve irregular shapes, where the objective is to find an arrangement of the irregular pieces in order to minimize waste material. In this paper we have grouped them into iterative constructive heuristics (ICH) and those heuristic which search over the physical layout (SOL). Both approaches are competitive and each new publication brings better results with respect to the benchmark data sets. Although this can be credited to better algorithm design, it could also be argued that researchers are getting better at customizing their algorithms to suit the available benchmark data sets. We intend to investigate these two approaches and establish some principles of the strengths and weaknesses of each approach with respect to data type. The experimental results provide an insight into the desirable solution approach given the variability in input data.