Production Theoretic Foundation of Cutting and Related Processes

By many industrial operations, objects are cut up into smaller pieces. Usually, different kinds of pieces are unavoidable so that they are joint products. Such cutting (stock) processes especially exist in those branches of industry in which materials are produced or processed which, because of their natural state or by reason of the prevailing production conditions, are to be found in a definite geometric form, but which have to be cut to size to meet customers’ requirements or the needs of the firm’s own further production stages. Raw materials of this sort are iron, steel, other metals, paper and pulp, glass, wood, textiles, and synthetics. As a result of stagnating development, intensified international competition, and especially of rising raw material prices several of these often materialintensive branches are faced with stiff competition. Rationalization activities which lead to an improvement in the utilization of the raw materials can, therefore, have a decisive bearing on the success of an enterprise.