Linear cutting optimisation, explained

Linear cutting optimisation works out how to cut a list of required lengths from stock bars using as little material as possible. It applies to anything long and cut to length: steel sections, pipe, timber, aluminium extrusion, conduit, skirting.

Why it's genuinely hard

Even a modest job has an astronomical number of ways to group cuts onto bars; mathematicians call it the cutting stock problem, and it's one of the classic hard optimisation problems. The difference between a decent plan and the best plan is routinely a full bar or two on a real job, which is money straight off your margin.

A tradesman put it well: "the programs I ran came out with such wasteful results that I could do a better job by hand in a spreadsheet." That happens because most free tools take the first reasonable-looking layout and stop.

What a proper optimiser does

Searches, then keeps searching

Finds a good plan in milliseconds, then spends its time budget trying to beat it rather than declaring victory.

Respects the physics

Kerf between every cut, end trim, angled cuts that consume extra, offcuts that only exist in fixed quantities.

Proves its answer

Computes a mathematical floor on the stock any plan needs; when a plan hits it, no plan on earth beats it, and it says so.

Optimises what you care about

Fewest lengths to buy, least waste, fewest saw setups, use the scrap rack first, or lowest dollar cost from mixed lengths.

Try it

Our linear cut list optimiser is free with no account: enter cuts, get a verified plan, download the PDF cutting sheets. The same engine is available as an API for your own calculators and ERP.