ITW Alpine ALS 4.0 XE - 3.7 Optimizer; 3.7.1 Introduction; 3.7.2 How it Works

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ALS 4.0 XE
PRODUCT MANUAL
EN
3.7.2 How it Works
For a given length of stock, the Optimizer looks through
a cutting le for a combination of pieces that can be cut
from that stock with minimum waste. The computer will
analyze thousands of combinations and return the best
solution in a fraction of a second.
Shown in Figure 39 are examples of cuts made using
Optimizer:
Figure 39
If the pieces shown above were to cut these pieces on
a component saw, an 8’ stock would be required for the
7-4-5 piece and a 10’ stock would be required for the
8-4-12 piece. The resulting waste would be 2-2-15. By
placing both these pieces on a 16-0-0 stock a waste is
reduced to 0-5-4. A savings of 1-7-9, or 9.1%.
The pieces in the examples above are “nested”. They
overlap on the stock. Nesting allows the computer
generated length to be larger than the actual stock
length. After pieces have been nested on the stock, the
computer recalculates the extra material made available
by the nesting process and searches the le again for
additional pieces that can be added to that stock. Many
times the pieces that can be added are fairly short. That
is one reason why the Optimizer yields better lumber
savings if the job contains a mix of short and long pieces.
Figure 40
Figure 41
Figure 40 shows 2 pieces 5-0-0 + 6 pieces 1-0-0 + 1 piece
1-6-0 = 17-6-0 total piece length.
The ALS Optimizer automatically combined all these
pieces and cut them from a single piece of lumber. The
saw was able to cut 17-6-0 worth of pieces from a 12-0-0
stock (as shown in Figure 41).
3.7 Optimizer
3.7.1 Introduction
The ALS Optimizer is an innovative software feature
designed to maximize cutting and reduce waste. Using
this feature can result in an 8-10% savings in material
required by the saw to complete the cutting job. As
each plant is run dierently, the optimizer is exible
and can be setup to maximize lumber usage, resulting
in a reduction in waste. This section will outline all the
options available to setup the Optimizer.
Before setting up the Optimizer it is important to
evaluate how lumber is purchased. Linear saws dier
greatly from component saws in the way jobs are cut. A
series of cuts are setup on a board within the software
prior to the stock advancing into the saw. The Optimizer
function will nest cuts together to maximize lumber
usage. Longer lumber stock will accommodate a greater
amount of nesting on each board. This being the case,
Alpine recommends feeding the ALS 4.0 the longest
length of lumber available (see section 1.2). This will
allow the Optimizer to nest more pieces on each board.