Nesting of workpieces for cutting processes of a flat-bed machine tool

A method for generating a nesting plan for controlling a cutting process of a flatbed machine tool for cutting workpieces from a material sheet, the nesting plan comprising an overlap-free arrangement of sub-spaces, which correspond to the workpieces, in a two-dimensional planning space, and a spatial arrangement of predetermined supported spaces, wherein the supported spaces corresponding to support surface areas of the material sheet, which are supported during the cutting process, the method comprising:

• providing cutting process data comprising:
• geometry data of the planning space in which the sub-spaces can be arranged,
• position data indicating positions of the supported spaces in the planning space,
• sub-space data corresponding to a plurality of the sub-spaces each corresponding to a workpiece type, and
• number data indicating quantities of the sub-spaces to be nested in the planning space;
• providing nesting input parameters comprising:
• a workpiece minimum distance that at least is present between two adjacent ones of the sub-spaces arranged in the planning space,
• an insertion sequence according to which the sub-spaces are inserted during a sequential generation of the nesting plan, and
• an arrangement rule according to which the sub-spaces are arranged spatially within the planning space one after the other;
• arranging a first sub-space, of the sub-spaces, according to the insertion sequence and the arrangement rule in the planning space;
• and
• sequentially inserting of further sub-spaces, of the sub-spaces, in accordance with the insertion sequence and the arrangement rule in the planning space, the arrangement rule assigning to a newly inserted sub-space, of the sub-spaces, in the planning space respectively an initial position in which at least one point of the newly inserted sub-space is arranged at the workpiece minimum distance from another sub-space, of the sub-spaces, previously inserted,
• wherein the arrangement rule further comprises:
• performing, after each new insertion of a sub-space of the sub-spaces, a packing density evaluation and at least one evaluation incorporating the position data of the respective initial position of the newly inserted sub-space,
• setting up, depending on an evaluation result of the initial position of the newly inserted sub-space, a local search space that comprises at least one alternative position for the newly inserted sub-space,
• evaluating the at least one alternative position with the packing density evaluation and the at least one evaluation incorporating the position data;
• and
• comparing the evaluation results of the initial position and the at least one alternative position in order to determine, for the insertion sequence, one of the evaluated positions as a cutting position for the newly inserted sub-space, in the nesting plan.