Rapid prototyping of optimization algorithms using COIN-OR: A case study involving the cutting-stock problem

The rate at which research ideas can be prototyped is significantly increased when re-useable software components are employed. A mission of the Computational Infrastructure for Operations Research (COIN-OR) initiative is to promote the development and use of re-useable open-source tools for operations research professionals. In this paper, we introduce the COIN-OR initiative and survey recent progress in integer programming that utilizes COIN-OR components. In particular, we present an implementation of an algorithm for finding integer-optimal solutions to a cutting-stock problem. © 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.