Introduction to Bin Packing Problems

Fabio Furini
December 8, 2014

Outline
Origins and applications
Applications:
Definition: Bin Packing Problem (BPP)
Solution techniques for the BPP
Heuristic Algorithms
Compact MIP formulation
Stronger MIP formulation
Pseudo-polynomial MIP formulation
Arc-flow Formulation
Dyckhoff Formulation

Bin Packing

Extended Formulations Branch-and-Price Algorithms

Knapsack Problems (KP01)
Set Partitioning Formulation for BPP
Set Covering Formulation for BPP
Column Generation
Branch and Price Algorithm
Branching rule

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Origins and applications

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Applications:
Consider the following problem: determining the smallest number of rolls of a
fixed width that have to be cut in order to satisfy the demand of clients.
filling up containers;
loading trucks with weight capacity constraints;
creating file backups;
placing data on multiple disks;
job scheduling.

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Definition: Bin Packing Problem (BPP)

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Given a positive integer number of bins m of capacity W and a list of n items of

integer sizes w1 , . . . , wn (0 wi W ), the problem is to assign the items to
the bins so that the capacity of the bins is not exceeded and the number of bins
used is minimized

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Theorem (Garey and Johnson (1979))

The BPP is NP-Hard (reduce from PARTITION).
BPP has several real-world applications such as:

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How difficult is the BPP in practice?

Some NP-Hard problems can be solved to optimality for instances of
reasonable size:
TSP thousands of nodes (cutting planes)
BPP up to 1000 items (Branch and Bound, Branch and Price)
BPP and its variants are really difficult from the practical viewpoint.

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Solution techniques for the BPP

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Heuristic Algorithms
First FitAlgorithm: pack the current item into the first nonempty bin in which
it fits. If no such bin exists, pack the current item into an empty bin.
Best FitAlgorithm: pack the current item into the nonempty bin of largest free
space in which it fits. If no such bin exists, pack the current item into an empty
bin.

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Compact MIP formulation

Variables (i = 1, . . . , n
xhi =

1
0

h = 1, . . . , m):

item i goes to bin h

otherwise
min

m
X

yh =

1
0

if bin h is used
otherwise

yh

(1)

h=1
m

xhi = 1

i = 1, . . . , n

(2)

h = 1, . . . , m

(3)

i = 1, . . . , n, h = 1, . . . , m

(4)

h = 1, . . . , m

(5)

h=1
n

wi xhi W y h

i=1

xhi {0, 1}
h

y {0, 1}

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Question 1: write the Model ((1),(5)) for the following example: 2 bins
and 3 items, W = 4, w1 = 1, w2 = 3, w3 = 4.
Question 2: try to figure out the optimal solution value of its Linear
Programming relaxation and a possible solution vector of the variable
values.
Question 3: Cutting Stock Problem try to extend the Model ((1),(5) in
case each item has a demand of di copies (i = 1, . . . , n)

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Model ((1),(5)) is a weak! The Linear Relax has a useless value of:
Pn

LR =

i=1 wi

y h = LR/m
xhi

= 1/m

(6)

h = 1, . . . , m

(7)

i = 1, . . . , n, h = 1, . . . , m

(8)

Huge symmetry!! for each integer solution of value k, there exist

equivalent solutions.

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m

k k!

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Stronger MIP formulation

a feasible solution of value k (k < m)
Variables (i = 1, . . . , n;
min

h = 1, . . . , k):
yh

(9)

h=1,...,k

xhi = 1

i = 1, . . . , n

(10)

h = 1, . . . , k

(11)

xhi y h

i = 1, . . . , n, h = 1, . . . , k

(12)

xhi

{0, 1}

i = 1, . . . , n, h = 1, . . . , k

(13)

y {0, 1}

h = 1, . . . , k

(14)

h=1,...,k
n
X

wi xhi W y h

i=1

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Pseudo-polynomial MIP formulation

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Arc-flow Formulation
Cutting pattern corresponds to a path in an acyclic directed graph G =
(V, A), with V = 0, 1, . . . , W as its set of W + 1 vertices, which define
positions in the stock sheet, and
A = {(a, b) : 0 a < b W, b a = wi , i = 1, . . . , n}
as its set of arcs. Minimum flow problem, where:
variables ab correspond to the flow in arc (a, b), (item number of
width b a placed at a units from the beginning of a bin
variable corresponds to the total flow through the graph, and can
be seen as the return flow from vertex W to vertex 0.
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min

(15)
X

ab
ba
(a,b)A
(a,b)A
X

if b=0

if b=W

if b=1,. . . ,W-1

cc+wi 1

(16)

i = 1, . . . , n (17)

(c,c+wi )A

ab R+

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(a, b) A (18)

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Example: graph associated with an instance with bins of capacity W = 7

and items of sizes 5, 3, 2, respectively:

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Dyckhoff Formulation
Residual Bins (RB): each time a bin of width W is cut in order to produce
an item i of length wi , a residual bin of size W wi is obtained, which
can be further used to produce additional items. m
is the number of all
the possible Residual Bins.
Decision variables:

iz =

if item i is cut in residual bin z

otherwise.

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aizt =

if RB t results from cutting item type i from the RB z

otherwise.

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min

n
X

i0

i=1
m

iz
z=0
m
X
n
X

(19)
1
aizt iz

z=1 i=1

iz R+

n
X

it

i = 1, . . . , n

(20)

t = 1, . . . , m

(21)

z = 0, . . . , m

(22)

i=1

i = 1, . . . , n

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Extended Formulations Branch-and-Price

Algorithms

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Knapsack Problems (KP01)

Given:
n items, with pj profit and wj weight of item j (j = 1, . . . , n)
1 container (knapsack) of capacity W
select a subset of the items so that the sum of the profits is maximum
and the sum of the weights does not exceed the capacity W .
N P-Hard problem, pj and wj integer, wj c,

n
X

wj > W

j=1

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max

n
X
i=1
n
X

pi xi
wi xi W

(23)
i = 1, . . . , n

(24)

i = 1, . . . , n

(25)

i=0

xi {0, 1}

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Set Partitioning Formulation for BPP

S = {s N : s is a KP 01 solution} .
(

xs =

1 if KP01 s is in the solution

0 otherwise
min

xs

(26)

sS

xs = 1

i = 1, . . . , n

(27)

sS

(28)

sS:is

xs {0, 1}
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Set Covering Formulation for BPP

min

xs

(29)

sS

xs 1

i = 1, . . . , n

(30)

sS

(31)

sS:is

xs {0, 1}

S can be defined as the family of all maximal KP01 solutions.

The LP of this formulation leads to tight lower bounds and avoids symmetry
The number of maximal KP01 solutions is exponential in the number of items n
(we need column generation and Branch-and-Price).
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Question 6: explicitly write the Set Partitioning and the Set Covering
formulation of the following instance: bins of capacity W = 7 and items
of sizes 5, 3, 2.
Question 7: write the dual of these models and discuss how they change
in case of having only a subset of the original variables

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Primal
min
n variables
m constraints
constraint ai x bi
constraint ai x bi
constraint ai x = bi
variable xj 0
variable xj 0
variable xj R

Dual
max
n constraints
m variables
variable ui 0
variable ui 0
variable ui R
constraint aTj u cj
constraint aTj u cj
constraint aTj u = cj

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Column Generation

min

xs

(32)

max

sS

xs 1

iN

(33)

sS:is

xs 0

(35)

iN

i 1

sS

(36)

iN

(37)

is

sS

(34)

i 0

We solve the model with a subset S 0 of the variables. Given an optimal

solution (x , ) of the restricted master problem, does it exist a set s S:
X

i > 1

(38)

is

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Question 8: write a MIP model which allow the separation of the family
of constraints (38)
Question 9: write this MIP model for the following instance: bins of
capacity W = 7 and items of sizes 5, 3, 2.

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Branch and Price Algorithm

Column generation methods: necessary when the number of variables of a
Linear Program is exponential
Branch-and-Price
Impose a subset of the variables
1 Solve the LP and get the current solution x ,
2 If some constraints in the Dual are violated by x , , add the columns to the
LP and go to 1
3 x is optimal and feasible for the LP (possibly fractional)
Branch on a feasible disjunction for the problem and go to 1
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Branching rule
Basic idea (Ryan/Foster branching): at each node of the search tree we
select two items i and j N . Then:
1) Same bin create a super item merging i and j,
2) Different bins create an extra constraints:
xi + xj 1
In both cases 1) and 2) the resulting pricing problem is still a KP01, with
1) a super item forced to be packed together
2) an extra constraints not allowed to be packed together
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Questions?