They cut materials like plywood, particle board, medium density fiber (MDF), oriented strand board (OSB) and high density fiber (HDF) sheets. However, you can also use these saws to cut plastic, phenolic, and other non-ferrous metal sheets.

It is true there are many affordable routers and CNC machines available today, causing an extensive discussion about what is the best solution for the shop floor. The point is, there are many panel and beam saws out there, and they can surely benefit from panel cut optimization software. No matter how is the automation level of your shop you can create optimal sheet layouts to increase productivity.

Also known as cutting list or nesting software, they can generate panel cutting plans that are possible to produce on your machines. Even if you use a simple table say, you can save time with very affordable solutions.

If you already know how to use CSV Import feature on Otimize Nesting, them you are ready to take advantage of this feature and manage your projects easily.

Suppose you have different cutting lists from different projects or jobs that you keep in an electronic document, spreadsheet, text file or even any other software. When you need to produce this parts saving time and money, you can go to Otimize Nesting and bring all this data at once to the software simply using the import feature.

If you prefer, you can keep one .CSV file named with the project name or the order number within your files and quickly import them when you need to do the cutting plans.

Comma Separated Value (CSV) files is very common and largely adopted file format, commonly used for data exchange between design and nesting software applications and system. In this post, we will use Microsoft Excel as an example and show how to use the import and export features with Otimize Nesting.

Importing From Excel to Otimize Nesting

Lets create a new empty spreadsheet and insert all cutting list that we’ll nest. Then we will transfer this data at once to Otimize Nesting, saving time and minimizing any change of typing errors. Here are the steps:

1 – Create a new spreadsheet and insert all cutting list. The image bellow represents and example about hos this might look like:

2 – Now, save this spreadsheet as .CSV file. This might change a bit depending on the Excel version you have. But basically go to File –> Save as and when the save file dialog box appear, select CSV (*.csv) from the drop down list. Enter a file name and click OK. Excel may alert you that you will be loosing some formatting, but this is not a concern for us. Just ignore the warning.

3 – Log into Otimize Nesting using your credentials and you will notice an “Import” button under the parts area. The image bellow shows this option:

4 – Click the Import button and an open file dialog will show. Browse to the file you saved on step 2 and click OK. If everything is OK, Otimize Nesting will confirm the operation and you will be able to see all data automatically transferred to the parts area, like the image bellow:

NOTE: It is important to have the first row on the spreadsheet with the column titles since the importing routine will ignore this row.

Now let´s have a look on how the export feature works.

Exporting from Otimize Nesting to Excel

If you already have a project cut list in Otimize Nesting and want to keep this information for future usage or export to a different software, you can use the export button located just next to the import button.

When you push it, an open file dialog appears and then all you have to do is to specify a destination folder and file name and click on Save button. A .csv file is created containing all parts data.

Please give us your opinion !

If you experience any problems with this feature, please send us the file you are trying to import to igor@otimizenesting.com so we can help you and improve this functionality. We know .CSV files have some particularities between different languages and cultures and our plan is to support all of them.

Based on the parts you must produce and the raw material available, Otimize Nesting will lays everything out efficiently to reduce waste. As a result, you will have the necessary cutting plans using the optimum sheet sizes for any material.

Designed for the manufacturing environment, hobbyists, cut-n-edge shops, etc. Otimize Nesting is an intuitive and easy-to-learn cut optimization software.

Visit http://members.otimizenesting.com and create your FREE subscription.

One of the key processes for a successful cabinetry project is a reliable production management software. Once you have all the drawings and specifications, there will be a need to track parts along the cutting lists and layouts.

Otimize Nesting is a online software designed to generate efficient cutting layouts and help tracking the job. No installation or activation required. Extremely simple to use, this product provides a entirely FREE subscription that allows producing more parts with less sheets.

Even if there are no CNC router machines in the shop, Otimize Nesting can generate sheet layouts for any kind of saw (automated or not).

Please visit http://members.otimizenesting.com to create your subscription and start increasing your productivity.

As a result of this survey, we are pleased to inform you all that Otimize Nesting now supports decimal numbers. When you specify width, length or kerf (blade thickness) you can enter decimal numbers up to 4 precision digits. The following image shows a snapshot of this configuration:

Decimal Digits Configuration on Otimize Nesting

After creating the nesting plans, they will also present the part dimensions formatted accordingly to the configuration.

We have also plans to add support for fractions (like 10 1/8) in future. Maybe a mix of different formatting types would be also helpful! Please try this new feature and let us know the results.

Here you´ll discover how to save material, manage your production and save time using a free software tool to automatically generate cutting lists. Introducing Otimize Nesting:

http://members.otimizenesting.com

The Cutting List

A cutting list simply contains measurements, materials and quantities of the parts that will be produced. Drawings of each part or even sketches of the whole sheet with all parts positioned over it are some of the other common ways to represent a cutting list. Either way, the main goal is to guide the cuttings on the sheet or plate to separate parts for production.

Cutting List

None of the options above entirely fulfill today professional needs. They are very unproductive, error-prone and lead to bad material usage.

The ideal solution for an efficient cutting list is a software that can perform nesting and optimization of the parts in an automatic, quick and simple way and at the same time with an optimal material usage.

A Fee Service

Using Otimize Nesting, it´s possible to generate cutting lists from simple parts and material lists. As a result, you will quickly have a drawing containing the cuttings to guide you in the production.

The service is entirely free and online. Subscribe now and start using Otimize Nesting at no cost and commitment:

http://members.otimizenesting.com

The Otimize Nesting Team made available today a new functionality on its online free cutting list software. Until this moment, only .XPS documents could be downloaded after nesting is complete. Now there will be also a .PDF option.

Both formats will contain exactly the same content. This is just another option for our users decide what format they feel more confortable to work with.

In order to integrate with CNC cutting machines, the team is working hardly to have also a .DXF option available soon. This way the cutting lists can be transmitted automatically.

If you want to keep posted about future updates, please subscribe to our newsletter.

When you select the command to start nesting, the following validation takes place:

1 – Part check: In order to successfully nest, Otimize Nesting must have at least a part record selected for nesting. This might be obvious, but as there is a “Use” checkbox in every part record you register, sometimes you may accidentally leave all records unchecked and Otimize Nesting will end with no part to process. So make sure that you have at least one record checked. If not, the following message appears:

2 – Inventory check: Similar to part check, Otimize Nesting verifies if you have selected at least an inventory to be used, otherwise there would be no sheets to produce the requested parts. If this happens, the following message is shown:

If some of these validations fail, the nesting process is aborted.

When the nesting is finished, an additional verification is performed, to make sure all requested parts were successfully allocated. If not, this means the informed inventory was not enough to accommodate all parts. This can be caused by a combination of two main reasons:

• Some of the requested parts have its dimensions (width and length) larger than all inventory records specified. Consequently, Otimize Nesting cannot fit the parts in any of the sheets. To fix this issue, check that you inventory records have the “Width” and “Length” fields large enough to contain the requested parts;
• The specified inventory was not enough to accommodate all requested parts. To solve this you can increase the value on the “Quantity” field for one or more records on the Inventory Section.

If some or both of the above errors is found, the following message is shown:

We are working to improve the feedback and make the error tracking easier, so you can quickly see what is missing and perform the necessary changes.

If you believe there is any additional validation we should make, please let us know.