Solving Multiple Layer Containment Problems Using Iterative Methods

The footwear industry’s need for an automatic containment algorithm is becoming increasingly important within the manufacturing process. Irregular containers, such as hides, have many different quality regions and holes that must be taken into account when containment is done because they represent an important cost. Automatic containment processes should be aware of these factors and still perform in practical time. We present an iterative containment algorithm that uses Minkowski operators and can be applicable to such containment problems. Although the iterative solution is not the optimal one, it can reach a solution in practical running times and it can get results that approximate the human made containment process.