- Kerf
- The width of material removed by a saw blade on every cut. Deducted at each cut when calculating what fits on a bar or sheet, so a cutting plan matches what the saw actually produces.
- End trim
- A fixed calibration offset removed from both ends of every bar, regardless of what is cut from it — common on machines that need a clean, squared reference edge before the first real cut.
- Cutting pattern
- One specific combination of pieces cut from a single bar or sheet. A cutting plan is a set of patterns plus how many bars or sheets of each to cut.
- Cutting stock problem
- The general optimization problem of cutting a required set of piece lengths (or shapes) from a supply of fixed-size stock while using as little stock as possible. First formalized by Kantorovich in the 1930s.
- Offcut
- Leftover material remaining on a bar or sheet after the required pieces are cut. Classified as reusable or scrap depending on whether it meets the minimum useful offcut threshold.
- Reusable offcut
- An offcut at or above the minimum useful offcut length — long enough to realistically be used again on a future job, and treated as available stock rather than waste.
- Scrap
- An offcut below the minimum useful offcut length — too short to realistically reuse, and counted as true material waste.
- Material yield
- The percentage of stock material (by length or area) that becomes usable, placed parts, as opposed to waste. Yield and waste percentage are complementary — they always sum to 100%.
- Minimum useful offcut
- The length above which a leftover piece is classified as a reusable offcut rather than scrap. Set per shop, since what counts as "useful" depends on what parts a shop typically needs.
- 1D cutting optimization
- Linear cutting optimization: arranging required lengths along the length of stock bars, profiles, pipe or timber. Only one dimension (length) varies.
- 2D cutting optimization / nesting
- Arranging rectangular or shaped parts across the area of sheet or panel stock, where both width and height matter. Also called sheet nesting.
- Remnant
- A saved offcut kept in inventory and made available as stock for a future job, rather than being cut fresh from full-length material.
- Nesting
- The layout process of fitting parts as tightly as possible onto available stock material — most commonly used for 2D (sheet/panel) cutting, though the underlying idea (fit demand onto supply with minimum waste) applies to 1D too.
- Guillotine cutting
- A cutting-method constraint (mainly relevant to 2D nesting) where every cut must go edge-to-edge across the remaining piece, matching how most panel saws physically operate.
- Trailing cut kerf
- Whether kerf is charged on the final cut that frees a piece from the end of a bar, in addition to every cut between pieces. A configurable setting, since shops account for it differently.