ESICUP brings together practitioners, researchers, and educators in operational research who share an interest in cutting and packing. The group provides a forum for exchanging ideas, discussing recent advances, and sharing experience with practical applications. Its meetings offer opportunities to explore connections between theoretical research and industrial challenges, identify open problems, and develop new collaborations.
The 23rd ESICUP Meeting will take place at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Mainz, Germany, on 19–21 May 2027. It will bring together established researchers, early-career researchers, and practitioners to present their work and discuss current questions in the field.
The meeting follows previous editions in Wittenberg (Germany), Southampton (United Kingdom), Porto (Portugal), Tokyo (Japan), L’Aquila (Italy), Valencia (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Copenhagen (Denmark), La Laguna (Spain), Lille (France), Beijing (China), Portsmouth (United Kingdom), Ibiza (Spain), Liège (Belgium), Zoetermeer (the Netherlands), and Mexico City (Mexico); the online meeting held via Zoom in 2021; and meetings in Toledo (Spain), Bologna (Italy), Guimarães (Portugal), Cestas-Bordeaux (France), and Natal (Brazil), which hosted the 2026 meeting.
The group’s activities include promoting publications, maintaining a website, and organising meetings. Founded in 1988 at the EURO/TIMS Conference in Paris by Professors Gerhard Wäscher and Harald Dyckhoff, the group has grown under the coordination of Gerhard Wäscher, José Fernando Oliveira, Julia Bennell, and Tony Wauters and now has around 600 members worldwide. ESICUP has been a working group of the Association of European Operational Research Societies (EURO) since 2003.