Plywood is expensive and getting more so. A 4×8 sheet of 3/4" birch plywood runs $50–$85 depending on grade and region. If you're a cabinet maker or woodworker cutting multiple sheets per week, optimization isn't optional — it's survival.
Plywood presents unique challenges. Many parts require grain direction alignment, limiting rotation options. Sheet sizes are standardized (typically 2440×1220mm / 4×8 ft), so parts that don't divide evenly into those dimensions create leftover strips. And cabinet projects typically involve many different part sizes — sides, tops, shelves, doors, drawers — each with different dimensions.
Don't cut one project at a time. If you have a kitchen cabinet job and a bathroom vanity on the same 3/4" birch ply, nest them together. More parts on the same sheet means more opportunity to fill gaps.
Where design flexibility exists, standardize dimensions to common modules that divide evenly into sheet dimensions. A shelf at 560mm wide packs better than one at 573mm.
This is where most shops leave money on the table. After cutting your primary parts, the remaining material has value — IF it's in usable pieces. NestClass's Offcut Preservation Mode specifically shapes remaining material into large, clean remnants rather than fragmenting it into worthless slivers.
A table saw takes 3.2mm per cut. On a 2440mm sheet, eight cuts consume 25.6mm — over an inch of material just from the blade. Include kerf in your nesting calculations, not as an afterthought.
A typical kitchen with 24 parts (4 side panels, 6 shelves, 4 doors, 6 drawer fronts, 2 back panels, 2 tops) on 2440×1220mm sheets:
A shop doing 4 kitchen projects per month saves $3,120 per year just from better nesting on this one project type.
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