Abstract: The attractive factor approach, which is one of the quantitative positioning rules, has got satisfactory effects in solving three-dimensional packing problems. The paper studies the attractive factor approach and gets some properties as follows: best fit packing point, taxis to convex and corner point, uniqueness of invisible attractor factor and the “dynamic” of location. It will be conducive to enable the better usage of attractor factor approach in solving three-dimensional rectangular packing problems.

Key words: rectangular packing problems, heuristic algorithm, attractor factor approach, positioning rule, positioning function