A process of this type is known (German patent document DE 43 34 107 C1). In this process and also in other known processes, the pieces resulting from multiple subdivision are cut through with material removal with the material removed being minimized, utilizing the thinnest possible saw blades. The sawing residue is collected and can be applied again to the smaller pieces. This type of minimization of the cutting losses cannot however guarantee in every case a maximum yield of portions from a rectangular parallelopipedal block. This can be seen from an example from practice: from a standard size block (1=482 mm; b=254 mm; h=62.6 mm), a multistage subdivision into ever smaller equal size units or portions with a given minimum weight of 67 g and defined dimensions (1=126.7 mm; b 70/25.32 mm; h=12.06 mm), as a rule a certain overweight must be tolerated; if not, a nonsubdividable residue may remain after portioning.
However, not only the weight but also the volume of the portions is important and, for further processing, should namely the portions have a desired final shape as a result of press reforming, the portions cannot have an excess volume since the product would be overpressed giving a loss in quality. They should not have too small a volume because then the portions will not be satisfactorily reshaped.