1351

Scheduling of casting in real foundries

using linear programming
J-M Yang1* and Y K Park2
1
Department of Electrical Engineering, Catholic University of Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea
2
School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Catholic University of Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Republic of Korea

The manuscript was received on 12 March 2009 and was accepted after revision for publication on 6 May 2009.

DOI: 10.1243/09544054JEM1557

Abstract: This study develops a simple and convenient scheduling methodology using linear
programming (LP) for three typical and distinctive production situations in real foundries: sand
casting, low-pressure casting, and a combination of sand casting, low-pressure casting, and
automated casting. Proposed to determine an optimal casting sequence, this methodology is
successfully applied to all casting environments that produce simultaneously various types of
castings with different alloys and weights in a number of orders within a predetermined period.
It can also generate accurate scheduling results for maximized furnace or ingot efficiency. The
presented LP formulation provides a practical solution that can be implemented in general
casting plants. Hopefully, the proposed LP scheduling method will assist the casting industry to
strengthen its competence by achieving cost minimization and fulfillment of the production
requirement within a due date.

Keywords: casting, scheduling, linear programming (LP), multivariable and multiconstraint

optimization, average efficiency of molten alloy

1 INTRODUCTION
optimization model for scheduling plays a vital role
in foundries. However, a vast majority of the former
Casting is one of the oldest net-shape or near-net-
researches is mainly focused on continuous casting
shape manufacturing methods which dates back to
in a large-scale steel mill. Mathematical program-
about 3500 BC. Casting processes involve the intro-
ming has been one of the main tools adopted to solve
duction of molten metal into a mould where, upon
diverse scheduling problems associated with iron
solidification, the metal takes the shape of the mould
and steel manufacturing [3–9]. Their special atten-
cavity. It can produce intricate shapes of various sizes
tion is sometimes confined to slab making, hot roll-
in a single piece, including those with internal cav-
ing, and cold rolling that follow the iron-making
ities by inserting cores. Among a lot of productions of
process in a blast furnace [10–12].
modern castings are cylinder blocks, transmission
Ordinary foundries practising numerous kinds of
housings, pistons, automotive wheels, and aircraft
casting processes have a unique production envir-
and cargo vessel components [1, 2].
onment distinguished from that of a large-scale steel
In foundries where casting operations are actually
plant. For instance, many medium- to small-size
performed, a caster must schedule production plan-
foundries often run job-shop type production that
ning by employing limited resources such as moulds,
casts diverse types of products. They are generally
casting machines, melting furnaces, and ingots, i.e.
managed on a short-term basis, depending on each
solid metals. To improve productivity and/or mini-
specific order from their customers arriving with
mize production time and cost, development of an
irregular time intervals. Hence, casters frequently
face complicated scheduling problems of manu-
*Corresponding author: Department of Electrical Engineering, facturing mixed-type products with finite facilities in
Catholic University of Daegu, 330 Kumrak, Hayang, Kyungsan, the foundry. In addition, casters have to solve them
Gyeongbuk 712-702, Republic of Korea. instantly to devise a feasible production plan to meet
email: jmyang@cu.ac.kr the order within a due date. Therefore, a simple and

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1352
practical scheduling method is critical. The afore-
mentioned research efforts for massive-scale iron or
steel making [3–12] cannot be practically applicable
to ordinary small-sized foundries.
The objective of the paper is to develop a linear
programming based optimization model for casting
in foundries. Specifically, the present LP model cal-
culates the casting sequence that generates optimal
usage of molten alloy, which is a dominant factor in
the production cost of casting. By defining the num-
ber of products as the primary variable, it is demon-
strated that the objective and all the constraints of
the considered casting operations can be expressed
in linear forms.
To the authors’ knowledge, Hu [13], Lewis [14],
Law and Green [15], Deb, Reddy, and Singh [16], and
Deb and Reddy [17] have targeted to tackle the pro-
blem of scheduling in a foundry. Since Hu’s work is
focused on mould production with an emphasis on
concrete making, it is not directly connected with
scheduling of casting processes. Lewis [14] describes
the application of LP for a large-floor flaskless
moulding operation only and his work is especially
suitable for long-term strategic planning. Meanwhile,
Law and Green [15] provide only a general descrip-
tion of heuristic scheduling rules for melting, cor-
emaking, moulding and casting, and annealing and
finishing process.
Deb and his coworkers [16, 17] appropriately
adopted molten metal utilization percentage to
evaluate the efficiency of solutions for casting
sequences. Deb’s method, however, is hardly applic-
able because it cannot properly describe various
casting processes nor any time constraint underlying
in real foundries. Worse yet, in references [16] and
[17], a genetic algorithm (GA) [18] is used for pro-
blem formulation. Aside from enormous computa-
tional complexity and difficulty in implementation,
the use of a stochastic optimization method like GA
should be regarded inappropriate because an easier
and deterministic method like LP can be employed to
guarantee global optimization. For instance, Deb
et al. [16] reports that the number of function eva-
luations increases exponentially with respect to the
number of primary variables (e.g. refer to Table 2 of
reference [16]). Though some problem-specific GA
operators are used to lessen the complexity in refer-
ence [16], they still fail to guarantee the optimal
solution for the scheduling problem of general cast-
ing sequences.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows.
In section 2, casting processes are classified in detail
according to their characteristics and the motivation
for using the LP mechanism is stated. In section 3, a
LP-based optimization model is formulated to
represent general casting scheduling. In section 4,
numerical results of computer simulations are dis-
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J-M Yang and Y K Park
played to verify applicability of the proposed LP form.
Finally, some concluding remarks are presented in
section 5.
2 BACKGROUNDS
2.1 Types of casting processes
In foundries, casting operations consist of two major
activities: (1) ingot melting in a furnace and
(2) pouring, solidification, and ejection of a casting.
Also, most casting processes are classified into either
expendable-mould casting or permanent-mould
casting. The former process can use a mould only
once for each single casting because the mould must
be broken to obtain the solidified casting. Mean-
while, in the latter process, a high-strength metal
mould is repeatedly or permanently used to produce
many identical castings. Instead of being broken, a
permanent mould can be opened to eject a casting
because in general it is divided into two halves [1, 2].
To develop a methodology of practical casting
scheduling, three of the most common types of
casting in real foundries will be considered: sand
casting, low-pressure casting, and automated casting.
‘Sand casting’, by which the largest amount of
castings are produced, is the most prevalent method
practised in many foundries. It belongs to the
expendable-mould casting because a sand mould
must be broken to extract a solidified casting. Since
sand casting does not require a sophisticated machine
but a simple sand mould that matches the shape of a
casting, it is very cost effective and versatile, produ-
cing wide-ranged castings in size. As long as sufficient
numbers of prefabricated moulds are available, the
same number of products can be cast without any
major constraint. Also, the time between successively
produced castings is kept at a minimal level compared
with permanent-mould casting processes.
Meanwhile, ‘low-pressure casting’ and ‘pressure
die casting’, two of the most significant processes in
permanent-mould casting, necessitate a complicated
and costly casting machine upon which a mould is
firmly installed. A casting machine generally provides
a molten metal injection apparatus as well as essen-
tial means to clamp and disengage two halves of a
mould synchronized with a corresponding phase in a
casting cycle. Pressure die casting is known to pro-
duce castings with a finer microstructure, and thus
they have superior mechanical properties [19].
Traditionally, ‘pressure die casting’ has been a
single line-type production operation with very few
die changes. This means that a die casting machine is
dedicated to one specific product only. Recently,
however, die change and shorter runs are not
uncommon, especially in a high-mix, low-volume
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 Scheduling of casting in real foundries using linear programming
production environment. Multiple dies can run on
the identical machine with the aids of die casting
machines having tie bar pulls and a quick die change
capability. Under this condition, two or more types of
casting products can be produced in a single auto-
mated casting machine in one shift, which will be
referred to as ‘automated casting’ in the later dis-
cussion. Note that, however, only one item can be
made at a time in the machine since two or more
types of dies cannot be clamped in the machine
simultaneously.
2.2 Scheduling of casting processes
Suppose a foundryman receives mixed orders to
produce a number of different types of castings made
from multiple kinds of alloys in multiple shifts.
Employing the furnaces and casting machines avail-
able, he must decide a production quantity of each
type of casting for each shift to satisfy the total order
quantity within a due date. Linear programming is
quite suitable for this form of scheduling problem.
This is because it can conveniently handle many
variables and constraints involved in the casting
operations, producing simultaneously many types of
castings with different alloys and weights. In addi-
tion, LP can be a strong candidate to manipulate this
complicated manufacturing problem, because the
objective function and major constraints of casting
processes can be expressed in the form of linear
equalities and inequalities.
In a foundry, a variety of castings in various sizes are
made from molten alloy, which is obtained by melting
solid state ingots in a furnace for every shift of casting
operation. Since two dissimilar kinds of alloys cannot
be melted together in a single furnace, a foundryman
needs multiple furnaces when processing concurrently
orders of mixed products with different alloys. Mean-
while, many typical foundries are equipped with a
minimum number of furnaces. Also, the furnaces often
vary in size because each one is usually purchased one
by one for an economic reason. In each shift, molten
metal is ladled from a furnace until it is used up or the
assigned amount of castings are manufactured (100 per
cent). In reality, poorly conceived and performed pro-
duction planning based on intuition or experience
frequently results in either excessive remains or short-
Table 1 Characteristics of casting operations
Casting operation Furnace Machine
Sand R NR
Low pressure R R
Automated R R
R, required; NR, not required.
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1353
age of molten metal. In either case, waste of raw
material, energy, and production time is the price a
caster must pay.
Defining an objective function is the first step in
developing an LP formulation. Since one of the most
significant process parameters is molten alloy, the
average percentage use of the molten alloy through-
out the entire shifts is an excellent evaluator of cast-
ing scheduling, as adopted by Deb and coworkers
[16, 17]. Since a foundryman cannot cast more than
the amount of the molten alloy available in a furnace,
the percentage use of the molten alloy in each shift
also induces an obvious constraint.
Another important constraint is that a furnace used
in a shift cannot be used in the next shift succes-
sively. It takes a considerable time to clean and melt a
new charge of ingots in the furnace. Therefore, each
furnace melting a single kind of alloy can be used on
only an alternate shift to cast products of the specific
kind of alloy.
The last physical constraint worth commenting on
comes from the very nature of each distinctive casting
process. Since in permanent mould casting, a mould is
installed in a machine as described above, a foundry-
man must wait for a previous item to solidify and be
ejected out of the mould in order to cast the next item.
In fact, a complete cycle of pressure die casting to cast
an item consists of each phase of die closing, molten
metal ladling and injection, solidification, mould
opening, and ejection [19]. Therefore, pressure die
casting always accompanies a time constraint, which is
not true for sand casting. A foundryman in sand casting
does not have to wait for a casting to solidify and cool
before next pouring fresh molten metal into another
sand mould, as long as sufficient numbers of pre-
fabricated expendable moulds are prepared in the
foundry. In sand casting, the total time elapsed
between two successive castings is merely ladling and
pouring time of molten metal, which is almost negli-
gible compared to that of permanent mould casting.
This difference in casting operations constitutes a
major distinction in the LP formulation.
Table 1 is presented to clarify the similarities and
differences of three distinctive casting operations:
sand casting, low-pressure casting, and automated
casting. The information in the table will be adopted
in the problem formulation in the next section.
Characteristics
Mould Multiplicity of casting types Time constraint
Expendable Single per mould NR
Permanent Single per machine R
Permanent Multiple per machine R
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3 PROBLEM FORMULATION
3.1 Notation and terminology
A list of notation is provided as follows to construct a
robust mathematical model.
N total number of product (casting) types in
an order
M total number of shifts (production run)
P total number of melting furnaces (P 6 N)
Q total number of casting machines (Q 6 N)
Tm amount of time available in the mth shift,
m ¼ 1, . . ., M
Wpm amount of molten alloy from melting fur-
nace p in the mth shift, p ¼ 1, . . ., P; m ¼
1, . . ., M
xnm number of products n manufactured in the
mth shift, n ¼ 1, . . ., N; m ¼ 1, . . ., M
dn total number of products n that must be
manufactured in M shifts, n ¼ 1, . . ., N
wn total weight of product n, n ¼ 1, . . ., N
tn cycle time of processing product n, n ¼ 1,
. . ., N
rp number of product (casting) types manu-
factured from melting furnace p, p ¼ 1, . . . , P
u(p,i) indices of products manufactured from
melting furnace p, i ¼ 1,. . .,rp
sq number of product (casting) types manu-
factured by machine q, q ¼ 1,. . .,Q
v(q,j) indices of products manufactured by
machine q, j ¼ 1,. . .,sq
The objective of a foundry in this study is to pro-
duce dn castings of product type n having the unit
weight wn for n ¼ 1,. . ., N, where N is the total number
of product types. The entire casting operations must
be completed in M shifts, which is a fixed number as
requested by a customer. P melting furnaces are
available simultaneously in a shift and each furnace
contains a specific type of molten alloy. Without loss
of generality, P is less than or equal to N, i.e. more
than one type of product can be cast from the same
furnace. As explained in section 2, furnaces usually
have different melting capacities. Also, the previously
used furnace needs at least one shift off for cleaning,
recharging, and melting of new ingots. It implies that,
in fact, more than one furnace must exist for the
furnace designated as ‘furnace p’ and each one is
used exclusively on alternate shifts. Wpm denotes the
capacity of melting furnace p used in the mth shift,
p ¼ 1, . . ., P; m ¼ 1, . . ., M.
The product of type n is made of its corresponding
molten alloy, and it is also cast by a specific casting
machine. Suppose that Q casting machines are
available in the foundry and Q is less than or equal
to N, which signifies that more than one type of
product can be cast by the same machine. As will be
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J-M Yang and Y K Park
addressed later, this assumption can be safely
applied to sand casting too, in which no casting
machine is required at all.
When the number of type n castings manufactured
in the mth shift is denoted by xnm, the objective of the
casting scheduling is to determine xnm for all N pro-
ducts and all M shifts. To identify the constraints
raised by xnm, indices of products associated with
furnaces and casting machines are assigned. Recal-
ling that each product is made of a unique molten
alloy, then rp, p ¼ 1, . . ., P, is denoted as the number of
product types that are manufactured out of the mol-
ten alloy in furnace p. Subsequently, u(p,i), i ¼ 1,
. . ., rp, denotes the indices of products that are man-
ufactured from furnace p. Since P furnaces are being
used, rp satisfies
X
P
rp ¼ N ð1Þ
p¼1
For p and p0 (p 6¼ p0 ), the following mutual exclusion
is also valid
fuðp; 1Þ; . . . ; uðp; rp Þg \ fuðp0 ; 1Þ; . . . ; uðp0 ; rp0 Þg
¼ ;; 81 6 p; p0 6 P; p 6¼ p0
ð2Þ
Denote by sq, q ¼ 1, . . ., Q, the number of product
types that are manufactured by casting machine q,
and denote by v(q,j), j ¼ 1, . . ., sq, the corresponding
indices of products. In a similar way to equations (1)
and (2), the following equations are derived for sq and
v(q,j ).
X
Q
sq þ Nsand ¼ N ð3Þ
q¼1
fvðq; 1Þ; . . . ; vðq; sq Þg \ fvðq0 ; 1Þ; . . . ; vðq0 ; sq0 Þg
¼ ;; 81 6 q; q0 6 Q; q 6¼ q0
ð4Þ
Nsand in equation (3) denotes the number of product
types that are made by sand casting.
Finally, Tm, m ¼ 1, . . ., M, is defined as the amount
of time available in the mth shift and tn, n ¼ 1, . . ., N,
is defined as the cycle time of processing product n. It
is determined by the characteristics of each product
and casting process. In this formulation, a set-up
time is excluded not only because it is negligible
compared to the total cycle time but also because, in
real foundries, the set-up of a casting machine is
usually performed while ingots are melted in a fur-
nace before a new casting campaign starts in each
shift.
Figure 1 illustrates an example of the considered
casting operations where four types of products are
manufactured. Types A and B are made by automated
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 Scheduling of casting in real foundries using linear programming 1355

Fig. 1 Example of casting operation: N ¼ 4(A, B, C, D), P ¼ 2, Q ¼ 2, r1 ¼ 2, u(1, 1) ¼ B, u(1, 2) ¼ C, r2 ¼ 2,

u(2, 1) ¼ A, u(2, 2) ¼ D, s1 ¼ 2, v(1, 1) ¼ A, v(1, 2) ¼ B, s2 ¼ 1, v(2, 1) ¼ C

casting in machine 1, type C by low-pressure casting As P furnaces are used concurrently in the mth
in machine 2, and type D by sand casting. Since only shift, Em, the average efficiency of the mth shift, is
one item can be cast by the casting machine at a time, written as
producing types A and B should take turns with each
other. As depicted in Fig. 1, an expendable mould in 1X P
Em ¼ Epm
sand casting is used only one time and is discarded P p¼1
after casting. Accordingly, a number of expendable ð6Þ
1X P X rp
moulds enough to produce the assigned amount of wuðp; iÞ xuðp; iÞm
¼
type D must be provided. As for furnaces, types B and P p¼1 i¼1 Wpm
C are made of the same molten alloy a from furnace 1,
and types A and D are made of the alloy b from fur- Averaging again Em for all m ¼ 1, . . ., M, the average
nace 2. efficiency of the casting sequence that will serve as
the objective function E, can be obtained as
3.2 Linear programming
1 XM
As the objective function of casting sequences, the E¼ Em
M m¼1
average efficiency or percentage use of molten alloys ð7Þ
1 XM X P X rp
throughout the entire shifts is defined [16, 17]. Since wuðp;iÞ xuðp;iÞm
the molten alloy in furnace p is used to make pro- ¼
MP m ¼ 1 p ¼ 1 i ¼ 1 Wpm
ducts p(1), . . ., p(rp), the total weight of products
manufactured
P rp from furnace p in the mth shift is Now the constraints underlying the casting opera-
i¼1 w uðp;iÞ x uðp;iÞm . Thus, Epm, the ratio of the total tion will be considered. Firstly, a trivial condition for
weight of manufactured products to the amount of the number of products is that dn products must be
molten alloy provided by furnace p in the mth shift manufactured for each type n until the end of the
(WPM), is derived as casting campaign. Hence, xnm should satisfy
Xrp
wuðp; iÞ xuðp; iÞm X
M
Epm ¼ ð5Þ xnm ¼ dn ; n ¼ 1; . . . ; N ð8Þ
i¼1
Wpm
m¼1

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1356 J-M Yang and Y K Park

The condition of the weight of products is induced Notice that the above LP form permits all the typi-
from equation (5), i.e. the total weight of products cal casting situations to be represented. For instance,
cannot be greater than the weight of molten alloy if the foundry under consideration practises only
provided by each furnace in each shift. sand casting where tn is negligible, such a foundry can
be described by setting tn ¼ 0 for all n ¼ 1, . . ., N.
X
rp
Assume, on the other hand, that all the products are
wuðp;iÞ xuðp;iÞm 6Wpm ; p ¼ 1; . . . ; P;
i¼1 ð9Þ made by pressure die casting only and the number of
casting machines Q is equal to the number of product
m ¼ 1; . . . ; M
types N; i.e. each type is made by the machine that is
An additional condition is raised due to finiteness of assigned exclusively to the type. Then, the time con-
available time in a shift. Suppose it takes tn for each straint (14) is decoupled with respect to type n. As the
product of type n to be manufactured. Then, if xnm most general case, a foundry may concurrently prac-
products are cast in the mth shift, it takes tnxnm in tise three kinds of casting processes together – sand
total. However, recall that each item of a product type casting, low-pressure casting, and automated casting
is cast by its corresponding casting machine and by which multiple types of products can be made on
more than one product type may share a machine. an automated machine. This complicated case can be
Moreover, only one item can be cast by the casting described by setting sq > 2 for at least one q and
machine at a time. Thus if sq is greater than 1, the assigning the cycle time in such a way that tn ¼ 0 for
total time casting machine q spends in the mth shift sand casting and tn > 0 for low-pressure casting and
to make products of type q(1), . . ., q(sq) is summation automated casting.
of each tv(q,j) xv(q,j)m, j ¼ 1,. . .,sq. The scheduling sequences xnm are interconnected
As Tm is the available time assigned to the mth with each other in the constraints (12) to (15). For
shift, the casting operation of any machine should be instance, there is a foundry with N ¼ 3, P ¼ 2, and
completed before Tm. The following sets of inequality Q ¼ 2. Envisage a foundry setting in which type 1 and
constraint exhibit this condition of time type 2 products are made of the molten alloy from
furnace 1 and type 3 product from furnace 2, whereas
X
sq
type 1 product is cast by casting machine 1 and type 2
tvðq; jÞ xvðq; jÞm 6Tm ; q ¼ 1; . . . ; Q; m ¼ 1; . . . ; M and type 3 products by machine 2. Type 1 and type 2
j¼1
products are associated with each other in terms of
ð10Þ the weight constraint (13), but not in terms of the
time constraint (14). Meanwhile, type 2 and 3 pro-
Combining equations (7) to (10), the optimization
ducts are associated with each other in terms of the
problem of the generalized casting sequence can be
time constraint (14) but not in terms of the weight
formulated in an LP form
constraint (13). Hence, E1m, the efficiency of fur-
1 XM X P X rp nace 1 in the mth shift (equation (5)), cannot be
wuðp;iÞ xuðp;iÞm
Maximize ð11Þ increased arbitrarily because the amount of type 2
MP m¼1 p¼1 i¼1 Wpm
products may be limited by the time constraint (14)
imposed on machine 2. In other words, production of
Subject to
types 1 and 2 cannot be decoupled from production
X
M of type 3. Summarizing these features, it can be
xnm ¼ dn ; n ¼ 1; . . . ; N ð12Þ asserted that the solution of the proposed LP form
m¼1 realizes optimal consumption of provided molten
alloys as well as satisfying all the necessary condi-
X
rp
tions for feasible scheduling.
wuðp; iÞ xuðp; iÞm 6Wpm ; p ¼ 1; . . . ; P;
i¼1 ð13Þ
m ¼ 1; . . . ; M
4 NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
X
sq
4.1 Basic input information
tvðq; jÞ xvðq; jÞm 6Tm ; q ¼ 1; . . . ; Q; m ¼ 1; . . . ; M
j¼1 To demonstrate the applicability of the LP form for
ð14Þ casting sequences, computer simulations are con-
ducted based on data from a foundry [20]. The pro-
xnm >0; xnm is an integer ð15Þ posed LP model is implemented with the software
Premium Solver Platform
v8.0 [21]. A Microsoft
Since xnm is the number of products, it must be a Excel-based optimization software, Premium Solver
non-negative integer as written in constraint (15). Platform, can perform linear/quadratic programming,

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 Scheduling of casting in real foundries using linear programming
in which the branch and bound method, cut genera-
tion method, etc., are applied for solving integer linear
programming.
In the simulation models, a foundry is considered
with two kinds of furnaces (P ¼ 2), one melting
B26 355-T6 alloy and the other A390 alloy. Two fur-
naces are assigned to each type of alloy respectively.
One of them works in every odd shift while the other
is at rest for cleaning and melting of new ingots, and
vice versa in even shifts. Consequently, there are four
furnaces in the foundry. The foundryman should
complete casting procedure in 12 shifts, i.e. M ¼ 12.
Indices and melting capacities of the furnaces are
summarized in Table 2.
This foundry is to cast four types of products
denoted by A, B, C, and D (N ¼ 4). A is a transmission
(T/M) cover, B is a transmission housing, C is a turbo
impeller, and D is an engine component for a med-
ium-size vessel.
Product type indices and other parameters – the
number of products, the unit weight, and indices of
assigned furnaces – are summarized in Table 3. In the
table, the ‘total weight wn’ includes not only a casting
but a gating system, which is required to feed and
guide the molten alloy into the die cavity in a casting
process. It is assumed that wn is constant for each
product n without regard to the actual casting pro-
cess. In fact, considering the gating system, sand
casting generally requires a larger amount of molten
alloy per product than pressure die casting. In this
simulation, however, the total weight of a product is
set to be fixed in both sand and pressure die casting.
Otherwise, the direct comparison of scheduling
results in three different cases would be impossible.
Three cases of casting operations are conceived: (I)
sand casting only, (II) low-pressure casting only, and
(III) automated casting, low-pressure casting, and
sand casting combined. Table 4 displays the specifi-
cation of the casting machine and cycle time for each
case. An examination of Tables 3 and 4 and Fig. 1
shows that Fig. 1 is indeed an illustration of Case III.
Table 2 Specification of alloy and melting furnace
Molten alloy B26 355-T6
furnace index (P ¼ 2) p¼1
Capacity Wpm (kg) 1700 1500 2400
Assigned shift (M ¼ 12) Odd Even Odd
Table 3 Product specification
Product A B C D
type index (N ¼ 4) n¼1 n¼2 n¼3
Number of products dn 210 190 120
Total weight wn (kg) 52.2 48.6 66.6
Furnace index (p) 2 1 1 2
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1357
The available time of each shift m, Tm, is 8 hours or
Tm ¼ 480 ðminÞ; 8m ¼ 1; . . . ; 12
for all the shifts. As explained before, sand casting,
which uses unlimited sand moulds, does not require
a casting machine. Thus in Case I, the cycle time tn
for every product n is set to be zero. In Case II, all the
products are manufactured in low-pressure casting
by their specified machines. The cycle times of Cases
II and III in Table 4 are taken from the foundry [20].
In fact, one cycle of pressure die casting consists of
mould closing, metal ladling and injection, solidifi-
cation and cooling, mould opening, and ejection of a
casting. Among these, the solidification and cooling
time of a casting occupies the greatest portion. It is
actually a complicated non-linear function with
respect to the volume and surface area of the casting,
alloy type, latent heat, superheat, mould material,
heat transfer coefficient, etc. In pressure die casting,
heat flow is controlled, to a significant extent, by
resistance at the mould–metal interface, and the
solidification and cooling time is proportional to the
volume-to-area ratio of the product [22].
For instance, for product A (T/M cover) in Case II,
the total cycle time is 16.5 min. To calculate the soli-
dification and cooling time, several assumptions are
needed. Firstly, the geometry of the T/M cover is a
sphere. Considering the liquidus temperature of
649
C and eutectic temperature of 577
C for A390
alloy with some superheat, the holding temperature
of molten alloy in the furnace is about 700
C. Also,
the temperature of a casting upon being ejected from
the mould is about 200
C. Employing the density of
2720 kg/m3, specific heat of 903 J/kg
C, and latent
heat of 393.3 · 103 J/m3 [23, 24], it can be calculated
that the total heat dissipated from the 52.2 kg casting
is 23.576 · 106 J. Assuming that the heat transfer
coefficient of molten aluminium to steel mould is
about 1177 W/m2
C and the mould temperature is
225
C [24, 25], we can obtain the heat flux of molten
Al alloy at 700
C to be 559 · 103 W/m2. As a result, the
solidification and cooling time for the casting is
about 759 s or 12.7 min compared to the actual cycle
time of 16.5 min.
A390 A certain discrepancy between the calculated value
p¼2
and the measured one is understandable because of
2100
Even
Table 4 Machine and time setting for Cases I to III
Product A B C D
Case tn (min) 0 0 0 0
I Machine index — — — —
n¼4
Case tn (min) 16.5 16.1 18.3 47.9
II Machine index (Q ¼ 4) 1 2 3 4
100
122.1 Case tn (min) 14.2 14.1 18.3 0
III Machine index (Q ¼ 2) 1 1 2 —
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1358 J-M Yang and Y K Park

the non-spherical geometry of the T/M cover. In fact, efficiency throughout the shifts. If uniform distribu-
the actual surface area is larger than that of a sphere. tion of efficiency is a performance criterion not to be
Since the solidification and cooling time is inversely neglected, the objective function should be adjusted,
proportional to the surface area, the time of the T/M for example, by adding the standard deviation of Epm
cover will be smaller than the calculated value. to the objective function.
Unfortunately, however, information on the exact It is also observed that the average efficiency of
surface area is not available. As the temperature furnace 1 (E1) is always greater than that of furnace 2
decreases, on the other hand, the heat flux from the (E2). Note that furnace 2 provides an alloy for product
casting to the mould also decreases, which will pro- D, which has the heaviest unit weight among pro-
long the solidification and cooling time. The cycle ducts (see Table 3). Hence the likelihood that furnace
time of product D in Case II is as long as 47.9 min 2 has a greater efficiency than furnace 1 is weak
because the casting is massive and the mould is because, by furnishing alloy in smaller discrete
made of graphite, which is similar to insulating amounts, furnace 1 can realize a near-full efficiency
moulds. Case III is the most general case in which allowable in the feasible region of integer linear pro-
both products A and B are cast on an automated gramming.
casting machine (machine 1), product C is made by According to Table 6, the proposed LP form
low-pressure casting (machine 2), and product D by obtained the feasible and optimal solution for the
sand casting. problem of casting scheduling where all the products
are made by low-pressure casting. Though the aver-
4.2 Simulation results age efficiency E is slightly lower than that of Case I,
Tables 5 to 7 summarize simulation results of the the schedule xnm in each shift certainly changed such
proposed scheduling scheme. Each table displays the that it complies with the time constraint (14). For
corresponding values of xnm, Epm, Ep, and E, the example, t4 is 47.9 from Table 4 and Tm is 480, 8 m.
average efficiency of the entire shifts. Thus, following (14), the number x4m should be
Since there is no time constraint imposed on Case bounded by 480/47.9 ¼ 10 (integer). Entire values of
I, it possesses the highest efficiency among the three
cases, which is a reasonable result. Referring to Table 6 Scheduling result in Case II
Table 5, it can be seen that an element of each E1m Shift (m) x1m x2m x3m x4m E1m (%) E2m (%)
and E2m respectively has a very low value compared
to others (E11 for E1m and E23 for E2m). A brief reflec- 1 1 2 24 10 99.74 53.05
2 28 15 11 5 97.44 98.67
tion leads to the finding that this drop-off is attrib- 3 22 0 0 10 0 98.73
uted to the property of the LP form that it does not 4 28 29 1 5 98.40 98.67
put an emphasis on ‘uniform distribution’ of the 5 20 0 25 10 97.94 94.38
6 28 29 1 5 98.4 98.67
efficiency. Since the objective function is simply the 7 0 0 25 10 97.94 50.88
average efficiency, some shifts may have whatever is 8 16 29 1 10 98.40 97.91
left of numbers of products after most amounts are 9 22 0 25 10 97.94 98.73
10 26 29 1 6 98.40 99.51
assigned to the other shifts. In fact, Cases II and III, 11 0 29 4 10 98.58 50.88
even with time constraints, bear similar drop-offs 12 19 28 2 9 99.60 99.56
(Shift 3 in Table 6 and Shift 4 in Table 7). This is Ep (p ¼ 1, 2) 90.23 86.64
because time constraints on those cases are not Average E(%) 88.43
restrictive enough to compel uniform distribution of

Table 5 Scheduling result in Case I Table 7 Scheduling result in Case III

Shift (m) x1m x2m x3m x4m E1m (%) E2m (%) Shift (m) x1m x2m x3m x4m E1m (%) E2m (%)

1 1 2 1 19 9.64 98.84 1 0 34 0 19 97.20 96.66

2 9 11 14 13 97.80 97.96 2 6 28 2 14 99.60 96.31
3 0 0 23 0 90.11 0 3 33 0 22 5 86.19 97.21
4 40 29 1 0 98.40 99.43 4 33 0 2 3 8.88 99.47
5 0 0 25 11 97.94 55.96 5 33 0 23 5 90.11 97.21
6 40 29 1 0 98.40 99.43 6 30 2 21 4 99.72 97.83
7 0 0 25 19 97.94 96.66 7 33 0 25 2 97.94 81.95
8 40 29 1 0 98.40 99.43 8 6 28 2 4 99.60 38.17
9 0 0 25 19 97.94 96.66 9 0 34 0 8 97.20 40.70
10 40 28 2 0 99.60 99.43 10 30 2 21 4 99.72 97.83
11 0 34 0 19 97.20 96.66 11 0 34 0 19 97.20 96.66
12 40 28 2 0 99.60 99.43 12 6 28 2 13 99.60 90.50
Ep (p ¼ 1, 2) 90.25 86.66 Ep (p ¼ 1,2) 89.41 85.88
Average E(%) 88.46 Average E(%) 87.64

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 Scheduling of casting in real foundries using linear programming
x4m in Table 6 satisfy this condition. Meanwhile, six
values of x4m by sand casting in Table 5 obviously
violate this time constraint.
Finally, refer to Table 7, the result in the most gen-
eral case (Case III). Since all the primary variables xnm
are interconnected with each other, the average effi-
ciency is reduced to the minimum among the three
cases. In particular, attention needs to be paid to the
value x1m and x2m, the scheduling result on products A
and B that share the same automated casting machine
(machine 1 in Table 4). Though A and B are cast by the
identical machine, the production quantities are not
evenly divided between A and B in each shift. Instead,
their amounts in a shift are much inclined to either
one of two product types. In many shifts, in fact, only
one product type is manufactured. This consequence
is due to the fact that product A shares the same fur-
nace (furnace 2) with product D, and product B does
with product C (furnace 1). In other words, products A
and B are associated with each other in terms of the
time constraint (14), but they are associated with
another product respectively in terms of the weight
constraint (13). This analysis claims that the proposed
LP form can solve the problem of the most general
casting scheduling, confirming all the feasibilities with
respect to realistic constraints.
5 CONCLUSIONS
This article is one of the first research reports on the
scheduling of casting in real foundries, an important
and practical topic that requires much attention but
has been studied little so far in academia. An efficient
and general formulation of casting scheduling has
been developed using linear programming. The
numbers of products to be cast in each shift have
been selected as the primary variables, and the
average efficiency of the provided molten alloys is set
to be the objective function of the LP form. Numer-
ical simulations have been conducted with data from
the industry, and simulation results validate the
applicability of the proposed scheduling scheme.
The proposed scheduling scheme is simple and
comprehensive enough to take into account three
major casting environments – sand casting, low-
pressure casting, and automated casting. While it is
assumed that only a single furnace is assigned to
each alloy, there may be cases where more than one
furnace are used to melt an alloy. Further researches
should be devoted to representing a general situation
involving multiple furnaces per alloy. Proposing and
formulating different objective functions, e.g. tardi-
ness, is another topic to be studied.
 Authors 2009
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1359
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