Proceedings of the 18th World Congress

The International Federation of Automatic Control

Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011

Two-Stage Method and Application for Molten Iron Scheduling Problem between
Iron-Making Plants and Steel-Making Plants
Hui Huang*, Tianyou Chai*,**, Xiaochuan Luo*, Binglin Zheng*, Hong Wang*,***

* State Key Laboratory of Integrated Automation for Process Industry (Northeastern University),
Shenyang, China, 110819 (Tel: +86-24-83678332; e-mail: huanghui1978@sohu.com).
** National Metallurgical Automation Engineering Technology Research Center, Northeastern University,
Shenyang, China, 110819 (e-mail: tychai@mail.neu.edu.cn)
*** Control Systems Centre, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the University of Manchester,
P O Box 88,Manchester M60 1QD, UK

Abstract: In this paper, a two-stage method is proposed to solve the molten iron scheduling problem
(MISP). Firstly, a 0-1 mixed-integer nonlinear programming model is established for special type of
molten iron scheduling problem (STMISP). A method to solve mathematical model of STMISP is
presented, which include assigning machine strategy of STMISP and determining mathematical model of
eliminating machine conflicts. Secondly, on the basis of results of STMISP, a heuristic algorithm based
on the rule of first come first serve (FCFS) principle is established to solve normal type of molten iron
scheduling problem (NTMISP). The molten iron scheduling system with the two-stage method has been
successfully applied to Shanghai Baosteel Company to realize quickly optimal molten iron scheduling.
Application results show that the two-stage method is both effective and feasible.
Keywords: Molten iron scheduling problem, Two-stage method, Hybrid flow shop, Mixed-integer
nonlinear programming model, Heuristic algorithm.

of molten iron scheduling relies heavily upon the

1. INTRODUCTION
In the iron-making stage, molten iron is smelted from iron
ore, limestone and bituminous coal in blast furnaces and
then poured into pots carried on torpedo cars (TPC). These
torpedo cars are driven by locomotives through a rail-track
network to steel-making plants. Molten iron logistics is
composed of production, transportation, processing and
usage. The logistics includes three processing stages, namely
receiving iron, molten iron pretreatment and reladling (RL).
The processing stage of molten iron pretreatment includes a
number of stages such as pre-processing (PR),
desulphurization and dephosphorization (SP), and post-
processing (PO). The operational state of molten iron
logistic process affects the production of large equipments,
such as blast furnaces in iron-making plants and converter
furnaces in steel-making plants.
Molten iron scheduling determines the processing route, the
equipment in all processes and starting times in all
equipments of pots of the molten iron. This process
generates a schedule plan ensuring continuous and stability
production. At present, molten iron scheduling system of
Shanghai Baosteel Company has realized information
management albeit molten iron scheduling is still
accomplished by manual operation, where the performance
Supported by National Basic Research Program (973 Program) of
China(2009CB320601), National Natural Science Foundation of China
(60974091,61020106003), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in
University(NCET-08-0105), the Fundamental Research Funds for the
Central Universities(N100508001).
experiences of the scheduler who can only schedules one pot
of molten iron at a time. As a result, the schedule plan of all
pots is impossibly generated from the overall perspective in
the planning time window. Therefore it is necessary to
develop rational and effective solution method of MISP.
Most of the previous work for iron and steel industry (e.g.,
Lixin Tang et al., 2010, Arezoo Atighehchian et al., 2009, A.
Bellabdaoui and J. Teghem, 2006) have focused on
scheduling steel-making and hot rolling operations rather
than addressing molten iron scheduling issues. Only a few
literatures focused on the molten iron transport scheduling
problem and for example Gongshu Wang and Lixin Tang
(2007) developed a mix integer programming model for
locomotive scheduling problem. Qiu et al. (2003)
established the mathematic models for solving molten iron
supply and management and locomotive transportation
issues. Cui et al. (2003) established a molten iron transport
simulation system, where a locomotive model was
developed, and molten iron route selection and automatic
collision avoidance algorithms for molten iron transportation
are realized. Some literatures studied the molten iron
allocation problem. Lixin Tang et al. (2007) formulated the
molten iron allocation problem as an integer programming
model. Wang et al. (2009) established a model for solving
the molten iron preparation problem. The model is solved
through two level methods. Gomes D A et al. (2008)
proposed an optimization approach to deal with the
scheduling of torpedo cars. The above works studied the
locomotive scheduling problem and molten iron allocation

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18th IFAC World Congress (IFAC'11)
Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011

problem. However, the focus was not on the molten iron practical potentials. It plays an important role in increasing
scheduling problem. Due to the complexity of MISP, production efficiency and reducing production cost.
research into the MISP has not only theoretic value, but also
B la s t F u r n a c e s m p ro cesses
R e la d lin g (R L )
(B F ) M o lte n ir o n p r e tr e a tm e n t s ta tio n s
s ta tio n s
1 # P R s ta tio n 1 # S P s ta tio n 1 # P O s ta tio n
1# B F 1#PR 1#SP 1# PO 1# R L Mj
m a c h in e s

...
...

...

...
1
1 1 1 M #RL
M # PR
q M #SP
p M h # PO d

………...
n p o ts

...
...

...

...
S # P R s ta tio n S # S P s ta tio n S # P O s ta tio n
1# PR 1#SP 1# PO 1# R L

...
...
...

...
M 1# BF S M S
#RL
M q # PR M Sp # S P M S
h # PO d

M 1 tim e S p a r a lle l S p a r a lle l M m tim e

S p a r a lle l
n o n -id e n tic a l d e s u lp h u r iz a tio n a n d p o s t-p r o c e s s in g n o n -id e n tic a l
p r e -p r o c e s s in g
p a r a lle l d e p h o s p h o r iz a tio n s ta tio n s p a r a lle l
s ta tio n s
m a c h in e s s ta tio n s m a c h in e s

Fig. 1. Processing paths of molten iron logistics process

station of 1# steel plant, there are 1 pre-processing machine
2. MOLTEN IRON SCHEDULING PROBLEM
and 2 desulphurization machines. In the molten iron
DESCRIPTION
pretreatment station of 2# steel plant, there are 1 pre-
2.1 Molten iron logistic process processing machine, 3 desulphurization (dephosphorization)
machines and 2 post-processing machines. In the reladling
Molten iron logistics process is composed of three stages, stage, there are 1 reladling unit in the reladling station of 1#
namely receiving iron, molten iron pretreatment and steel plant and 4 reladling units in the reladling station of 2#
reladling (Fig.1). In the process of receiving iron, molten steel plant. Fig.2 shows the schedule of 4 pots, the number
iron produced from blast furnaces is loaded by TPC. Molten of 1 to 4 is the sequence number of these pots. The x-axis is
iron in TPC is called a Pot. A production process on the time. Each rectangle is taken to be process time of a unit,
equipment is called Unit. Secondly, in the process of molten and the interval in two immediate units of a pot is the
iron pretreatment, it includes some processes, such as pre- transportation time and waiting time.
processing, desulphurization, dephosphorization and post-
processing. The aim of pre-processing is to remove iron slag Unlike general production scheduling in the machinery
and impurities in the surface of molten iron inside the industry, MISP has to meet special requirements of molten
torpedo tanks. In the desulfurization station, the process of iron logistics process. In the MISP, the products (i.e. molten
desulfurization and dephosphorization is completed by iron) being processed are handled at high temperature and
simultaneously injecting desulfurizer and dephosphorizer are loaded by TPC passing through the logistics process of
into molten iron of pots. After desulphurization and production, transportation, processing and usage. There are
dephosphorization, iron slag and impurities would emerge extremely strict requirements on material continuity and
on the surface of molten iron. In order to meet the quality flow time. Secondly, the processing route of pots is related
requirements of steel-making on the molten iron, molten to molten iron composition. The pots of special type of
iron needs to be treated by post-processing. In the last molten iron have complete processing route. The processing
process of reladling, molten iron of pots is dumped into route of the pots of normal type of molten iron is determined
ladles after torpedo cars arriving at the reladling station. in operation. Since molten iron is continuously processed at
high temperature, there are no stocks in MISP. Increase of
A pot
1#B F
A u n it
3 waiting time means that temperature of molten iron will
2#B F 1
4
decrease, which will cause the waste of energy and the
3#B F
4#B F
2 increase of production costs.
1#PR 40
2#PR 50
1#SP41
1#SP42
T ra n sp o rta tio n 2.2 Molten iron scheduling problem
tim e W a itin g
2#SP51 tim e
2#SP52
2 # S P t5 MISP is a production schedule problem that highly demands
2#PO 57
2#PO b5
the processing and transportation time, weight, component
1#R L43 and temperature with multi-stages, multi-production lines,
2#R L53
2#R L54 multi-processes and the use of multi-machines. MISP is that:
S ta rt tim e E n d tim e
2#R L55
2#R L56
taking a pot as a job, on the condition of techniques
T im e P ro c e ssin g tim e restriction, it is to ensure that molten iron of pots is sent to
Fig. 2. An example of molten iron schedule plan steel plants according to the indices of molten iron, such as
time, weight, composition, temperature and so on. The
Taking Baosteel Company for example, there are four blast purpose is to optimize two objectives: namely to minimize
furnaces, two molten iron pretreatment stations and two tardiness time of pots at reladling stage and the waiting time
parallel reladling stations. In the molten iron pretreatment of pots at all stages. In this context, molten iron scheduler

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18th IFAC World Congress (IFAC'11)
Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011
determines in what sequence, at what time and on which
device molten iron should be arranged at various logistics
stages from receiving iron to reladling.
As it can be seen from Fig.1, molten iron logistics process
has both the features of parallel flow shop and hybrid flow
shop. At the molten iron pretreatment and reladling stages,
there are two parallel production lines. In addition, there are
many parallel devices in various processes of each
production line. Therefore, the MISP is neither parallel flow
shop scheduling problem, nor is hybrid flow shop
scheduling problem. It is called parallel hybrid flow shop
scheduling problem (PHFSSP) in this paper. The solution to
PHFSSP is not only to determine jobs processed in each
production line, but also to determine on which device jobs
should be arranged in various processes of each production
line, and then to determine processing sequence and the start
time of jobs in various units. Since the parallel flow shop
and hybrid flow shop scheduling problem have been proved
to be NP-hard problem, it is clear that the PHFSSP is also a
NP-hard problem.
With reference to the solution steps of parallel flow shop
scheduling problem, the procedure for solving PHFSSP can
be divided into two steps. In the first step, the jobs are
allocated to each production line, where the production
sequence of jobs is determined. In the second step, the
devices of jobs are determined in various processes of each
production line, and the production time of jobs is
determined. Therefore, the procedure for solving MISP is
accordingly divided into two steps. Firstly, the processing
route of molten iron is determined in accordance with the
indices of molten iron, such as time, weight and composition
etc. Secondly, the production devices and processing time of
pots of molten iron are determined, thus the scheduling plan
of pots of molten iron is generated. This paper will focus on
the second step. MISP can be simplified as hybrid flow shop
scheduling problem after determining molten iron
processing route. In addition, as the capacity of pre- and
post-processing machines is finite, the process paths of pots
of molten iron are subjected to uncertainties. Therefore, the
difficulty of MISP is further increased.
3. TWO-STAGE METHOD FOR MISP
MISP can be solved in two stages according to the different
compositions and types of molten iron. Molten iron can be
divided into two categories according to their component
types. One of categories is the special composition type of
molten iron, such as silicon steel type of molten iron and
demanganization type of molten iron. Another category is
normal composition type of molten iron. Special
composition type of molten iron has high production quality
requirement and high production priority. It must be
processed by all the processes, so it needs to be scheduled
firstly. As processing capacity of pre-processing and post-
processing machines is finite, the normal composition type
of molten iron may be not processed by either pre-
processing or post-processing machines. Whether normal
composition type of molten iron is processed by pre-
processing machines or post-processing machines is
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determined by the state and residual capacity of pre-
processing and post-processing machines. This means that
the solution to the MISP is very difficult. In addition, on the
molten iron production site, the requirements of real-time
scheduling is very high, the average response time of
obtaining scheduling plan is 10 seconds. This paper presents
a two-stage method to solve MISP. Firstly, a 0-1 mixed-
integer nonlinear programming model is established for
STMISP, and a method including assigning machine
strategy and eliminating machine conflicts is presented to
solve the model of STMISP. Secondly, on the basis of
results of STMISP, a heuristic algorithm based on the rule of
FCFS is established to solve NTMISP.
3.1 Mathematical model and solution method of STMISP
3.1.1 Mixed integer nonlinear programming model of
STMISP
The following symbols are used to define the problem
parameters and decision variables.
Parameters
Mj the total number of parallel machines of unit j ;
m i
s
the initialization unit number of charge i , mis ≤ mi ;
ptijk the processing time of pot i on machine k of unit
j;
t i
j , j +1
the transportation time of pot i from the machine
of unit j to the machine of unit j + 1 ;
etijk the end time of pot i on the machine k of unit j ;
SI(i, j, k) the immediate successor pot of pot i processed on
the machine k of unit j ;
Ti RL the target starting time of pot i on the machine of
reladling unit;
Ti BF the starting time of pot i on the unit of receiving
iron;
C1ijk the coefficient of penalty cost for the waiting time
of pot i after finishing process on the machine
k of unit j ;
C2i the coefficient of penalty cost for the processing of
pot i being late with respect to the targeted
starting time of pot i on the machine of
reladling unit;
l the number of the intervals of equipment available
time, 1 ≤ l ≤ q , where qk is the total interval
k
number of equipment available time;
US kl the starting time of the l th interval of available
time of machine k ;
UE kl the end time of the l th interval of available time
of machine k ;
U a sufficiently large positive integer.
18th IFAC World Congress (IFAC'11)
Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011
Decision variables
xijk the variable of model denotes the starting time of
pot i on the machine k of unit j ,
yijk 1 if pot i is arranged on the machine k of unit j ,
0 otherwise.
Using the above notations, the MISP can be formulated as
the following 0-1 mixed-integer nonlinear programming
model.
n m−1 M j
Min ∑∑∑C1ijk (xi( j+1)k′ − xijk − ptijk − t ij, j+1 )
i =1 j =1 k =1
n M5
⎫
+ ∑∑∑ C 2 i ( xijk − Ti DG
)⎬
i =1 j = 5 k =1 ⎭ (e) Complete conflict
S .T .
M
i = 1,L, n; j = 1,L, m
j
∑
k =1
y ijk = 1
et ijk y ijk = x ijk y ijk + pt ijk y ijk
i = 1,L, n; j = 1,L, m; k = 1,L, M j
xSI(i, j,k) jk ySI(i, j,k) jk −etijk yijk +U(2 − ySI(i, j,k) jk − yijk ) ≥ 0
i, SI(i, j, k) = 1,L, n; j = 1,L, m; k = 1,L, M j
xi ( j+1)k′ yi ( j+1)k′ − etijk yijk + U (2 − yi ( j+1)k′ − yijk ) ≥ t ij , j+1
i = 1,L, n; j = 1,L, m −1; k, k′ = 1,L, M j
US k ,l ≤ xijk ≤ UEk ,l i = 1, L , n; j = 1, L , m
x ijk = Ti BF j = 1; k = 1,L, M j
xijk ≥ 0 i = 1, L, n; j = 1, L, m; k = 1, L, M j
y ijk = {0,1} i = 1, L, n; j = 1, L, m; k = 1, L, M j
In the formulation, objective (1) is composed of two terms:
the pot waiting time and the penalty of tardiness time.
Constraint (2) ensures that each pot can only be arranged
into a unit at the same time. Constraint (3) guarantees that
operation processing cannot be interrupted. Constraint (4)
ensures that for two contiguous pots processed on the same
machine, the immediately next one can be started only when
the preceding pot is finished. Constraint (5) means that for
contiguous operation of the same pot, only when the
preceding operation is completed and the pot is transported
to the next machine, the immediately next operation on the
pot can be started. Constraint (6) ensures the processing time
of pot must be within the interval of available time of
machines. Constraint (7) indicates that the starting time of
pots processed at receiving iron stage must be set according
to the actual time, and are set as constant.
3.1.2 Method to solve mathematical model of STMISP
For solving the mixed integer nonlinear programming model
of STMISP, the method includes two parts.
(1) Assigning machine strategy of STMISP
The problem of machine assignment of STMISP can be
described as this: based on the starting time of pots
processed at the receiving iron stage, assign n pots to m units
and find the optimal production path. In other words, assign
each pot to all the machines, and determine the processing
sequence of each pot in the same machine. The aim is to
ensure the conflicting time on each machine minimum so as
to obtain a better initial schedule. The core of assigning
machine strategy is how the machine can be chosen for the
pot when there are other pots assigned at the corresponding
time periods in each unit.
(a) Fore conflict (b) Hind conflict
(c) Inside inclusive conflict (d) Outside inclusive conflict
(1)
(f) Mixed conflict
Processing time which has been occupied in the machine
Processing time of pots of molten iron
(2) Fig. 3. The types of time conflict on machines
The types of possible time confliction on machines are
shown in Fig.3. To describe the assigning machine strategy,
(3) we first define the confliction function as follows:
⎧ min( et ijk , et rjk ) − max( x ijk , x rjk ),
⎪ (10)
(4) f j (i, r , k ) = ⎨ [ x ijk , et ijk ] I [ x rjk , et rjk ] ≠ Φ
⎪
⎩ 0 , other
(5)
The total processing time of conflicts is ∑f j (i, r , k ) on
machine k. Symbol r represent that the pots have been
(6) assigned to machine k of unit j. The assigning machine
strategy includes the following four steps.
(7)
Step1: Select machine k that can process xi , j ,k unit and has
(8)
the smallest total of conflicts time
(9) ( min ∑ f j (i, r , k ) ).
Step2: If machine k is more than one, choose machine k
which has the least equipment load to balance the
equipment load of each machine.
Step3: If machine k is not only one, select machine k to
make tij, j+1 the smallest by the short route rule
( mint ij, j +1 ).
Step4: If machine k is still not the only one, randomly select
a machine k, and stop.
(2) Mathematical model of eliminating machine conflicts
After assigning machine, there may exist many conflicts
among processing machines. In order to make the initial
scheduling becomes feasible, the model of STMISP is
transformed here to eliminate machine conflicts.
The 0-1 variable yijk of the model of STMISP was solved
by assigning machine strategy. The transportation time
t ij , j +1 and processing sequence of pots are determined. Then,
constraint (3), (4) and (5) can be expressed as follows:
et ijk = x ijk + pt ijk i = 1, L, n; j = 1, L, m; k = 1, L, M j (11)
xSI(i, j,k) jk −etijk ≥ 0 i, SI(i, j, k) = 1,L, n; j = 1,L, m;k = 1,L, Mj (12)
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18th IFAC World Congress (IFAC'11)
Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011
xi( j +1)k′ − etijk ≥ t ij , j +1 i =1,L, n; j =1,L, m −1; k, k′ =1,L, M j (13)
Under the assumption of no changing processing sequence
of pots, the mixed integer nonlinear programming model of
STMISP can be simplified to give:
Min (1)
S.T. (6)-(9),(11),(12),(13)
It can be seen that the above eliminating machine conflicts
can be solved using the well-known linear programming (LP)
method.
3.2 Heuristic algorithm of NTMISP
Since the capacity of pre- and post-processing machines is
finite, not all of pots of normal type of molten iron can be
handled by the pre- and post-processing machines in the
planning cycle. Thus only part of pots of normal type of
molten iron can be processed. Which pot of molten iron can
be processed is determined by whether there is idle machine
when it arrives at the pre- or post-processing process.
Therefore, pots of normal type of molten iron are required to
be determined for their treatment paths in the scheduling
process. Meanwhile, the processing machine and the start
and end times of the machine in each process are determined.
By summarizing the practice experience of molten iron
scheduler, this paper presents a heuristic algorithm based on
the rule of first come first serve (FCFS) bases to solve the
scheduling problem of normal type of molten iron. The
algorithm is as follow.
Step1: In the planning cycle, the pots of normal type of
molten iron are arranged in accordance with the
order of receiving iron, pre-processing,
desulphurization, post-processing and reladling.
Step2: Compute the start/end time of pots in all machines of
the current process, and sort the scheduling
according to the start time of pots in each machine.
Step3: Select the pot with the earliest start time in all
machines of current process, compute conflict time
between operation time of the pot and maintenance
time of the machine, and between operation time of
the pot and available time of the machine. If there is
a conflict, the start time of the pot on the current
machine is adjusted according to the conflict time.
Step4: Calculate the conflict time between the operation
time of the current pot and those of other pots that
have been arranged on the current machine. If there
is a conflict, the current pot is scheduled in
accordance with the rule of FCFS, and judge the type
of the current process. If the current process is either
desulphurization or reladling process, go to step5;
otherwise, go to step6.
Step5: Judge the type of the conflict, if it is a hind conflict,
the operation time of current pot is adjusted
backward. If it is a fore conflict, and the conflict time
is longer than the allowable waiting time, the
operation time of current pot is adjusted backward. If
it is a fore conflict, and the conflict time is less than
9480
allowable waiting time, the operation time of the
conflict pot is adjusted backward.
Step6: Judge the type of the conflict, if it is a hind conflict,
and the conflict time is longer than the allowable
waiting time, then the current pot does not select the
current machine. If the conflict time is less than the
allowable waiting time, then the operation time of
the current pot is adjusted backward. If it is a fore
conflict, and the conflict time is longer than the
allowable waiting time, the current pot does not
select the current machine. If the conflict time is less
than the allowable waiting time, then the operation
time of the conflict pot is adjusted backward.
Step7: After above adjustment on the operation time of the
current pot, if the current pot does not give up
selecting machine of the current process, then we
select the machine in which the start time of current
pot is the earliest in the current process. Meanwhile
the operation time of the current pot in this machine
is determined. If the current pot gives up selecting all
machines of current process, then the next pot is
scheduled according to Steps 2-7.
Step8: Check whether all pots have been arranged in the
current process. If they are, go to Step 9. Otherwise,
go to Steps 2-7 and schedule other pots.
Step9: Schedule the next process according to Steps 2-8.
Stop until all pots of normal type of molten iron have
been arranged in all processes.
4. APPLICATION
4.1 Background
The Shanghai Baosteel Company of China is a large iron
and steel enterprises. The treatment process of molten iron in
this company is comprehensive and includes all kinds of
typical treatment processes of molten iron. Baosteel
Company has large molten iron treatment equipments and
processes of molten iron.
4.2 System development and application results
Based on the optimal two-stage method presented in the
paper, the molten iron scheduling system software is
developed using the integrated development environment of
Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2008. The mathematical
model and algorithm are developed using C + +, and the
system application interface is developed using C # language.
ORACLE 10g is used for the database software of system.
An example from practical production data on 04/16/2009 is
used to show the effectiveness of the proposed two-stage
method. There are 36 pots that need to be arranged,
including 6 pots of special type of molten iron, 30 pots of
normal type of molten iron. After assigning machine, the
initial scheduling results of pots of special type of molten
iron are shown in Table 1, where data with underline are
processing machine and the start time of pots of special type
of molten iron, which have conflicts on the machine. After
eliminating machine conflicts, the scheduling results of pots
18th IFAC World Congress (IFAC'11)
Milano (Italy) August 28 - September 2, 2011

of special type of molten iron are shown in Table 2, where within 10 seconds. This may satisfy the real time
data with underline are the processing machine and the start requirement, effectively reduces the work intensity of
time of pots of special type of molten iron, which have been molten iron schedulers and improves the work efficiency. In
modified after eliminating conflicts. On the basis of addition, the processing rate of pots processed by pre- and
scheduling results of pots of special type of molten iron, pots post-processing has increased, which means that more pots
of normal type of molten iron are arranged. The scheduling can be processed by the pre- and post-processing machines.
results of all pots in the planning cycle are thus obtained. Therefore, the production efficiency of pre- and post-
processing machines, and the composition index and quality
After a long period of system operation, the application of molten iron has been improved, which leads to significant
results show that the computing time of molten iron economic benefits.
scheduling that used the proposed two-stage method is
Table 1 The initial scheduling results of pots of special type of molten iron
Desulphurization
Receiving iron Pre-processing Pre-processing Reladling
(dephosphorization)
Pot
Start Start Start Start Start
machine machine machine machine machine
time time time time time
7 09:00 3#BF 10:30 50 11:10 51 12:00 57 12:55 53
8 09:10 4#BF 10:20 50 11:00 52 11:50 B5 12:45 54
19 11:00 3#BF 12:30 50 13:10 T5 14:00 57 14:55 55
20 11:10 4#BF 12:20 50 13:00 51 13:50 B5 14:45 56
31 13:00 3#BF 14:30 50 15:10 52 16:00 57 16:55 53
32 13:10 4#BF 14:20 50 15:00 T5 15:50 B5 16:45 54

Table 2 The scheduling results of pots of special type of molten iron

Desulphurization
Receiving iron Pre-processing Pre-processing Reladling
(dephosphorization)
Pot
Start Start Start Start Start
machine machine machine machine machine
time time time time time
7 09:00 3#BF 10:50 50 11:30 51 12:20 57 13:15 53
8 09:10 4#BF 10:20 50 11:00 52 11:50 B5 12:45 54
19 11:00 3#BF 12:50 50 13:30 T5 14:20 57 15:15 55
20 11:10 4#BF 12:20 50 13:00 51 13:50 B5 14:45 56
31 13:00 3#BF 14:50 50 15:30 52 16:20 57 17:15 53
32 13:10 4#BF 14:20 50 15:00 T5 15:50 B5 16:45 54

International Journal of Production Economics, 104(2),

5. CONCLUSIONS
A novel two-stage method for MISP between the iron- and
steel-making stages is developed in this paper. The molten
iron scheduling system based two-stage method has been
successfully applied to Shanghai Baosteel Company, where
it has been shown that it can realize the optimal molten iron
scheduling quickly. Application results show that the two-
stage method is both effective and feasible. As a result,
significant improvement has been obtained on the
production efficiency and the working strength of scheduler.
The two-stage method for MISP can also be used in other
iron and steel company to reduce the cost of molten iron
production and to improve the quality of iron products.
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