ARTICLE IN PRESS

Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Control Engineering Practice

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conengprac

A two-stage scheduling method for hot rolling and its application

Jun Zhao a,, Wei Wang a, Quanli Liu a, Zhigang Wang a, Peng Shi b
a
Research Center of Information and Control, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
b
Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK

a r t i c l e in fo abstract

Article history: Hot rolling scheduling is a difficult problem in the steel processing industry. It involves many objectives
Received 28 April 2007 and constraints in both technical and practical respects. A two-stage scheduling method is proposed in
Accepted 21 October 2008 this paper. Batch planning of staple material is formulated as a VRPTW, which is solved with a modified
Available online 6 December 2008
PGA. Then, batches of the established units are optimized by adjusting rolling sequences using
Keywords: intelligent search algorithms to reach higher hot charge ratios. This method has been applied to a hot
Hot rolling production scheduling strip mill belonging to Baosteel in China. Our results demonstrate that the proposed technique can
Vehicle routing problem with time improve production efficiency and offer significant economic benefits.
windows & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Heuristics
Intelligent search algorithms

1. Introduction However, such approaches are insufficient to meet the demands of

As one of the most important production processes in the steel
industry, hot strip rolling connects upstream processes like
continuous casting and certain downstream steps such as tandem
cold rolling, annealing and galvanizing. Appropriate production
planning and scheduling of hot strip rolling exerts a significant
influence on steel plants. Owing to logistical complexity and
numerous constraints, hot rolling scheduling is typically a multi-
objective and multi-constraint optimization problem, which can
rarely be modeled with general mathematical programming or
classical operational research (OR) methods. Firstly, the input
slabs come from different material sources (slab yard, heat
preservation pit, or directly from continuous caster). Secondly,
due to the variety of products, the slabs are classified into several
types, each of which has its own rolling requirements. Also, it is
essential to take into account rolling coherence to decrease
temperature drops and to meet other practical constraints in
certain steel plants. The main objective of hot rolling production
scheduling is to maximize the capacity of each rolling unit and
thereby decrease roller-changing frequency in the context of setup
cost reduction. A secondary objective is to maximize the hot
charge ratio by saving energy. In current manufacturing environ-
ments, the human–machine coordination approach is widely
used. This offers planning and scheduling such that humans select
the slabs, and computers then release the scheduling results.
 Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 13795186010.
E-mail addresses: jun.z@163.com (J. Zhao), wangwei@dlut.edu.cn (W. Wang),
pshi@glam.ac.uk (P. Shi).
integrated manufacturing.
Hot rolling production scheduling is an NP-hard problem
(Lopez, Carter, & Gendreau, 1998), and certain studies have
explored it in recent decades. OR and artificial intelligence (AI)
methods have been used both in theory and in practice. Lopez
et al. (1998) described hot rolling and its related production
processes in detail. They formulated the scheduling problem as a
mathematical program and proposed a heuristic algorithm based
on tabu search (TS) to identify approximate optima. The work of
Lopez et al. (1998) was successfully applied to Dofasco, Canada’s
largest steel producer. However, certain practical constraints
illustrated in that paper proved restrictive, and this limited the
use of their method to other steel producers. Kosiba, Wright, and
Cobbs (1992) established a traveling salesman problem (TSP)
model for the production scheduling problem, which dealt only
with the scenario of a single rolling unit that needed to be
scheduled. This was inconsistent with normal manufacturing
practice that tends to involve the deployment of a number
of units. Production flow synchronization was considered by
Peterson, Sorensen, and Vidal (1992), including the time required
for reheating, conveying and rolling. The resulting mathematical
programming model was solved using a greedy heuristic
algorithm to identify a feasible solution. Nevertheless, the
capacities of rolling units were not fully taken into account. In
the meantime, a hot strip mill and several reheat furnaces were
modeled by Assaf, Chen, and Katzberg (1997) using a whole-
scheduling element. An algorithm based on implicit enumeration
procedures was developed. In that system, the researchers
developed a logistical mode connecting the hot mill with just
one reheat furnace. However, such a production mode is

0967-0661/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.conengprac.2008.10.014
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
630 J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641
substantially different from the parallel multi-furnace reheating
mode, which is widely applied in most hot rolling plants today.
Furthermore, a parallel multiple traveling salesman problem
(MTSP) strategy was proposed by Tang, Liu, Rong, and Yang
(2000) to model and solve this problem using a modified
genetic algorithm (MGA). Although the method was effective,
some process constraints mentioned in that paper no longer exist
today, with advances in manufacturing equipment. For example,
simultaneous changes of width, gauge and hardness of adjacent
slabs are considered allowable in modern hot strip mills.
Therefore, scheduling principles should be redefined consistent
with the new rolling constraints. Additionally, Tang, Luh, Liu, and
Fang (2002) presented an integer programming formulation with
a separable structure for steel-making processes. A heuristic
method based on Lagrangian relaxation and dynamic program-
ming was developed to reduce the complexity of this scheduling
model. A commercial decision support system was developed
by Cowling (2003) for hot rolling scheduling, and this provided
semi-automatic schedules that had some human involvement to
eliminate algorithmic instability and to control unforeseen
production events.
In this paper, we consider the production scheduling problem
of a hot strip mill operated by Shanghai Baosteel Co., Ltd, China.
We approach the underlying problem with a two-stage hybrid
scheduling method that involves planning a batch of slabs and
optimizing batches of the scheduled formed units. At the batch
planning stage, a set of ‘‘coffin’’ shape rolling units are built up.
The staple material with single rolling type is modeled as a vehicle
routing problem with time windows (VRPTW), and the warm-up
material section uses constraint satisfaction programming. At the
optimization stage, the global scheduling solution is obtained
from a hybrid heuristic algorithm based on the TS and simulated
annealing (SA). We establish principles of unit swapping and slab
swapping in TS and SA to generate new neighboring solutions.
Moreover, certain important practical factors that have not been
mentioned in other literature to date are also taken into account
in this paper. For instance, we consider the influence of rolling
sections on a single unit of a slab’s rolling surface grade, besides
formulating width, gauge and hardness jumps in the context of
adjacent slabs. In addition, jumps in three key temperatures in
the rolling process—namely discharging temperature, finishing
rolling temperature and coiling temperature—are also taken into
account in our rolling planning model. On the other hand, to
guarantee continuity between continuous casting and hot rolling,
and to enhance the hot charge ratio, our proposed method takes
both real slabs and virtual slabs into consideration. Real slabs are
those that have been produced and placed in a slab yard or heat
preservation pit, while virtual slabs are those that have not been
produced but have already been scheduled into the casting
process. Finally, the application software system for this two-
stage method is showcased for a hot rolling plant operated by
Shanghai Baosteel Co., Ltd, China. To date, the system has been
successfully operating for over two years. The operating results
from the system demonstrate that our proposed scheduling
solutions are more feasible and effective than existing methods.
This paper is organized as follows. The logistical description
of hot rolling processes are first described in Section 2, and we
then propose planning models that include both single-type and
multi-type rolling units and their associated algorithms. In
Section 3, we establish an optimizing model that comprises both
unit optimization sequences and slab optimization sequences. We
also present hybrid intelligent search algorithms. The systemic
application of our scheduling method to the plant is demonstrated
in Section 4, which illustrates that the proposed two-stage
approach is comprehensively superior than other methods. We
compare several aspects using standard evolutionary algorithms,
heuristics based on expert rules, etc. Finally, we conclude in
Section 5.
2. Rolling batch planning models and algorithms
2.1. Problem description
Most hot strip rolling production processes in large-scale steel
plants have three different logistical modes as shown in Fig. 1.
(1) After continuous casting, slabs are first temporarily placed
into a heat preservation pit or a slab yard. Then, the slabs
are taken out and loaded into reheat furnaces to be prepared
for hot rolling. Consistent with initial slab temperatures
(300–800 1C), this process consists of the hot charge rolling
(HCR) mode and the cold charge rolling (CCR) mode. The ratio
of these two modes is relatively high in most hot rolling
plants.
(2) After continuous casting, the higher temperature slabs are
directly loaded into reheat furnaces using conveyors. Then the
hot rolling process begins. This production manner is called
direct hot charge rolling (DHCR), with temperatures exceeding
800 1C. It is an energy-saving production manner that allows
for shorter wait times before reheating.
(3) After being cut by continuous caster, the slabs are heated by
border heaters and rolled immediately. This is called direct
rolling (DR), and the rolling temperature is close to 1200 1C.
This is the most effective production manner because of its
energy-saving qualities. However, the process is difficult to
implement because it requires high-tech hardware and good
integration of casting and rolling.
Today, the logistic modes of the Baosteel hot strip mill are
mainly HCR and CCR, together with DHCR. The heat preservation
pit and the slab yard act as buffers for connecting the continuous
casting and the hot rolling processes. Compared with HCR and
CCR, the proportion of DHCR scheduling in this plant is not high
because of the complex production processes and specific rolling
restrictions associated with their hot strip mill. This paper mainly
discusses the former two logistic modes. If DHCR is required for a
manufacturing plant, scheduling systems can still be used to
generate feasible solutions using appropriate human–machine
coordination and production time adjustments.
Hot strip rolling planning can be described as follows. A large
number of slabs are first arranged into a series of rolling units. The
number of units and number of slabs in each unit are initially
unknown. Fig. 2 depicts a series of ‘‘coffin’’ shaped units
consistent with a certain rolling width profile. There are warm-
up material stages and staple material stages. In the warm-up
stage, slabs are scheduled from narrow to wide. The key step is to
heat the rollers after they have been changed. In terms of
technical approach, the slabs require a lower hardness value here.
The majority of slabs in a unit are classified as staple material.
Width profiles for this group are selected to avoid rolling marks on
the adjacent steel coils. On the other hand, every manufactured
Heat preservation pit/ Reheat furnace
Slab yard
HCR/CCR
Reheat furnace
Continuous Hot
DHCR Reheat furnace
rolling
casting
Reheat furnace
DR
Fig. 1. Logistic mode in hot strip reheating and rolling process.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641
a rolling unit
rolling
width
warm-up material section
Fig. 2. Rolling batch units and their structures.
slab has a unique chemical composition that is determined during
the steel-making process, and this is termed the steel grade. Steel
grades reflect different characteristics of the slabs when they are
charged and rolled. In view of this fact, the rolled slabs are
classified differently based on the steel grades used at Baosteel.
The objective of the planning stage is to maximize unit
capacity or minimize the number of rolling units to reduce
roller-change times. The primary constraints in the hot rolling
scheduling problem are as follows:
(1) the rolling width profile of each rolling unit is coffin shaped
(see Fig. 2);
(2) continuous rolling length for an identical width is limited;
(3) jumps in rolling width, gauge and hardness must be smooth,
and their maximum values must be less than a certain
quantity;
(4) jumps in temperatures associated with discharging, finishing
rolling and coiling must be smooth and the maximum jump
levels are also restricted;
(5) slabs with different surface grades must be rolled in different
rolling parts of a unit;
(6) total weights of single-type staple material must be within a
certain range; and
(7) continuously rolling different types of slabs in a multi-type
unit must be compatible with certain specific restrictions.
We first consider the higher priority single-type unit in this
paper, and subsequently explore the multi-type staple material
unit.
2.2. Gathering the available slabs
There are always a number of slabs awaiting scheduling; new
slabs are continually provided from the upper logistic layer,
known as the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. In
general, the ERP system regulates internal due dates and working
procedure dates for every slab according to customer order
delivery times and the production capacity of the hot mill. It
allocates target supply quantities for subsequent processes based
on the order category, logistic situation, etc. The internal due date,
which differs from the order delivery time, represents production
deadlines inside the plant. The working procedure date represents
the prospective production date. Since each slab corresponds to a
specified customer order, it is impossible to schedule all available
slabs in the material set at one time. This might lead to slippage in
the due dates. For example, if there are 1000 available slabs in the
material sets, some of those listed as urgent order will likely be
scheduled for later rolling times. This leads to slippage. In
addition, scheduling all the slabs might also lead to torpid
rescheduling when manufacturing failures occur. For these
practical reasons, the available slabs should be selected and
handled batch by batch to maintain manufacturing performance.
631
staple material section
Po ,Pp
max
min
d1 d2
Days
Fig. 3. Calculation of the priorities of inner due date and working procedure date.
In the above example, may be 300 slabs should be separated into a
single batch.
In this paper, we describe a priority scheme that takes into
account internal due dates and working procedure dates to select
the available slabs before scheduling. Those high priority slabs are
preferentially chosen to meet target supply quantities for down-
stream processes. Eq. (1) shows how we calculate this priority.
PRI ¼ mo Po þ mp Pp (1)
where Po and Pp denote the priorities of internal due date and
working procedure date, respectively; the parameters m0 and mp
denote their corresponding weighted coefficients. Fig. 3 shows a
similar calculation of the two priorities. The x-axis represents the
difference between the dates (the internal due date and the
working procedure date) and the planned production date, and
the y-axis shows priority levels. If the difference is between d1 and
d2, the priority values satisfy the linear relationship. The rest of
the axis is the maximum (less than d1) or the minimum (larger
than d2). This also means that the closer the planned production
date to the two dates, the higher the priority that will be assigned
to the slab. In practical production scenarios, setting these
parameters is based on the steel grade and product category.
The available slabs with higher priority rankings will be selected
to build the rolling units. The parameters will be adjusted using
any remaining materials. Since the priority ranking of each slab is
updated over time, it is often necessary to process particularly
urgent slabs immediately.
2.3. Planning model and algorithms for the single-type staple
material scenario
2.3.1. Planning model
The production of single-type staple material involves the
majority of rolling assignments. This problem is formulated as a
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632 J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641

VRPTW model. A VRPTW model is a generalization of the vehicle slab i from the continuous caster; Ttrans is the required transfer
routing problem (VRP) that includes allowable delivery time or time for the slab to move from the continuous caster to the rolling
time windows. Customer service starts within a time window mill; tir is the time that we start rolling slab i; tiR is the deadline for
defined by the earliest and the latest times. In the rolling rolling slab i based on its prospective charging mode; Mmin is the
scheduling problem, slabs and rolling units are viewed as possible minimum number of rolling units and Mmax is the
customers and vehicles, respectively. The penalty value that possible maximum number. The symbol int[a] allows us to
ðTypeÞ
includes jumps in width, gauge, hardness and so on represents calculate the maximum integer that is no larger than a. Wgtmin
ðTypeÞ
the costs of transportation. The due times in the casting process and Wgt max are the minimum and the maximum allowable
and in prospective charging modes for each slab are regarded as weights of each staple material, for which the rolling slab type is
time windows. Consistent with VRPTW, each slab must be Type. Wgt kðTypeÞ is the weight of a staple material of unit k, whose
arranged into one unit with a capacity that satisfies the chosen rolling type is Type. Additionally, the other variables are as
limits. The objective of our model is to load the slabs with follows:
minimum penalty and using the fewest vehicles given various 
1 if rolling slab j right after slab i in unit k
constraints. The model is defined as follows: xijk ¼
0 1 0 otherwise
XM X
1 A
min @ cij xijk þ a ; M 2 ½M min ; M max  (2) 
KM 1 if slab i is arranged into unit k
k¼1 i;j yik ¼
0 otherwise
X
M 
yik ¼ 1; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; n (3) 1 if the surface grade of slab i is p
sip ¼
k¼1 0 otherwise

X
m 
1 if slab j is rolled after slab i in unit k; and their rolling widths are equal:
sip ¼ 1; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; n (4) zijk ¼
0 otherwise
p¼1

Eq. (2) is the objective function that minimizes the penalty costs
X
n
xijk ¼ 1; j ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; n (5) and maximizes the average rolling length of units. Eq. (3) is used
i¼1 to guarantee that any one slab is allocated to only one unit. Eq. (4)
is to guarantee that each slab has only one rolling surface grade.
X
n
Eqs. (5) and (6) denote the uniqueness in allocating slabs. Eq. (7)
xijk ¼ 1; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; n (6)
j¼1
ensures that the total rolling length in front of slab i with surface
grade p in unit k must be less than Rp. Eq. (8) illustrates the
X
m constraint of continuously rolling with the same width. Eq. (9)
Lik p sip Rp ¼ 1; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; n; k ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; M (7) shows the time window of slab i. Eq. (10) is the calculation of the
p¼1
possible minimum units, based on the restriction of rolling
surface grade. Since R1 indicates the strictest surface demand, it
X
n
zijk lj pW same ; k ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; M; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; n (8) is used to obtain the possible maximum number of units that are
j¼1 given in Eq. (11). Eq. (12) shows the weight constraint for a certain
type of staple material.
t i;cut þ T trans pt ir pt iR ; i ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; n (9) VRPTW is an NP-complete problem (Savelsbergh, 1985) and
" "Pp # # the solutions to this problem have been studied in recent years. To
q¼1 T q
approach most typical examples, Desrochers, Desrosiers, and
M min ¼ max int þ1 (10) Solomon (1992) formulated VRPTW in terms of a relaxation of set
p¼1;...;m Rp
partitioning. A dynamic programming technique was adopted to
" Pm # solve a 100-customer problem. However, the scale of that problem
q¼1 T q
M max ¼ int þ1 (11) is relatively small compared with our hot rolling batch planning
Rp
model. Homberger and Gehring (1999) compared a genetic
algorithm approach with evolutionary programming using several
ðTypeÞ
Wgt min pWgt kðTypeÞ pWgt max
ðTypeÞ
; k ¼ 1; 2; . . . ; M (12) benchmarks. The method showcased in that paper achieved
approximate solutions to routing problems that involve more
where n is the number of a certain type of slabs that have been
than 400 customers. Although the parameters in Homberger and
gathered; M is the number of rolling units; m is the categories
Gehring (1999) were of comparable size to our proposed planning
number of surface grade; cij represents the penalties to roll slab j
g model, a significant number of practical constraints were not
immediately after slab i, where cij ¼ pti þ pw h ht
ij þ pij þ pij þ pij þ
completely considered by these researchers.
pat
ij þ p ct
ij ; p t
i represents the penalty due to rolling time, and
g
pw h ht at ct
ij ; pij ; pij ; pij ; pij ; pij , respectively, represent the penalties due
to width jump, gauge jump, hardness jump, discharging tempera- 2.3.2. Parthenogenetic algorithm
ture jump, finishing rolling temperature jump and coiling Since there are a vast number of slabs in the hot rolling
temperature jump; K M is the average rolling length of these M scheduling problem at any one time, and because there are a
units; a is the penalty coefficient for average rolling length; Lik multitude of complex constraints, it is very difficult to obtain a
represents the total rolling length before slab i in unit k only if slab satisfactory solution—or even one that is feasible. Accordingly,
i is assigned to unit k; Rp is the constraint of largest allowable this paper proposes a modified parthenogenetic algorithm (PGA)
rolling length before the slab whose surface grade is p, usually associated with heuristic rules to solve this model. PGA is a special
R1oR2oyoRm; lj is the rolling length of slab j; Wsame is the genetic algorithm that resolves the crossover infeasibility be-
constraint of largest allowable continuously rolling length of the tween two chromosomes consistent with ordinal strings. The
slabs that are of same width. Tq is the total rolling length of method has been applied to certain fields (Katayama & Narihisa,
gathered slabs whose surface grade is q; ti,cut is the cutting time of 2001). By reproducing new individuals with the parthenogenetic
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641
operators, a new child in PGA will always come from a single
parent, but never from a pair of parents. As a result, the genetic
operation tends to be simple and offers excellent computational
efficiency. Furthermore, without crossover operations, PGA elim-
inates immature convergences and improves results. Taking into
account these factors, our paper uses an n-bit integer string to
represent each individual in a colony. It defines gene exchange
rules as parthenogenetic operators, which aims to enhance
convergence speed and solution accuracy.
2.3.2.1. Transformation from code to the feasible solution space. We
assume that ni is the serial number of the ith-bit slab in an n-bit
string that is uniquely assigned to a certain n slabs of a given type.
The unit into which this slab is distributed will be defined as
ni(mod)M+1 (the operator mod is used to generate the re-
mainder). The value of M is assumed known. The n slabs will be
distributed according to sequences of the n-bit string into M
rolling units, in order to generate the ultimate solution. Certainly,
given a multitude of constraints that range from rolling length to
surface grade, such transformations may well generate infeasible
solutions. Several possible approaches can be used to process
infeasible solutions in the context of evolutionary algorithms.
Options include deploying more effective encoding techniques,
strengthening penalty forces consistent with the fitness value of
infeasible solutions, and making infeasible solutions feasible
using repair operators. In this paper, our infeasible solution space
is large. To address this and to increase application reliability, we
chose a heuristic operator to convert an infeasible solution into a
feasible one. The transformation steps are as follows:
Step 1. Initialize the current rolling length of each unit Lk
(k ¼ 1,y,M) to zero; i ¼ 1.
Step 2. Check whether i4n holds true. If yes, move to step 6;
otherwise, select the ith-bit slab and calculate k ¼ ni(mod)M+1 to
assign the slab to unit k.
Step 3. Compute Lk, and Lengthik to represent the current rolling
length of the slabs whose surface grade value is no higher than
that of the ith-bit slab in unit k. If Lk satisfies Eq. (7), slab i can be
arranged into unit k. Assign i ¼ i+1, and return to step 2;
otherwise, if Lengthik satisfies Eq. (7), this means that this slab
can be assigned to unit k but that rectification is needed. In this
case, go to step 4. If neither of these two conditions is met, slab i
needs to be assigned repeatedly, in which case we go to step 5.
Step 4. Select the slabs whose surface grade values are higher
than slab i in unit k. Exchange these with slab i consistent with
rolling length constraints until all the slabs in unit k satisfy the
constraint. Set i ¼ i+1 and go back to step 2.
Step 5. Arrange the ith-bit slab repeatedly, by attempting to
assign it to another unit using a sequence of current values of Lk
where this parameter varies from minimum to maximum. Repeat
step 3 until the ith-bit slab has been processed. Set i ¼ i+1 and go
back to step 2.
Step 6. The transformation is completed.
When using this transformation, a phenomenon may occur
whereby several integer strings map into an identical feasible
solution. This would decrease the diversity of individuals. An
approach that converts the mapped solutions into standard
strings can avoid such phenomenon. This measure can be under-
stood as the reverse of the above-mentioned transformation,
which forms an n-bit string from a series of M rolling units. The
detail of this process is similar to the aforementioned list.
2.3.2.2. Memory swarm structure and creating new individuals. To
maintain a sufficient quantity of dominant individuals with high
fitness values, we used a memory swarm structure that preserves
a designated number of individuals who are superior to others.
633
The structure of these operations is specified in advance.
During processing, if the memory swarm is filled, we then replace
individuals in the swarm with a number of new superior
individuals by means of an iterative procedure. Meanwhile, we
choose individuals to create new generations both from the
memory swarm and from the colony. In terms of genetic
operations, the single-gene swap is designated the main parthe-
nogenetic operator for our purposes. We combine this operation
with the principles of multi-gene swaps and gene-string moves.
Since the multi-gene swap operator is similar to the single-gene
one, we provide illustrative examples of single-gene swap and
gene-string moves here.
Single-gene swap:
The sequence number of the genes: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
The parents: 5 8 7 4 1 2 6 3
The children: 5 2 7 4 1 8 6 3
Gene-string move:
The gene-string: 3 4 5
The parents: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
The children: 1 2 6 7 3 4 5 8
2.3.3. Local search strategy
As it approaches the global optimum during the solving
process, the entire colony may incline to some various local
optima. A representative method that avoids this tendency
requires integrating multiple intelligent algorithms to strengthen
the searching operation, or to provide an adaptive algorithm
(Shin, Kim, Choo, & Singh, 2004; Srinivas, & Patnaik, 1994).
However, all such methods are associated with long computational
times. This necessarily increases the implementation complexity
for the scheduling system. In our research, we propose a local
search strategy that is suitable for engineering practice. Our
method enlarges the scope of search and guarantees algorithmic
efficiency. Given an n-bit integer string, its local operation can be
defined as a permutation of three slabs with equal surface grade
that are randomly selected from the integer string. In other word,
five new and different strings are produced as local sets from the
original string. The local search strategy then checks all the local
feasible solutions in order to obtain a better one. Our hot strip mill
application showed the effectiveness of this strategy.
2.3.4. Controlling violations
It is essential in practice to restrict jumps in width, gauge and
hardness. In theory, this is implemented by constraining the
corresponding coefficients in Eq. (2). Jumps in temperature are
assigned higher penalties, all of which may lead to violations
because of PGA randomness. Consequently, we use an expert-
based revision method to guarantee the reliability and feasibility
of our scheduling processes. This includes the various operations
of replacing, inserting and deleting. In addition, we propose that
once the most urgent slabs have been arranged into units before
revision, they cannot be deleted. The arrangement operators are
applied to the most urgent slabs before any others. In fact, the
violations mentioned below emerge only very rarely. In manu-
facturing practice, these constraints are sufficiently weak in the
process control layer—which appears below the planning and
scheduling layer in the plant—can always be used to make further
adjustments. Accordingly, we consider that this violation restric-
tion process should be feasible.
Rule 1. Eliminating violations in respect of jumps in dischar-
ging temperatures: select a suitable slab on the basis of priority
level from all available slabs. Ensure the slab satisfies the
constraints of width, gauge, hardness and surface grade. Perform
replace or insert operations accordingly.
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634 J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641

Rule 2. Eliminating violations in respect of jumps in finishing Table 1

rolling temperatures: select a suitable slab based on priority. Restrictions of mixing different types.
Ensure the slab satisfies the constraints of width, gauge, hardness,
Type 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
surface grade and jumps in discharging temperature. Perform
replace or insert operations accordingly. 01 1 2 0 2 0 2 2
Rule 3. Eliminating violations in respect of jumps in coiling 02 2 1 0 0 0 0 2
temperatures: select a suitable slab on the basis of priority. Ensure 03 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
04 2 0 0 1 0 0 2
the slab satisfies the constraints of width, gauge, hardness, surface 05 3 0 0 0 1 3 0
grade and jump-free discharging and finishing rolling tempera- 06 2 0 0 0 0 1 2
tures. Perform replace or insert operations accordingly. 07 2 2 0 2 0 2 1
Rule 4. Eliminating violations in respect of continuously rolling
with the same width: successively remove slabs from the end of a
part that is of identical width until the relevant constraints can be
met. Verify whether the succeeding slab also violates the
Table 2
constraints. If this is the case, select a suitable slab and insert it Minimum of continuous slab number in each type.
at the end of the rolling part.
Rule 5. Eliminating violations in respect of rolling unit weights: Type Minimal quantity
check whether the unit being processed violates the total weight
01 4
limitation. If the total weight is less than the minimum, eliminate 02 10
this unit and handle these slabs using the following checklist. If 03 0
the weight is larger than the maximum, remove slabs from the 04 4
end of this unit until Eq. (12) holds true. 05 10
06 4
07 6
2.3.5. Solving steps for a single-type staple material model
Step 1. Choose a certain slab type and initialize the parameters
of PGA accordingly. Randomly generate a certain quantity of n-bit
integer strings as the initial colony, and place a designated
continuously rolled. The value ‘1’ denotes that the slabs can be
number of superior members of the colony into the memory
continuously rolled. The value ‘2’ means that the two types of
swarm.
slabs can be connected so long as the minimum continuous
Step 2. Calculate the minimum and the maximum numbers of
quantities in Table 2 are satisfied. The value ‘3’ indicates that the
rolling units using Eqs. (10) and (11), and set M ¼ Mmin.
slabs can be connected so long as the rolling sequence of these
Step 3. Select a number of superior individuals from the
two types is satisfied, in addition to the minimum quantity
memory swarm and others from genetic operations. Map the
requirement. In Table 1, the type in each row appears before the
string code to M feasible rolling units using the proposed
type in each column. In this paper, we propose a new concept that
transform-driven method, and standardize the resulting feasible
we call the rolling segment. This denotes a small rolling section
solutions. Compute the fitness value for each individual using
that involves just one slab type and meets the requirements in
Eq. (2).
Table 2. Similar to scheduling workers, a rule-based heuristic
Step 4. Search for solutions using the local search strategy to
method is used to tackle the coupling associated with a large
generate an optimum value.
number of constraints. This approach is a ‘‘greedy’’ criterion,
Step 5. Check whether the iteration has finished. If so, obtain
which achieves the approximate optimum for this model.
the optimum under the value of M and go forward to step 6.
Step 1. Permute all remaining slab types according to rolling
Otherwise, select a number of prevailing individuals to enter the
width from wider to narrower. Generate a queue L, and assign the
next generation. Save the superior individuals into the swarm
slabs from 1 to n. Set i ¼ 1.
databank. Go back to step 3.
Step 2. Associate slab i with the first staple material slab, and
Step 6. Check whether there are any violations in respect of
check whether the succeeding slabs after i in L can connect with it
rolling time, width jump, gauge jump and hardness jump in these
in sequence to generate a rolling segment.
M rolling units. If there are violations, this indicates that the
Step 3. Check whether the rolling type of the current slab is
solutions are infeasible. In this case, set M ¼ M+1 and return to
equal to that of the preceding slab. If yes, continue to the next
step 3. Otherwise, record the current optimal solution.
step. Otherwise, attempt to connect the next slab in L and repeat
Step 7. Perform an expert-based violation review, and complete
this step.
the algorithm.
Step 4. Check for jumps in width, gauge, and hardness. Assess
the three given temperatures to appropriately match the process
2.4. Planning for staple materials of multiple types with the preceding slab. If suitable, assign this slab to a rolling
segment, and delete it from L. Otherwise, check the next slab in L
Since there are constraints on the weight of single-type staple and return to step 3.
materials, certain slabs can never be manufactured for single-type Step 5. Check whether the rolling segment is consistent with
staple material. Taking into account these constraints, they can Table 2. If yes, continue to the next step. Otherwise, check the next
instead be arranged into multi-type staple material, each of which slab in L and return to step 3.
would include a few different slab types. A total of seven different Step 6. Check whether all remaining slabs have been processed.
types are specified by Baosteel based on steel grades. Table 1 If yes, go to step 8. Otherwise, continue attempting to assign the
shows the constraints associated with mixing any two types. next slab into L based on the constraints from previous steps and
Table 2 lists the minimum number of continuously rollable slabs. mixing type restrictions. If this can be achieved, proceed to step 7.
The rows and columns of Table 1 represent the rolling types, Otherwise, repeat this step.
while the value of each junction refers to a corresponding mixing Step 7. If the current rolling type has changed, go back to step 3
mode. The value ‘0’ indicates that the two slab types cannot be to process a new rolling segment. Otherwise, repeat step 6.
 ARTICLE IN PRESS
J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641
Step 8. Check whether the most recent slab type may be a
rolling segment. If yes, create a new staple material section and
finish the search. Otherwise, delete the last rolling slab type and
record its type in the tabu list. Reset the search procedure to
examine the final slab in the formed rolling segment. Return to
step 6.
Step 9. If the tabu list is full, output the current staple material
information. If the staple material section has not been com-
pleted, set i ¼ i+1, and return to step 2 to commence a new search
procedure.
Step 10. Finally, check whether all the most urgent slabs have
been processed. If yes, the heuristic process finishes. Otherwise,
rearrange the remaining slabs by ignoring all temperature
constraints. In other words, temperature violations can be
subsequently removed in the process control layer.
Using both single-type and multi-type sections, almost all
staple material slabs can be processed including all urgent slabs. A
few slabs may not undergo processing. Those can be assigned to
the next batch after their priorities have been updated. The
scheduling system in Baosteel demonstrates that one-off planning
ratios for the staple material can be above 97%. This figure meets
more than the relevant production requirements.
2.5. A warm-up material planning model based on CSP
Although the number of warm-up materials tends to be small
in a rolling unit, processing such materials can significantly
influence the performance of the warming rollers and the
resulting roll quality. Compared with processing staple materials,
the warm-up material has its own rolling constraints and
production modes. The main constraints for processing warm-
up materials are: (1) steel grade and size of the planned slabs are
subject to specific requirements; (2) jumps in width, gauge,
hardness and temperature must satisfy particular constraints; (3)
the first and the last slab in a section of warm-up material must
be within a given size range; (4) the capacity for processing
warm-up material is usually limited by the number of slabs or the
total rolling length. For example, in the hot strip mill, the
constraint was that each rolling unit must have more than four
slabs and that total rolling length must be less than 20 km. Lopez
et al. (1998) considered warm-up material and staple material in
the same way, the approach that may be appropriate for some
manufacturing plants. However, warm-up material slabs are
treated differently in the Baosteel plant, and as a result additional
rolling constraints are necessary. This paper treats warm-up
material processing using the constraints satisfactory program-
ming (CSP) approach.
The CSP has been widely studied across many application
areas, including scheduling problems. Certain researchers have
proposed that it be solved using inconsistent assignments and
rectification of constraint violations (Minton, Johnston, Philips, &
Laird, 1992). However, such a solution is never appropriate for hot
strip rolling because of the presence of various complicated
constraints, any of which make search times unpredictable. We
adopt a two-step approach to solve the CSP in our application
scenario. Firstly, we employ a dependency-directed backtracking
approach (Baker, 1995) to determine the last warm-up material
slab that connects with a section of staple material. A heuristic
method that is similar to that used to process multi-type staple
material is then applied to process a section of warm-up material.
Admittedly, certain scholars have argued strongly that the back-
tracking method has its drawbacks. It is too computationally
expensive and it is difficult to apply this approach in large-scale
computational scenarios such as for production planning and
scheduling (Kelleher & Cavichiollo, 2001). However, with long
635
term experiments in the rolling plant, production practices have
shown that a dependency-directed backtracking approach is
feasible given computational processing constraints in the context
of normal amounts of warm-up material and normal numbers of
rolling units.
To date, we have deployed our rolling batch algorithms and
have built a series of coffin-shaped rolling units.
3. Optimization of the rolling plan
3.1. Problem description
One way to save energy and reduce setup costs is to use
continuous casting procedures to improve the hot charge ratio.
The temperatures of slabs that come out of the continuous caster
drop so rapidly that energy is required to reheat them before
rolling. In other words, increasing the charging temperature
can save on both reheating time and energy. Accordingly, our
optimization objective is to improve rolling continuity and
increase charging temperatures. Although Section 2 of this paper
proposes a rolling batch planning approach, this can only be
deployed from the current a batch of available slabs. To increase
the global hot charge ratio, we must optimize rolling planning
across several batches. The objective of this model is described by
Pn
C
Max i¼1 i (13)
n
X
n
Min ðt ir  t i;cut Þ (14)
i¼1
where n is the number of the all finished batches of slabs; Ci is the
hot charging sign of slab i, such that Ci ¼ 1 means that slab i is hot
charged and Ci ¼ 0 means that slab i is cold charged. The rest of
parameters and constraints are similar to those listed in Section 2.
Eq. (13) helps us maximize the global hot charge ratio. Eq. (14)
minimizes the time for slabs to move from the continuous caster
to the hot mill in order to reduce cooling. These two equations are
complementary.
3.2. Optimizing model and algorithms
Given the complexity of the hot rolling scheduling problem,
the entire optimization process in this paper is divided into a unit-
based optimization sequence and a slab-based sequence. The
input to the optimization process is a few batches from the
planning stage. Their rolling sequence serves as the baseline for
obtaining a new scheduling.
3.2.1. Optimizing the sequence for rolling units
This optimization process aims to improve the hot charge ratio
by adjusting the sequence of rolling units without breaking the
internal structure of each unit. A TS-based heuristic algorithm is
applied. This is appropriate because this function only occurs
occasionally within the broader scheduling problem. This paper
defines two permutations of formed input units as the foundation
of our operating heuristics. Both of these reflect the greedy nature
of our manufacturing sequences in two respects. List 1 is the
permutation sorted by average cutting time for the slabs in each
unit, and List 2 is sorted according to the latest cutting times for
slabs from each unit. In addition to these heuristic definitions, the
concepts of neighbor unit and sub-neighbor unit are designated as
exchange elements by which a new feasible solution can be
generated. The neighbors are the closest adjacent elements to a
given unit in the above two lists, and the sub-neighbors are the
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636 J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641

sub-closest units in the lists. Based on the two arrays, eight
different new unit permutations can be generated when a given
unit does not appear at the head or at the tail of the arrays. Thus,
including the original, the best of these nine rolling sequences can
be identified by comparing their hot charging ratios. The selected
original unit can then be inserted into a tabu list. Consistent with
our experience of long-term simulation in the plant, this paper
empirically assumes that the maximum iteration number is
[N  0.9], where the operator [.] represents obtaining the integer,
and N is the number of rolling units.
charge ratios of the new state and current state. The new solution
can be selectively accepted based on the Metropolis Rule. The
slabs then enter the tabu list.
Step 3. Check whether the solution is convergent (a condition
of which is no change in the current best solution after 15
iterations). If yes, update the annealing temperature and go to step
4. Otherwise, repeat step 2.
Step 4. Check whether the finishing temperature reaches. If yes,
output the current optimal solution. Otherwise, repeat step 2.

3.2.2. Optimizing slab sequence
Optimization that is achieved by adjusting the sequence of
slabs can help achieve a better hot charge ratio. Because so many
constraints exist in the planning stage, random modifications to
slab sequence may destroy the structure of planned units, and this
in turn may generate infeasible solutions. Fortunately, with
longer-term simulation research we have discovered that an
approximate relationship between surface grade and rolling width
exists. In other words, the higher surface grade, the wider the
rolling width. We propose a heuristic method based on SA and TS,
in which a slab-swapping rule produces the new physical state.
Similarly, the swapping rule is defined as follows. Firstly, a
number of rolling units are selected, and from each, one slab is
selected with the same surface grade and rolling type. Then, we
exchange these slabs to generate new solutions, and we identify
the best feasible solution from these as a result. Although we do
not doubt the ability of SA to optimize, the optimal result depends
on a rigorous annealing process with a high initial temperature
and a low annealing temperature. Therefore, a tabu structure is
employed in this paper to assist the SA to achieve a high speed of
convergence. The detailed process is as follows:
Step 1. Regard the rolling sequence as the initial solution after
optimization, and set the number of selected slabs consistent with
the swapping rule. This paper uses a maximum value of 4.
Initialize the length of the tabu list and the parameters of SA,
including initial temperature T0, finishing temperature Tm and
cooling coefficient a.
Step 2. Randomly choose slabs that are not in the tabu list from
different units. Perform the swapping operation for the new state.
Calculate the value of exp ((S-S0)/T), where S and S0 are the hot
4. Application of the hot rolling scheduling method
The proposed scheduling method for hot strip rolling was
successfully implemented in a hot rolling plant operated by
Baosteel China. The production capacity of this plant is about
3.8 million tons of strip steel per year. This plant has a hot strip
mill, whose maximum rolling width is 1580 mm, and three
walking beam reheat furnaces, which supply the heated slabs to
this mill. The entire structure of our production scheduling
software system is illustrated in Fig. 4. This system is based on
our proposed method and was developed using Pro*C tools for
background services, which involve scheduling algorithms, and
was operated on an IBM P_SERIES server. The graphical user
interface (GUI) was written using Visual C# and TUXDEO
middleware that connects with an ORACLE real-time database to
balance the data load. Slab data for production materials is
collected from the Baosteel computer system. To date our hot
rolling production scheduling system has been in operation for
more than two years and has proved very helpful for plant
logistics. Fig. 5 shows a typical operating interface for our system,
in which rolling width profiles and the jump trends of rolling
gauges are highlighted. By using the GUI, the schedulers can easily
change priority values or technical rules, and adjust the schedul-
ing solution for consistency with an integrated production
environment.
The following are constraints that relate to the number of
rolling units, certain penalty coefficient settings, and certain
algorithm coefficient settings. Table 3 lists constraints between
the rolling surface grade and its corresponding rolling length for
this hot strip mill. From this table, it is clear that the smaller the

ERP System

Rolling planning Optimized

Rolling plan optimization
Gathered A series of scheduling
slabs Single-type Multi-type rolling units solution
Warm-up
staple staple Unit sequence Slabs sequence
material
material material optimization optimization
planning
planning planning

Human Machine Coordination

Manufacturing process
Fig. 4. The structure chart of hot rolling scheduling system.
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J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641 637

Fig. 5. An interface of the hot rolling production scheduling system.

Table 3 Table 5
Relationship between surface grade and rolling length. Hardness penalty coefficients.

Surface grade Rolling length Hardness jump Penalty

01 70 1 5
02 90 2 15
03 120 3 35
04 160 4 60

Table 6
Table 4 Gauge penalty coefficients.
Width penalty coefficients.
Gauge jump (mm) Penalty for up/down
Width jump (mm) Penalty
0.00–0.30 3 6
0–5 1 0.31–0.60 6 12
6–10 2 0.61–0.90 15 30
11–20 5 0.91–1.20 50 100
21–30 10 1.21–2.00 200 400
31–50 15
51–70 20
71–90 30 Table 7
91–115 50 Discharging temperature penalty coefficients.
116–140 70
141–165 90 Discharging temperature jump (1C) Penalty
166–190 120
191–215 150 0–5 1
215–250 200 6–10 3
11–15 6
16–20 12
20–30 30
430 1000
value of surface grade, the more rigorous the constraint of rolling
length, as previously explained. The penalty coefficients of width
jump, hardness jump and gauge jump are shown in Tables 4–6,
respectively. The penalty coefficients associated with jumps in meters of the PGA are as follows. The single-gene swap probability
discharging temperature, finishing rolling temperature and coiling is 0.9; the multi-gene swap probability is 0.15; the gene-string
temperature are listed in Tables 7–9. Table 10 describes the move probability is 0.15; the scale of the memory swarm structure
penalty coefficient associated with slab rolling time. The para- is designated as 20; the population of the colony is 50. In the
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638 J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641

Table 8 slabs of lower unit number than that derived by manual

Coiling temperature penalty coefficients. scheduling and standard GA. This is because the manual method
cannot compute efficiently when so many slabs have to be
Coiling temperature jump (1C) Penalty
scheduled. In the standard GA method, various constraints
0–10 1 often render units infeasible, and this is mainly why more units
11–20 3 are built using this method. Such results mean that the latter
21–30 5 two methods shown in Table 11 have fewer roller-changing
31–40 7
41–50 10
times than the former methods. In other words, the setup cost
51–60 15 decreases when expert-based heuristics or the proposed method
61–70 20 is used; moreover, the time to adjust equipment is reduced
71–80 30 commensurately.
81–90 40
As for the number of slabs per unit, it is clear that the latter
91–100 50
101–110 70 two methods create an equal number of units and have different
111–120 90 distributions of slab numbers. Given the heuristics, the slab
4120 1000 numbers usually diminish in successive units. By contrast, our
proposed hybrid method is fairly consistent in this regard. When
heuristics commence, there are many available slabs, and the
algorithm therefore generates a unit with a large number of slabs.
Table 9 However, once the slabs are processed, the number of selectable
Finishing rolling temperature penalty coefficients. slabs reduces because of the need to satisfy constraints. By
contrast, no equivalent situation exists in the proposed hybrid
Finishing rolling temperature jump (1C) Penalty
method. In terms of the hot charged slab default values, the
0–10 1 average hot charge ratio for our proposed method after the first
11–20 3 stage is 51.9%, which is clearly greater than that of the other
21–30 5 methods shown in Table 11. Furthermore, with our hybrid
31–40 10
41–50 20
approach, the ratio of hot charged slabs to total slabs in each
51–60 30 unit is relatively stable (see Table 11). This also confirms that no
460 1000 large fluctuations are occurring under.
The manual scheduling approach usually requires several
hours to finish the scheduling task on a given scale. The heuristic
method based on expert rules uses the shortest time. The
Table 10 standard GA, which iterates 150 times, requires a substantially
Rolling time penalty coefficients. longer time than the other approaches because of the compli-
cated genetic operations. By comparison, the proposed hybrid
Rolling time-cutting time-minimal Penalty
conveying period (h) approach iterates as many times as the standard GA but requires
less computation. This is due to the efficiency of the partheno-
o0 N genetic operations in PGA and the assistance of heuristics.
0–2 0 Moreover, in respect of batch penalty, the proposed hybrid
2–6 5
6–10 10
method generates the best results. However, the time to generate
10–16 50 a solution is longer than that of the expert-based heuristics. In
16–24 100 practical manufacturing environments, such computational times
424 1000 are acceptable.
In conclusion, we suggest that the proposed hybrid planning
method offers the best overall result. The average rolling unit
sequence optimization stage, the parameters of the modified SA length was 62.33 km and the average unit weight reached
are set as follows. The initial temperature is 2000 1C; the finishing 1637.4 tons. The total buffer time was 52 167 h at the first stage
temperature is 5 1C; the temperature-dropping coefficient is 0.92. of production scheduling. The planning result was further
The length of the tabu list is 8. optimized at the second stage. Table 12 depicts the optimized
In order to illustrate the advantages of our proposed hybrid outcomes in detail. The average hot charge ratio was improved to
method, a comparison example using real practical production 61.17%. The buffer occupancy time reduced to 33 876 h. The
data from this plant is provided. This consists of three batches of number of hot charged slabs apparently increased under the
slabs with numbered 303, 228, and 293. We use four different new rolling sequence. Meanwhile, after optimization, the total
approaches, including manual scheduling, standard GA, the penalty associated with these 11 rolling units decreased to
heuristic method based on expert rules, and the proposed hybrid 15174530, which is less than the sum of the three penalties
method. The manual scheduling approach was widely used before (16085720) associated with the hybrid method after the first
this scheduling software was implemented at this plant. The stage. This indicates that the cost increase due to rolling time
standard GA method is to adopt the traditional evolutionary delay has been reduced through global optimization in the second
algorithm to achieve an optimum such that evolutionary results stage. Since the rolling width and gauge are the most important
can be rectified to meet various constraints. The heuristic method constraints in the hot rolling process, Table 12 shows width and
based on expert rules completes the processing steps for all gauge jumps (see also Figs. 6 and 7) for 82 and 65 slabs,
planned slabs using designated expert rules. A set of comparable respectively (Unit IDs: 103, 105). It is clear that the rolling
batch planning constraints is listed in Table 11. The rolling unit ID widths in the two units change from narrow to wide, and
for each approach represents the default sequence used to build then from wide to narrow. In Unit 103, the first nine slabs
the units. are in the warm-up material, and the width of the tenth slab
It is clear from Table 11 that the expert heuristics and the is the largest in the unit. In Unit 105, there are eight slabs
proposed hybrid method result in three identical batches of made from warm-up material, and the staple material starts at the
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J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641 639

Table 11
Comparison of planning results with four methods.

Method Batch Rolling unit Slabs Rolling Weight (t) Default of hot Average hot Time Batch
ID number length (km) charged slabs charge ratio (%) spending penalty
number

Manual method 1 102 64 53.4 1376.1 39 About 3 h 8 149 700

103 61 51.7 1395.6 34
104 57 47.9 1292.5 27
105 59 50.7 1281.3 21
106 62 45.2 1361.7 22

2 107 57 51.2 1302.2 31 47.08 More than 5 172 990

2h
108 59 44.6 1319.6 31
109 61 49.1 1280.6 26
110 51 43.2 1048.3 20

3 111 65 50.6 1362.9 38 About 3 h 7 742 610

112 62 51.1 1325.7 34
113 57 51.0 1251.3 26
114 56 49.2 1210.9 22
115 53 46.7 1202.2 17

Standard GA 1 102 68 61.3 1507.3 38 373 s 6 842 900

103 66 58.7 1488.5 35
104 62 51.6 1417.6 29
105 54 40.8 1185.2 22
106 53 36.5 1108.6 20

2 107 63 53.9 1428.9 37 48.06 254 s 4 837 110

108 61 53.1 1429.5 33
109 54 43.2 1060.1 24
110 50 37.9 1032.2 17

3 111 72 57.9 1519.4 46 336 s 6 739 100

112 62 52.1 1407.3 34
113 61 51.8 1415.6 26
114 51 47.5 1011.5 20
115 47 39.3 999.2 15

Heuristic method 1 102 85 61.7 1931.4 48 119 s 6 673 140

based on
expert rules
103 80 67.2 1849.5 41
104 71 62.3 1721.6 34
105 67 57.7 1204.7 25

2 106 87 70.8 1914.0 51 49.51 72 s 4 776 520

107 74 60.9 1539.9 38
108 67 56.4 1496.8 24

3 109 92 69.1 1909.1 56 107 s 6 498 500

110 89 65.3 1856.7 43
111 63 60.1 1420.2 29
112 49 54.1 1167.0 19

Proposed hybrid 1 102 80 63.6 1875.4 44 169 s 6 071 450

method
103 82 65.6 1896.0 45
104 76 63.4 1477.6 37
105 65 56.3 1458.2 32

2 106 81 65.8 1895.8 43 51.94 91 s 4 138 870

107 78 64.2 1502.6 40
108 69 58.1 1552.3 33

3 109 87 71.5 1845.6 46 148 s 5 875 400

110 69 61.2 1538.6 38
111 71 55.6 1508.6 38
112 66 60.3 1460.2 32
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640 J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641

Table 12
Results of optimizing rolling sequence.

Rolling sequence Rolling unit ID Slabs number Rolling length (km) Weight (t) Hot charged slabs number after optimized

1 104 76 63.1 1713.4 49

2 103 82 65.6 1896.0 53
3 102 80 62.1 1524.6 50
4 106 81 66.4 1865.1 47
5 105 65 58.8 1495.6 41
6 107 78 72.1 1531.1 43
7 108 69 61.3 1576.0 40
8 109 87 71.5 1845.6 55
9 111 71 62.9 1556.7 46
10 110 69 51.7 1541.2 41
11 112 66 50.1 1465.6 39
P
Units Hot
11P charged slabs
The global average hot charge ratio:  100% ¼ 61:17%.
11 Units Total slabs

capacity in a unit, average hot charge ratio and energy consump-

Fig. 6. The width jump trend in randomly selected 2 rolling units of Table 12.
tion. Meanwhile, the production statistics from manual schedul-
ing in March–August 2005 are also shown in Table 13 for
comparison. Over these two years, this hot strip mill had basically
identical production facilities. Table 13 indicates that the capacity
for rolling units using our proposed method is greater than that
using the previous manual scheduling techniques. This also
means that the new scheduling method effectively decreases
roller-changing time, which reduces manufacturing setup costs
and improves production efficiency for the hot strip mill. In
addition, the energy consumption for the reheat furnaces is
reduced due to a higher hot charge ratio. Looking at six months of
data, we also see reductions in energy consumption thanks to this
new method. Energy savings are computed from primary energy
consumption metrics such as electricity, by-product gas, heavy oil,
etc. To better understand energy consumption in the hot rolling
process each month, general energy values are transformed into
standard coal equivalents. The last column of Table 13 demon-
strates energy savings as a result of applying this scheduling
system. The proposed hybrid scheduling method decreases energy
consumption.
This production scheduling system can accomplish hot rolling
production planning and optimization given real-time data
from the production and sales computer system of this plant. It
enables users to release scheduling results or partially optimized
results, depending on the practical production circumstances.
See Fig. 4. Even if the partial results have not been released
to manufacturing, they can be rescheduled by considering
complementary batches of slabs. With the two-stage scheduling
system, hot charge ratio is improved and total time in a heat
preservation pit or slab yard is decreased. Therefore, we have
shown that our new hot rolling scheduling approach can improve
production efficiency, shorten production cycles, and offer
economic benefits.

5. Conclusions

Fig. 7. The gauge jump trend in randomly selected 2 rolling units of Table 12.
ninth slab. In terms of gauge jumps, given the width jump trend,
these change relatively smoothly and meet all production
requirements.
In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this production
scheduling system in the Baosteel plant, Table 13 shows actual
manufacturing production statistics for this system during
March–August 2006. Production data includes average rolling
In this paper, we developed a hot rolling scheduling method for
a certain hot strip mill in Shanghai operated by Baosteel Co. Ltd.
Our approach formulates the scheduling problem using two
stages, namely planning rolling batches and optimizing the rolling
sequence. A variety of intelligent search algorithms are used
to solve the problem. In a practical manufacturing scenario,
production software based on a hybrid method that features
human–machine coordination improves scheduling flexibility.
The results in Baosteel demonstrate the viability and effectiveness
of our proposed scheduling method.
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J. Zhao et al. / Control Engineering Practice 17 (2009) 629–641 641

Table 13
Comparison of the production statistical data in two years.

Month Average weight of a rolling unit (t) Average rolling length of a unit (km) Average hot charge ratio Energy saving (standard coal equivalent) (t)

Manual Hybrid Manual Hybrid Manual (%) Hybrid (%)

March 1291.4 1612.3 49.7 62.1 43.17 59.42 482.6

April 1265.1 1591.4 52.9 66.6 45.92 61.05 449.4
May 1277.5 1671.2 47.6 62.3 46.33 61.83 460.3
June 1342.9 1692.8 59.1 74.5 49.24 63.19 415.3
July 1253.7 1657.4 55.3 73.1 51.33 63.36 357.2
August 1296.8 1632.9 43.5 54.8 51.25 62.51 334.5

Acknowledgments
This work was partially supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (60534010, 60604026), and by the
National High-Tech R&D Program of China (2007AA04Z156). The
cooperation of Shanghai Baosteel Co. Ltd., China, in this work is
greatly appreciated. We would also like to thank the associate
editor and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments
and constructive suggestions.
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