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

Hot rolling scheduling is a difficult problem in the steel processing industry. It involves many objectives and constraints in both technical and practical respects. A two-stage scheduling method is proposed in this paper. Batch planning of staple material is formulated as a VRPTW, which is solved with a modified PGA. Then, batches of the established units are optimized by adjusting rolling sequences using intelligent search algorithms to reach higher hot charge ratios. This method has been applied to a hot strip mill belonging to Baosteel in China. Our results demonstrate that the proposed technique can improve production efficiency and offer significant economic benefits.