Optimal Synchronization of the Hot Rolling Stage in Steel Production

The focus of this paper is on the hot rolling stage of a steel producing company. We analyze the synchronization problem of non-identical reheat furnaces and the hot rolling mill. The task is to set the feed-in and drop-out times of slabs to different types of reheat furnaces to reduce the dispensable energy consumption and increase the production rate of the whole process. The problem is formulated as a LP and is applied to generate schedules for a steel production company in Austria. The results show that our proposed model outperforms the industry benchmark by reducing the reheating time within the furnaces and the waiting time of the hot rolling mill.