Coordinated Coil Scheduling for Cold Rolling Lines
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current manual planning methods for coil scheduling in cold rolling areas of steel plants fail to effectively coordinate production rhythms among multiple production lines, leading to conflicts, increased changeover times, and reduced production stability and quality due to their reliance on personal experience and line-specific scheduling without considering the entire supply chain.
Innovation Solution
A coordinated coil scheduling method that involves acquiring information about candidate coils, building a scheduling model to minimize abrasion and changeover penalties, using heuristic algorithms to generate initial schedules, and improving schedules in real-time through adaptive processes to optimize production across multiple lines, ensuring cohesion and compliance with production requirements.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual planning method is used for coil scheduling in each production line, then the scheduling can be made according to local requirements, but the production rhythms among multiple lines cannot be coordinated effectively, leading to conflicts and increased changeover times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the scheduling functions of multiple production lines into a unified coordinated scheduling system. The coil scheduling model integrates acid rolling line, continuous annealing line, hot galvanizing line, and hot aluminizing and galvanizing line into a single optimization framework, allowing simultaneous consideration of all lines' requirements and constraints to reduce conflicts and changeover times
Solution Approach 2:
The coordinated scheduling model serves multiple production lines with different requirements through a universal optimization framework. The model can handle various line types (acid rolling, annealing, galvanizing, aluminizing) with a single unified approach, determining coil schedules that satisfy diverse production requirements while coordinating overall production rhythm
2Adaptability or versatility
If manual planning method is used for coil scheduling, then the schedule can be made based on personal experience, but the production stability and quality cannot be guaranteed due to lack of comprehensive coordination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the scheduling approach from qualitative manual judgment to quantitative optimization by changing the parameters from experience-based decisions to mathematically optimized variables. The model uses objective functions and constraints to systematically determine coil sequences, processing times, and line assignments, ensuring production stability through comprehensive coordination rather than personal experience
3Ease of operation
If coil schedule is made considering only one production line's requirements, then that line's scheduling needs are met, but other lines suffer from frequent changeover and material shortage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the production system into multiple production lines with distinct characteristics and requirements. The coordinated scheduling model separately considers each line's specific constraints (acid rolling, annealing, galvanizing, aluminizing) while integrating them into a unified optimization framework, allowing line-specific needs to be met without causing frequent changeovers in other lines
4Extent of automation
If production in each line is not coordinated, then each line can operate independently, but the overall production effect is suboptimal with increased changeover costs and reduced efficiency
Solution Approach 1:
The coordinated scheduling model acts as an intermediary system that connects and coordinates multiple independently operating production lines. It determines coil schedules that balance the needs of each line, optimizing the overall production effect by reducing frequent changeovers and material shortages across the entire cold rolling area
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a coordinated coil scheduling method of multiple production lines in cold rolling area in steel plant, comprising: acquiring the information about the candidate coils to be scheduled in each of the multiple production lines in cold rolling area; building a coordinated coil scheduling model of multiple lines; obtaining the initial coordinated coil schedule of multiple lines by using a heuristic algorithm; improving the initial coordinated coil schedule in real time; and sending the improved coordinated coil schedule to the ACS of each production line. In this method, besides different production technological requirements of each coil, the cohesion relationship of different production lines are taken into account to make material supply to each equipment reasonable, and the smooth production process of coils in each of the lines is guaranteed with the changeover minimized, such that the whole efficiency of the manufacturing process is improved.