Production Scheduling of Annealing Furnaces

摘要

The development of a computerized procedure for optimal scheduling of steel coils in a batch annealing furnace is reported. The batch annealing process is accomplished by placing the coils in a portable-cover furnace during the heating and cooling cycle. The number of coils that can be stacked on a base is limited by the height of the furnace. The objective is to generate the stacks so as to maximize the throughput which is measured in terms of tons processed per hour. Chapter 1 mentions the scope of the report and gives a brief description of the batch annealing environment. Chapter 2 reviews the heuristic solution procedure developed by Gau. Chapter 3 gives the integer programming formulation and the results obtained. Chapter 4 describes the heuristic solution procedure to maximize the tons processed per hour. Chapter 5 contains the conclusions made from this study. The Appendices contain tables of the results, program listings and references. (ERA citation 11:005609)