Research Project – Institute of Production Management

Scheduling flat steel production processes

The steel industry is an important sector for modern industrial societies. The production of steel products is not only particularly energy-, investment- and cost-intensive, but is also characterized by extremely high complexity in the combination of continuous and discrete production processes, extreme process conditions, a wide variety of products and volatile market conditions. Important processes for flat steel production include for example cold rolling, continuous annealing, and galvanizing. In these processes, the material properties of the flat steel are modified so that it is suitable for use as packaging material or in the automotive industry, for example. As part of the research project, models and solution methods for operational scheduling are being developed for these processes. The goal is to generate production plans that are efficient, meet due dates and minimize energy consumption. For this purpose, methods of operations research such as mathematical programming and heuristic solution methods, e.g. matheuristics and genetic algorithms, are used.

The research project is carried out in cooperation with the department of Industrial Production and Operations Management at the TU Berlin.