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Successful Implementation of the BetaPlanner Furnace Optimization Extension at voestalpine Stahl - 9 Oct 2007
AIS has successfully completed the implementation of the SteelPlanner reheating furnace optimization module. This project was awarded to AIS in the framework of the new reheating furnace project at voestalpine Stahl in Linz, Austria.
The existing implementation of the AIS SteelPlanner solution at voestalpine in Linz, which has been in operation for 4 years, is optimizing on a daily basis the schedules of the casters and the hot strip mill and is one of the main components of the hot-charging solution in place. With the addition of a new walking beam reheating furnace, some new optimization possibilities are exploited using the new furnace optimizer.
The SteelPlanner Furnace Optimization module is part of BetaPlanner, the mill scheduling solution of the SteelPlanner suite. It optimizes the slab charging and discharging sequence using a combination of a pure thermal and/or a fix charging pattern model. This model considers the reheating time needed for each slab and considers the best furnace to use at a given moment in time. This optimization is done considering the constraints from two pusher type furnaces and the new walking beam furnace as well as the process and logistics constraints related to the HSM.
AIS succeeded in realizing the main goal of the project of using the full capacity of the new reheating furnace by reducing the furnace and/or mill bottlenecks as well as to provide better support for the hot-charging objectives of voestalpine Stahl.
Mr. Kurt Brunner, Project Manager at voestalpine says: "With this project we target to optimize the furnace scheduling process for the different variants of furnaces and to keep the conditions of the mill scheduling process. We have selected AIS because it is a company with a high competence in steel scheduling and our experiences with the AIS Company during our first project were very well".
The furnace optimizer in BetaPlanner closes the gap between the level 3 schedulers and the level 2 furnace optimization facilities. The project has been finalized on schedule in June 2007.
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The BetaPlanner project helped us to achieve the following benefits: - Perfect and quick integration of the new rules - High flexibility in case of unexpected drastic change (breakdown, new constraints, banned products, etc.) - Easy tuning on the relative weights for due date respect, cost reduction, ... - Appreciable increase of hot charging rate by checking every virtual slab - Appreciable contribution to coffin size increase - Time saving on Scheduling process allowing operators to dedicate on more value added tasks
