Ant colony optimization for scheduling walking beam reheating furnaces

This paper presents a new mathematical model for the walking beam reheating furnace scheduling problem (WBRFSP) in an iron and steel plant, which allows the mixed package of hot and cold slabs and aims to minimize the energy consumption and increase the product quality. An ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm is designed to solve this model. Simulation results based on the data derived from the field data of an iron and steel plant show the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.