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ABSTRACT

The planning for rectangular plate products (slabs) in an integrated steel plant is extremely hard and important. Due to the large scale and complex integrated operational constraints, the planning problem is quite difficult to achieve an optimal solution even a feasible solution. From the practical point of view, this paper discusses an integrated charge planning (ICP) problem, with flexible product specifications. The purpose is to improve the efficiency and feasibility of planning, the customer satisfaction levels and the production costs, considering the integrated operational constraints. An integer programming model is formulated, and the problem is NP-hard. A new heuristics based on a variable neighborhood search (VNS), named the guided VNS embedded in harmony search, is designed. The computational results demonstrate that the proposed model and algorithm are feasible and effective for ICP.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.2 ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
      I.2.8 Problem Solving, Control Methods, and Search

Additional Classification:
  G. Mathematics of Computing
  G.1 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
      G.1.6 Optimization

General Terms:
Algorithms, Experimentation, Management, Performance

Keywords:
combinatorial optimization, harmony search, integrated charge planning, variable neighborhood search