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ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer Employs AIS BetaPlanner for HSM Scheduling
02/27/2008 - ArcelorMittal’s Fos-sur-Mer facility has been successfully scheduling its daily hot strip mill operations with the AIS BetaPlanner mill scheduling solution since October 2006.
AIS reports that ArcelorMittal’s Fos-sur-Mer facility has been successfully scheduling its daily hot strip mill operations with the AIS BetaPlanner mill scheduling solution since October 2006.
The BetaPlanner is configured to model the mill’s logistical and technological constraints, and to help schedulers with the complex and challenging task of mill scheduling. Development began with an in-depth re-engineering of the hot strip mill “rules” based on a physical model of the mill. The new system would be particularly valuable to the scheduling team in light of a new set of constraints that had added flexibility in the scheduling process, but increased the complexity of manual scheduling.
The main goal of the project was thus to give to the schedulers a tool that would help them build schedules according to the new set of rules so they could leverage the full flexibility of the new rules and increase the size of the schedule. The system was also to incorporate frequent updates of slab-yard information, including data on the continuous arrival of slabs still hot from the casters.
“With the usage of BetaPlanner, we made Fos HSM Scheduling process enter into 21st century”, said Mr. Basse, Lead HSM Scheduler at ArcelorMittal Fos-sur-Mer.
The BetaPlanner project helped the facility achieve quick integration of the new rules, incorporating a new level of flexibility for accommodating unexpected drastic changes due to such factors as breakdowns, new constraints, banned products, etc. The BetaPlanner also allows the facility to adjust production to suit changing production priorities, and to appreciably increase the hot charging rate by checking every virtual slab. The system has also simplified and streamlined the scheduling process, allowing operators to contribute to more value-added tasks.
Implementation of the BetaPlanner also helped the facility improve the transparency of its HSM production schedules, and allows a clear and easy interpretation of rules for materials that are difficult to roll. In case of incidents on the mill (e.g. the downtime of one stand), the production constraints are better understood and taken into account in the scheduling process, avoiding unnecessary production stoppages.
ArcelorMittal is also using the BetaPlanner solution on hot strip mills at several other facilities, as well as on other lines such as cold mills, tandem pickling-cold mill lines, galvanizing lines, dividing lines, and continuous annealing.
Headquartered in Linz, Austria, the AIS Group is a leading supplier of planning and scheduling systems for the metals industry. Solutions from AIS help facilities to optimize capacity planning and production schedules.
