Per: rodrigo barcellos caldas (psi metals brazil), Gilmar Sebastiao Soares Junior (USIMINAS), André Akihito Miyazaki Bobbio (psi metals brazil)
Abstract:
The objective is to detail the project referred to the implementation of the PSImetals Planning Line Scheduler solution on lines from the Cold Rolling area of Usiminas in Ipatinga. Usiminas’ process to create schedules for the Pickle Line and Tandem Cold Mill (PLTCM) and the Continuous Annealing Production Line (CAPL) was based on Microsoft Excel spreadsheets containing Visual Basic macros. PSImetals Planning Line Scheduler is the standard component of PSImetals Planning used to create line schedules. As input, it receives the list of assigned material units in front of the production line and helps the production scheduler to make sequences of these materials. These sequences will be later processed on the line. The conception of a schedule requires that the user respect some rules about the schedule size, the output thickness, the output width transition between the material units to produce the piling, and many more. These production rules can be related to technical process limitations, logistical limitations (e.g., stockyard movements), or other business considerations (e.g., due date performance, capacity balancing…) PSImetals Planning Line Scheduler allows these rules and constraints to be defined. It helps the user to check the schedule it built against the production constraints and produces a report about the validity of a schedule. For all lines, Line Scheduler gave the users more time for analysis and decision-making by reducing the time required to create the schedules for the production line. Line Scheduler turns the daily scheduling task into an efficient job when proposing solutions for scheduling problems.
