Automatic control for metal rolling mills: A challenge to both theoreticians and industry engineers

The steel industry is characterized by the impressive scale of its production processes and machinery, and by ever-increasing requirements of precision and accuracy on its steel products. The drive and automation systems are amongst the most sophisticated in industry. There are two approaches to the design of these hierarchical systems. One is to structure the system as a collection of single variable subsystems. The other is to use modern multivariable control techniques to synthesize the control. The authors examine experiences with both techniques and describe their experiences using simulation to study the subsystem, the process disturbances imposed, and the interactions with other subsystems. The need for improved, shorter elapsed time and lower cost design techniques remains a continuing challenge to both theoreticians and industry engineers.