Simulation method for multi-machine and multi-task production scheduling in steelmaking-continuous casting process

The steelmaking-continuous casting (SCC) process, which consists of steelmaking, refining and continuous casting stage, is usually the critical process in iron and steel industry. This paper aims to propose a simulation method for the realistic hybrid flow shop scheduling problem resulting from the SCC process. A mathematic model based on a comprehensive investigation is built first. Then, a simulation method which can decide the time scope of production materials on each stage in the simulation initialization is presented. Additionally, the matching decision algorithm is employed to match the machines and production materials in the simulation running process. To evaluate the simulation method, numerical experiments are conducted with an 8 hours test instance generated according to a real-world production process. The results show that the simulation method is a feasible and effective method for production scheduling in SCC process.