Multi-objective ACO algorithm for slab selecting and charging scheduling in hot rolling production

Reheating furnace charging and hot rolling play an important role in reducing energy loss and production cost. According to the production process and constraints in the process of reheating furnace charging and hot rolling, a multi-objective mathematical model is developed for selecting slabs and scheduling reheating furnaces. A multi-objective ant colony optimization algorithm is therefore designed to solve the model, which is embedded with several optimization strategies. Simulation experiment results of a practical instance show that the proposed model and algorithm are effective in solving the problem of this paper.