Constraint Programming Approaches to a Scheduling Problem in Steelmaking
Research Report 97.43, School of Computer Studies, University of Leeds,
September 1997.
Alan W. Smith and Barbara M. Smith
Abstract
This paper describes a project which is currently nearing implementation at British Steel's
Teesside Works in the North East of England. The project has developed a computer system to
automate the previously manual process of developing schedules for the steelmaking area. We give an
overview of the operations at Teesside and the aim of the system, and describe in detail one module of
the system, namely Bloom Sequencing. Three successive attempts to model this problem using
constraint programming are described. We explain the deficiencies of the first two attempts, which
lead to the final successful module. Some lessons for the development of constraint programming
solutions to similar problems are drawn.
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