AN EXPERT SYSTEM OF AUTOMATIC SLAB ASSIGNMENT FOR HOT STRIP MILL

A fully automatic assignment system of slabs for hot strip mill has been developed by using an expert system building tool SMI/Marks-ll. This tool is an original software by Sumitomo Metals and has some types of linkage function. The linkage functions are very useful to develop a hybrid computer system, where ordinary language systems and an expert system can cooperate effectively. The automatic slab assignment system is installed in a mainframe IBM 3090, as an alternative to the conventional system which consists of the ordinary language system and the manual assignment job by an expert. Selection or assignment of stocked slabs for the products orders can be performed automatically. As the result of evaluation, this system has the following capabilities.(1)The number of assigned pairs is almost equal to that by the expert.(2)Assignments of slabs with excessive upper grades can be eliminated.(3)Job time is reduced from 6 to 1 h. This expert system can be easily maintained for environmental changes. The development period is reduced by the prototyping method. © 1990, The Iron and Steel Institute of Japan. All rights reserved.