Simulation of liquid metal logistics in primary aluminum industry

Production planning in the primary aluminum industry is a critical task, due to heavy imbalances among the main processes. As liquid production (reduction) has a very continuous and stable output, solidification at different lines have different operational paths (batch/continuous), shutdowns and variations in rates. Due to material's nature (hot liquid metal), it is not possible to maintain a buffer to absorb those imbalances. An adequate logistics planning for distributing liquid metal has to accomplish the solidification plan with an adequate usage of resources. In this paper we present the application of a simulation model to identify the main bottlenecks in the process, analyze dynamic system behavior, apply heuristics balancing algorithms and validate possible solutions for increasing casting capacity. The simulation model was implemented at Aluar's plant.