This research investigates the Hot Strip Mill Scheduling Problem (HSMSP) which is one of the most important planning problems in steel industry. The problem has been designed based on production conditions in the greatest producer of plate steel products in Iran , Mobarakeh Steel Complex (MSC). The problem is formulated using Prize Collecting Vehicle Routing Problem (PCVRP) which is a NP-hard problem. Hot Charge technique in the process of steel production, along with the omission of preheating slabs phase before hot rolling, will lead to energy saving. In addition, it also has other benefits and close relationship with HSMSP. In proposed formulation, essential consideration for obtaining initial level of Hot Charge has been taken into account. A search algorithm that consists of three major phases namely as separation of slabs which are capable to be planed, construction of the initial solution and improving the solution, has been offered. Construction of the initial solution and solution improving are performed correspondingly using greedy constraint satisfaction and guided local search (GLS). Four methods namely as deletion, exchange, insertion and relocation have been applied to construct neighborhoods. The efficiency of suggested search algorithm was analyzed using real and random examples. In both categories algorithm shows great efficiency.
