Journal "Software Engineering"
a journal on theoretical and applied science and technology
ISSN 2220-3397

Issue N1 2025 year

DOI: 10.17587/prin.17.37-48
A Method for Building an Agent-Based Model of a Slab Warehouse based on a Discrete-Event Approach
I. S. Shchegolikhin, Postgraduate Student, Department of Computer Engineering and Programming, shchegolikhin.i@yandex.ru, S. M. Andreev, Associate Professor, Department of Automated Control Systems, andreev.asc@gmail.com, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, Magnitogorsk, 455000, Russian Federation
Corresponding author: Ivan S. Shchegolikhin, Postgraduate Student, Nosov Magnitogorsk State Technical University, 455000, Magnitogorsk, Russian Federation, E-mail: shchegolikhin.i@yandex.ru
Received on June 15, 2025
Accepted on August 29, 2025

Metallurgical plants combine two technological processes: continuous casting of steel in continuous casting machines and hot rolling in special rolling mills. To harmonize the productivity of these two processes, a buffer zone is required, which is provided by a warehouse for continuously cast billets. Production rates depend on the efficiency of the slab warehouse. Bridge cranes place slabs in the warehouse and retrieve them for rolling. The efficiency of the slab warehouse largely depends on the commands given to the bridge cranes. Not all commands can be executed, as there are restrictions in the warehouse on the safe distance between cranes, stack height, the order of commands to be executed, etc. To evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of a set of commands, this paper proposes a method for building an agent-based model based on discrete event simulation. The article defines the main types of agents for a slab warehouse and the states characteristic of these agents. The authors propose translating complex commands assigned to bridge cranes into a set of simple commands in order to transfer computations from the optimization process to the simulation process. Based on the proposed method, a simulation model of a slab warehouse was implemented in the AnyLogic software product.

Keywords: Slab warehouse, discrete event modeling, agent-based modeling, simulation modeling, overhead cranes, commands
pp. 37—48
For citation:
Shchegolikhin I. S., Andreev S. M. A Method for Building an Agent-Based Model of a Slab Warehouse based on a Discrete-Event Approach, Programmnaya Ingeneria, 2026, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 37—48. DOI: 10.17587/prin.17.37-48 (in Russian).
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