Determination and Evaluation of Affecting Factors of Raw Material Cost Based on Rough Set Theory

Effective cost control in electric arc furnace steelmaking relies on accurate analysis of factors that affect raw material cost and the causes of cost variation. This paper proposes a method to evaluate the importance of each factor affecting raw material cost. With the importance of each factor, the deterministic and nondeterministic factors can be identified by solving a minimal reduction of a decision table. Advice on further improvements for steelmaking production can then be provided. The simplicity and effectiveness of this method is illustrated by an example at the end of this paper. This method can be applied to quantitative analysis of factors that affect raw material cost in steelmaking.