Cold rolled steel coils are annealed in batch furnaces to obtain desirable mechanical properties. Annealing operations involve heating and cooling cycles which take long due to high weight of the coils under annealing. To reduce annealing time, a simulation code was developed that is capable of evaluating more effective schedules for annealing coils during the heating process. This code is additionally capable of accurate determination of furnace turn-off time for different coil weights and charge dimensions. After studying many heating schedules and considering heat transfer mechanism in the annealing furnace, a new schedule with the most advantages was selected as the new operation conditions in the hydrogen annealing plant. The performance of all the furnaces were adjusted to the new heating schedule after experiments had been carried out to ensure the accuracy of the code and the fitness of the new operation condition. Comparison of similar yield of cold rolled coils over two months revealed that specific energy consumption of furnaces under the new heating schedule decreased by 11%, heating cycle time by 16%, and the hydrogen consumption by 14%. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.