Abstract: Aiming at the problems of large temperature differences between the head and tail of the billet in the soaking section of heating furnaces, low combustion quality and high energy consumption per ton of steel, a digital simulation platform for the entire steel process and a black box furnace temperature tracking test were used to study the billet reheating process and the uniformity of the heating temperature. Optimization measures for the furnace conditions were proposed. The results showed that the process parameters of the billet reheating were reasonable, and the temperature at the tail of the billet was 1 190 ℃ when the soaking section was close to the furnace, which was higher than the requirement of the process temperature of 1 160 ℃, and 50 ℃ higher than the temperature at the head of the billet. The main reason was that the burners on the north side of the heating furnace were blocked. To ensure heating capacity on the north side, the supply of gas was increased, which led to an enhanced heating capacity on the south side and consequently resulted in a higher temperature at the tail of the billet. After optimizing the northern burners, the temperature difference between head and tail of the billets is reduced to within 5 ℃, resulting in a decrease in gas consumption per ton of steel by 30 m³ and a reduction in carbon emissions by 8 254 t/a.