Precision control of the slab is crucial for product quality and production economy in hot strip mills. The current study presents a new model for predicting width spread of a slab with a rectangular cross section during roughing. The model is developed on the basis of the extremum principle for a rigid plastic material and a three dimensional admissible velocity field. This model incorporates the effect of process variables such as the shape factor and the ratio of width to thickness. We compare the results of this model to 3-D finite element (FE) process simulations and also to results from a previous study.