Abstract: Taking the UCMW mill, a cold roiling mill, for an example, the finite element method (FEM) was employed to estimate the effects of tapered work roll shifting and the change in roll contour of the work roll end on edge drop control. The results show that the edge drop of cold rolled strips decreases with the increase in penetration length of the tapered part into strip edge when the work roll end is defined as a sinusoid curve, and the function of edge drop to work roll shifting is parabolic. The effect of work roll shifting on edge drop control increases with the increase in taper at the work roll end. Edge drop can be alleviated by increasing the taper of the work roll end at the same work roll shifting, whereas it can be also reduced when the roll contour at the work roll end does not change but the taper length decreases. In addition both the unevenness of pressure distribution and the maximum pressure between the work roll and the intermediate roll can be alleviated in terms of decreasing the taper and increasing the taper length.