Cold rolled electrical steel edge deformation at finishing step of treatment and change of metal flatness parameters at rolling and annealing operation were investigated. The connection between these processes and the edge deformation was traced. It was determined that to a large degree edge deformation is caused by thermal strip deformations that originate during the annealing of coils in bell-type furnaces. Quantitative estimation of thermal deformation was carried out. It was demonstrated that gradients of temperature field in a coil are the reason for thermal deformation beginning. New cold rolling schedule was developed and tested to minimize the probability of edge deformation.