This paper presents a 3D (three dimensional) ‘Finite Element Analysis (FEA)’ model for the prediction of residual deformation due to line heating in metal plate forming processes that are common and preferred choice of manufacturing in shipbuilding, automotive and aerospace industries. The spatial and temporal discretizations have significant effect on the efficiency and accuracy of simulation results. An optimal discretization is required to reduce the expensive computational time and memory usage caused by the excessive degrees of freedom while incurring accurate results. This paper investigates the effect of temporal discretization in FEA simulation on the computational time and memory usage during the cooling phase of the line heating in metal plate forming processes. The minimum required temporal discretization in FEA simulation during the cooling phase is established by examining the convergence of numerical solutions with varying discretization. The computer simulation model used in the convergence study is validated by comparing the results with published experimental and numerical results. Keywords: Line heating, Transient analysis, Plate forming, Material non-linearity.