Job grouping in surface mounted component printing

The arrangement of operations in a production line for mounting the surface components on a printed circuit board is discussed. The production program includes a wide range of different products, which causes frequent set-up operations. The overall efficiency of the production line depends heavily on how the printing operations are organized. Set-ups cause delays which can be cut down by selecting carefully the feeders for the components and by solving a suitable sequence for the products. We describe an integrated production management system for job grouping. The system utilizes approximate algorithms for minimizing the number of component switching instants. A discussion of the exact minimization by using mathematical 0/1 integer programming approach is also given. The revision of the production management system has had a major impact on the productivity, and an increase of ca. 58 % in the number of component insertions per hour is observed. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.