| Article ID: | iaor19982283 |
| Country: | Netherlands |
| Volume: | 75 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Start Page Number: | 303 |
| End Page Number: | 324 |
| Publication Date: | Dec 1997 |
| Journal: | Annals of Operations Research |
| Authors: | Dikos Aristides, Nelson Peter C., Tirpak Thomas M., Wang Weihsin |
| Keywords: | heuristics |
The purpose of this paper is to present an overview of the factors affecting the cycle time of printed circuit card assembly (PCCA) in high-mix environments and demonstrate a technique for improving machine throughput. We have concentrated our research on optimizing the portion of the PCCA manufacturing process performed by high-speed placement machines (chip shooters). A crucial factor affecting the throughput of a chip shooter is the assignment of components to the feeder slots. Genetic algorithms were employed to find a near optimal assignment of the feeder carriage. Results for various genetic operators in this problem domain are presented.