Design of electronic assembly lines: An analytical framework and its application

The design of component assembly lines in Printed Circuit Board manufacturing environments is a challenging problem faced by many firms in the electronics industry. The main design approaches to such component assembly lines are the Mini-Line, Flexible Flow Line, and Hybrid Line designs. In this paper, we discuss the operational trade-offs associated with these design alternatives and present a mathematical programming framework that captures relevant system design issues. Each of the design alternatives can be viewed as a special case of the stated mathematical programming model. We develop effective algorithms to solve these mathematical programs. We have used the framework in a specific PCB manufacturing environment to advise managers on the best configuration of their lines. The models were used as sensitivity analysis tools. The results of our computational experiments, combined with qualitative comparisons of different design approaches developed by a crossfunctional team (engineers, manufacturing and product managers), have led to the development of a set of managerial guidelines for the selection of the design plan for component assembly lines in the studied environment.