Board sequencing and component loading problem for a single machine in printed circuit board assembly planning

Most current research sequentially solves the board sequencing and component-loading problem for a single machine in printed circuit board assembly. The board sequence is first determined. The component-loading order is then established. In addition, other current approaches are used to solve the problem based on the upper bound on component changeovers between two jobs. However, consideration of current magazine status could be a source for total set-up time reduction. In this paper, a new approach is developed to establish board sequence and component-loading order simultaneously. Each board sequence position and component-loading order are obtained together from the process of current set-up determination. The obtained solution is then improved further by the combination of bias and random search processes. Some experiments are tested to confirm theoretical judgement.