Abstract
Printed circuit card assemblies form the core of a vast array of contemporary manufactured products. The technologies for assembling printed circuit cards require a hierarchy of complex decisions for grouping card types and processes, staging components at assembly machines, arranging feeders, and sequencing placement operations. This paper is motivated by the largely unmet needs of industrial process planners for computer aids. Our objective is to develop a framework for the printed circuit card assembly process planning problem and to assess the current state of the research on appropriate models and solution methods. We first provide an overview of the essential elements of printed circuit card terminology, assembly technologies, and assembly system operations. Then we propose a decision hierarchy, survey the published literature, and identify needs for future research.
Notes
This work has been jointly sponsored by The National Science Foundation (grant no. DDM-9102556), the Material Handling Research Center, the Manufacturing Research Center, and the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia.