Process and production planning for circuit board assembly

Abstract

Process planning output can be post-processed into criteria for job scheduling decisions in printed circuit board assembly using surface-mount technology (SMT). Artificial intelligence-based techniques used in computerized planning and scheduling systems in other industries can be extended to printed circuit board operations. These techniques include blackboard architectures, object-oriented programming systems, and nonmonotonic reasoning systems. These techniques were used to demonstrate a unique architecture of blackboard systems that communicate via object-oriented messages to arrive at a shop-floor process plan and production schedule. The methodology was specialized to the assembly of printed circuit boards using surface-mounted components in a high-variety/low-volume product mix. The assembly facility was represented as a hierarchical object of product, process, and organizational knowledge. The system of working heuristics was integrated within a prototype environment with the practitioners that assisted in its development. The end result is a good working methodology for system development, implementation, and maintenance by knowledge worker involvement.