Using Random Restart Hill Climbing Algorithm for Minimization of component Assembly Time Printed Circuit Boards

This paper presents an heuristic for minimization of the mounting time of components in a printed circuit board using the random restart hill climbing method. The mounting problem is divided in four different and interrelated sub problems: definition of the mounting sequence in the printed circuit board, definition of the distribution of the components in the magazines, definition of the capture sequence, definition of the nozzles sequence. The random restart hill climbing method is used in two different times. In a first time to make a global optimization of the mounting sequence and of the distribution sequence in the magazines. In a second time, to optimize the mounting sequence and the capture sequence in each capture-mounting sequence cycle. The results shown that the mounting time simulated in a real machine is better for the minimized sequence proposed by the heuristic than for others sequences proposed in the literature.