Optimization of surface component mounting on the printed circuit board using SOM-TSP method

The SOM-TSP (Self-Organizing Map for Traveling Salesman Problem) method is an application of the one-dimensional SOM (T. Kohonen, 1995). We can obtain the sub-optimum (subshortest) tour length in a short time on TSP (travelling salesman problem) by the SOM-TSP method as compared to other methods, but not the shortest tour length. We propose the application of the SOM-TSP method in optimizing the efficiency of surface mounting of electronic parts on a printed circuit board. It was found that the required time for mounting electronic parts will be decreased by our proposed method as compared to the built-in method on the mounting system, through our numerical experiment. Factory output will be increased using the proposed method.