Main aspects concerning PCB manufacturing optimization

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline the main features concerning the optimization of printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication by improving the manufacturing process productivity. Design/methodology/approach - The author explored two different approaches to increase the manufacturing process productivity of PCBs. The first approach involved optimization of the PCB manufacturing process as a whole. The second approach was based on increasing the process productivity at the operational level. Findings - To reduce the total manufacturing time, two heuristic algorithms for solving flowshop scheduling problems were designed. These algorithms were used for the computation of an optimal PCB manufacturing schedule. The case study shows both mono- and bi-criteria optimization of the PCBs manufacturing. Research limitations/implications - While the input data used in the case study were based on random numbers, the mathematical considerations drew only the main directions for manufacturing process optimization. Originality/value - The paper shows two original heuristic algorithms for solving the flowshop scheduling problem, with high performance according to the best heuristics in the field. Besides their performances, these algorithms have the advantage of simplicity and ease of implementation on a computer. Using these algorithms, the optimal schedule for the PCB manufacturing process was calculated. For the case of the bi-criteria optimization, the study of points which belong to the Pareto-optimal set are presented.