Simulation and analysis of a circuit board manufacturing facility

ABSTRACT

A simulation model is used to analyze the effects of various factors on the performance of a complex manufacturing system. The system under study is a large circuit board manufacturing facility. There, circuit boards are assembled and tested on a wide variety of automated machines and manual workstations. The simulation model, written in the SLAM II language, is highly detailed in the manner in which processes are modelled. This becomes especially important in modelling circuit board testing where boards which fail are repaired and recirculated through the test stations. Detailed modelling also allows for numerous process routings among the different product types to be permitted. The model possesses a demonstrated accuracy in its portrayal of the real-world situation. To make the most economical use of the model in the investigation of factor influence on system performance, experiments were conducted according to the principles of statistical experiment design. A 32-trial Hadamard design was employed to test the effects of such variables as lot size, order release schedules and quality on system performance. Performance measures included mean percent of work behind schedule, process flow time and in-process inventory levels. Significant results from these experiments are presented along with a set of guidelines, with respect to the factors investigated, which yielded favorable system performance results.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.1 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING
      Subjects: Manufacturing

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.6 SIMULATION AND MODELING

  J. Computer Applications
  J.2 PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
      Subjects: Electronics

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Management, Measurement, Performance, Theory