Abstract
Printed circuit board (PCB) assembly is a complicated task. The board has to go through a number of complex
processes such as solder printing, component placement and reflow. In order to optimize the throughput rate of the
assembly process, the time taken for the component placement operation needs to be minimized, as this can minimize
the overall assembly time significantly. In this study, the component placement sequencing problem is modeled as a
traveling salesman problem (TSP). Genetic algorithms (GAs) are employed to optimize this sequencing problem. GAs
are simple to model and solve the problem faster when compared to linear programs. The focus of this paper is to
provide the rationale for using GAs to model this problem.