Application of stepwise clustering method for the determination of efficient assembly sequence

The use of a robot to assemble many parts on a board is addressed. When there exists a large variety of part types, it is an important task to find a sequence by which the parts can be assembled in a short time. This problem can be regarded as an extension of the efficient drawing path problem. The stepwise clustering method, which has been very effective for the latter problem, is extended to provide an efficient assembly sequence and is applied to the assembly sequence of electronic circuit boards. The resulting sequences are shown to be efficient enough to give shorter assembly times than those by human experts