Task independent bounds on system performance with improved actuators that do not scale

A critical component of throughput for planar assembly and test systems is time spent moving from site to site. In general, it is difficult to assess the impact of actuator improvements on overall system performance. It may vary from product to product. Even for a specific product, it may depend on which of n factorial possibilities is chosen in moving amongst n locations. Ideally, one wants to minimize the total time required by all the movements. Since the improvement affects the time required to move from site to site, the optimal sequence may also change. It was shown that with proper single parameter actuator-scaling, the optimal sequence remains unaffected. Furthermore, the improvement in the system´s performance is quantifiable, independent of the distribution of the distances that must be traversed. In a case that a proper single parameter actuator-scaling does not exist, it is shown here that bounds on system performance can still be obtained, even though the optimal sequence may change. The bounds are independent of the distribution of the distances that must be traversed