Modeling a printed circuit board assembly line using objects

Automobiles incorporate a variety of sophisticated electronic systems to pe r form different functions, ranging from engine control and monitoring, to intelligent safety equipment, to communication and navigation systems. To f ill this need, automobile manufacturers operate one or more plants to assem ble families of printed circuit boards to supply these electronic systems. Each plant typically has a number of assembly lines. Simulation is widely u sed for modeling and analyzing electronics assembly systems and to aid in t he design and ongoing systems management of these plants. In this article, we describe an application of an object-based simulation architecture for m odeling the complexities of electronic assembly systems at different levels of abstraction. Elements of the architecture are outlines, followed by a d escription of how it is used to simulate an assembly lien in an automobile manufacturing facility A comparison between the object-based approach and a traditional, commercially available, discrete-event simulation package is presented. The modeling methodology presented here is applicable for any pr inted circuit card assembly operation.