Exact and metahueristic approaches for optimizing the operations of chip mounter machines

Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is recently proposed algorithm that is inspired from the foraging behavior of honey bees in nature. ABC has been applied to the continuous numerical problems. In this study, we exploit ABC algorithm for optimizing the operations of chip mounter machines which are used for printed circuit board (PCB) assembly, and compared it with Simulated Annealing (SA). Experimental results comparing the proposed ABC and SA are presented. Moreover, the proximity of ABC and SA is compared with the optimal values.