Method for fitting printed circuit boards with components on fitting lines of a fitting system for fitting the printed circuit boards with electronic components, the method comprising the following steps: - detecting requirements for fitting a plurality of printed circuit boards with respectively allocated components; - determining a starting allocation of printed circuit boards on fitting lines; - selecting a subset of printed circuit boards from the printed circuit boards to be allocated, different subsets being selected during successive runs of the method; - allocating the printed circuit boards in the subset to the fitting lines by means of integer linear programming in such a manner that the sum of component variances of the fitting lines is minimized, - the component variance of a fitting line being given by the number of different components to be fitted to the printed circuit boards allocated to the fitting line; - the allocation being carried out under particular specifications which comprise the fact that - not every printed circuit board on each fitting line can be manufactured on account of technical restrictions, - the printed circuit boards on the fitting lines usually have different production times, and - maximum production time capacities of the fitting lines must not be exceeded; - determining equipment families for the fitting lines on the basis of the allocation, - an equipment family being determined as a set of printed circuit boards which can be fitted with components on a fitting line without changing the quantity of component types which are kept available on the fitting line for the fitting process, and - reallocating until a criterion has reached a predetermined threshold, - the criterion being formed on the basis of the numbers of equipment families of the fitting lines, - and the criterion comprising at least one of the following conditions: - the number of equipment families of each fitting line is greater than a first predetermined threshold; - the number of equipment families of each fitting line is less than a second predetermined threshold, and - differences between the numbers of equipment families of each fitting line are below a predetermined threshold, and - fitting the printed circuit boards with components on the respectively allocated fitting lines. - detecting requirements for fitting a plurality of printed circuit boards with respectively allocated components; - determining a starting allocation of printed circuit boards on fitting lines; - selecting a subset of printed circuit boards from the printed circuit boards to be allocated, different subsets being selected during successive runs of the method; - allocating the printed circuit boards in the subset to the fitting lines by means of integer linear programming in such a manner that the sum of component variances of the fitting lines is minimized, - the component variance of a fitting line being given by the number of different components to be fitted to the printed circuit boards allocated to the fitting line; - the allocation being carried out under particular specifications which comprise the fact that - not every printed circuit board on each fitting line can be manufactured on account of technical restrictions, - the printed circuit boards on the fitting lines usually have different production times, and - maximum production time capacities of the fitting lines must not be exceeded; - not every printed circuit board on each fitting line can be manufactured on account of technical restrictions, - the printed circuit boards on the fitting lines usually have different production times, and - maximum production time capacities of the fitting lines must not be exceeded; - determining equipment families for the fitting lines on the basis of the allocation, - an equipment family being determined as a set of printed circuit boards which can be fitted with components on a fitting line without changing the quantity of component types which are kept available on the fitting line for the fitting process, and - reallocating until a criterion has reached a predetermined threshold, - the criterion being formed on the basis of the numbers of equipment families of the fitting lines, - and the criterion comprising at least one of the following conditions: - the number of equipment families of each fitting line is greater than a first predetermined threshold; - the number of equipment families of each fitting line is less than a second predetermined threshold, and - differences between the numbers of equipment families of each fitting line are below a predetermined threshold, and - the number of equipment families of each fitting line is greater than a first predetermined threshold; - the number of equipment families of each fitting line is less than a second predetermined threshold, and - differences between the numbers of equipment families of each fitting line are below a predetermined threshold, and - fitting the printed circuit boards with components on the respectively allocated fitting lines.