Circuits Assembly - November 2007 - (Page 10)

NEWS In Brief ESDA (esda.org) seeks abstracts for papers covering the effects of EOS, ESD and static electricity for its 30th Annual EOS/ESD Symposium, Sept. 7-12, in Tucson, AZ. The deadline is Jan. 11. Sanmina-SCI (sanmina-sci.com) will close its Fountain, CO, electronics assembly plant by year-end. A spokesperson declined to comment to CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY on the number of workers that would be affected; some reports said 319. At its peak, the 250,000 sq. ft. plant employed 1,000 workers. KIC (kicthermal.com) named New Comp Polska Sp. z.o. o. (new-comp.eu.) its distributor in Poland. Smart Sonic (smartsonic.com) named Quiptech (quiptech.com) representative for Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. EMS provider FlexOne (flexone.com) achieved ISO 13485:2003 medical device quality certification. Flextronics (flextronics.com) completed its acquisition of Solectron, forming the world's second largest EMS company. EMS provider NBS Design (nbsdesign. com) will move into a 40,000 sq. ft. plant this quarter, its second expansion this year. Endicott Interconnect Technologies (eitny.com) has leased an assembly line in a 40,000 sq. ft. plant in Shenzhen, where it will perform volume production of motherboards and controller boards. On the floor, the traffic, or lack of it, was disconcerting. With a few exceptions, exhibitors expressed broad concern about the numbers. Most companies seemed willing to give the show the benefit of the doubt, noting its late jump into the game and the confusion over which show(s) to attend. Jeff Timms of Siemens (siplace.com) called IPC Midwest “good, with quality leads.” But another exhibitor noted, “The bar for SMTAI just got much lower.” Over in Rosemont, a few minutes north of O’Hare airport, ATE was much busier, but just who were the people there to see? Canon has bundled several shows under one roof, a measure that drives traffic and presumably improves the producer’s margins, but makes comparisons between shows much more problematic. While ATE did feature a hands-free, operational SMT line – and IPC Midwest did not – most exhibitors CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY spoke with felt that ATE is simply too broad to fit their current needs. Moreover, the hotels, dining and parking are neither as convenient nor as cost-effective as Schaumburg. CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY spent considerably less time at ATE than IPC Midwest. We picked up a few items of note, however. Electrolube (electrolube.com) hinted at a major product to be rolled out at Productronica. The company, which already makes a wide range of materials, claimed this is new to the company and that beta testing is complete. Zierick (zierick.com) showed a new small footprint surface mount crimp terminal that promises excellent strain relief. The terminal eliminates wire stripping, terminating and soldering. A manual version is available; an automatic model is in development and expected by year-end. Identco (identco.com) displayed 3 x 3 mm labels designed for cellphone and other miniature electronics. The ELP 620 label printer is capable of printing 10"/sec. Our take: IPC will continue to draw folks away from ATE, which has its work cut out for it if it hopes to retain a place in electronics manufacturing. It is clear that Canon hopes to entice the SMTA to reconsider its decision to maintain an independent show. Other show notes: • Hospitality suites will make their debut at IPC Apex in 2008. • Multiple parties have attempted to facilitate a meeting of the minds between IPC and SMTA on the trade show issue, without success. • The IPC Cleaning Subcommittee is working on a new cleaning handbook. A 12-month development cycle is expected. • The IPC-A-610 task group has determined measles to be a process indicator for Class 3 product. It was formerly considered a defect. The change will be made in the next revision of the standard, pending IPC member ratification. • A new Assembly and Joining Handbook will be written and will replace the J-STD-001 Handbook. The former will not include the tables comparing J-STD-001 and other standards, however, task group members say. – Mike Buetow Industry Pelissier Named Head of Universal, Vitronics BINGHAMTON, NY – The parent company of Universal Instruments (uic.com) and Vitronics Soltec (vitronics.com) named group chairman Jean-Luc Pelissier chief executive, effective Oct. 1. Pelissier was also named president of Universal. He replaces CEO and president Jeroen Schmits, who left the CBA Group to pursue a career in an unrelated field, the company said in a statement. Pelissier has more than 20 years’ experience in the electronics industry and capital equipment markets. The CBA Group is a Francisco Partners holding company focused on capital equipment and services investments in the global electronics industry. CBA Group also includes Unovis Solutions. – Mike Buetow People Cobar Europe promoted Han Raetsen to sales manager, responsible for Cobar product sales in Europe, Russia and Africa. Raetsen has an engineering background and 25 years’ experience in electronics manufacturing, as product manager, applications and process engineer, production manager and key account manager. Meet the new boss EI Leases Assembly Line in Shenzhen SHENZHEN – Endicott Interconnect Technologies (eitny.com) has signed a lease to supply fully assembled boards via a 40,000 sq. ft. facility in Shenzhen. The lease currently covers space for one line, company sources say. 10 Circuits Assembly NOVEMBER 2007 circuitsassembly.com http://siplace.com http://esda.org http://sanmina-sci.com http://electrolube.com http://zierick.com http://kicthermal.com http://new-comp.eu http://identco.com http://smartsonic.com http://quiptech.com http://flexone.com http://flextronics.com http://nbsdesign.com http://nbsdesign.com http://eitny.com http://uic.com http://vitronics.com http://eitny.com http://circuitsassembly.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Circuits Assembly - November 2007

Circuits Assembly - November 2007 Contents Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Focus on Business Global Sourcing On the Forefront Screen Printing Better Manufacturing Pb-Free Manufacturing from a Tier III EMS Perspective ‘Living Documents, Subject to Change’ Creating Ideal Solder Joints An Alternative Drying Process for MSDs ‘Customer Satisfaction is More than a Score’ Optoelectronic Substrates: Will They Happen? Tech Tips Wave Soldering Process Doctor Test and Inspection Getting Lean Materials World Equipment Advances Product Spotlight Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts Ad Index

Circuits Assembly - November 2007

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