Circuits Assembly - November 2007 - (Page 12)

NEWS People IPC named Dave Torp director of technology. He was formerly with Rockwell-Collins, where he was twice named engineer of the year, Kester and most recently Plexus. Industry veteran Jeff Stong is headed to chip bonder OEM Hesse & Knipps. Stuart Blankstein, president of ACL Staticide, died in September following a bacterial infection. He leaves a wife, Karen, and three children. Indium Corp. promoted Jordan Ross to market manager for thermal applications, responsible for sales and marketing, new product launches, and developing and executing regional and application strategies. Nihon Superior has hired Keith Howell, formerly in product marketing and engineering with Electrovert and P.Kay Metal. Inovaxe Corp. named Kim Lewis director of inside sales. She has extensive sales/marketing and customer support experience with Speedcom Wireless and Pacer Marine. Aegis Software (Europe) Ltd. promoted Daniel Walls to European managing director. He joined Aegis in 1997 as controller and chief financial officer, and was also a regional sales manager. Asymtek named N. Shivakumar regional sales manager, responsible for operations in its Chennai, India, office, including applications engineering, sales and service. He also oversees the region’s distributor network. He has 13 years' experience in sales and business development in India, five in capital equipment sales. LaBarge hired Mark Teubert as director of operational excellence, responsible for process improvement initiatives. He was senior manager for operations process excellence at Rolls Royce Aircraft Engines. “Once volume production ramps for many boards, it can occur at EI Shenzhen, which offers both a volume production site and lower cost manufacturing,” said Stephen Howland, product manager of EI complex assembly operations. EI Shenzhen can provide high-density hybrid PCB assemblies – double-sided complex boards with mixed technologies and an average component count of > 1500 – in sizes as large as 8" x 24" for SMT or non-SMT backplanes, the company reports. Assembly technologies include SMT, press fit, wave solder, selective PTH solder, and hand assembly and solder. Components that can be placed on-board include high I/O area array modules (BGA/CGA down to 0.03" pitch and PBGA), fine pitch leaded parts, and SMT discretes and chips down to 0402 size, as well as high-density, highI/O connectors. Complete mechanicals – cage, chassis and system assemblies – can be provided, EI says. Products for which the Shenzhen facility can provide production include motherboards for servers and communication applications, as well as controller boards for various medical and IT applications. – Chelsey Drysdale Industry A ‘GI Bill’ for Engineering Students WASHINGTON – Responding to the growing shortage of engineers, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) in September introduced the Strategic Technology/Engineering Program (STEP) Act of 2007 – “GI Bill style” legislation that provides incentives for young people entering the engineering profession. The bill, H.R. 3634, creates new scholarships and loan forgiveness for engineering students working toward their P.E. license. “Our nation needs to make much more efficient use of the available resources by recruiting students from our best and brightest high school graduates and encourage them to go on to college to become our next generation of engineers,” Cleaver said in a statement. “This legislation will help support engineering students as they complete an education for an industry that will always be in demand.” The number of U.S. engineering graduates has steadily declined in the last two decades, according to the National Science Foundation. In addition, more than 25% of the science and engineering workforce is older than 50 and expected to retire during the next 15 years. – Mike Buetow Kyzen Tool Eases Test Data Retrieval NASHVILLE – Kyzen Corp. (kyzen.com) announced the inauguration of its Know the Score! database, a single point of reference for the extensive test data the supplier of cleaning materials has built over the years. Over the years, Kyzen’s labs have conducted extensive test protocols, collecting tens of thousands of data points from legacy IT systems spread throughout the company's global operations. The new tool permits real-time access to these vast data, permitting an accurate, statistically validated product and process recommendation. “We now have real-time access to every data point Kyzen collects worldwide – in one place,” said Ram Wissel, engineering manager, in a prepared statement. “This will speed both product development and technical support on a global basis, adding value to our customer development programs and routine daily operations.” Kyzen is the winner of the 2007 CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Service Excellence Award for Cleaning Materials, based on direct feedback from users. – Mike Buetow WTO Investigating China Piracy Claims NEW YORK – The World Trade Organization in October opened a formal investigation on allegations that China is providing a safe haven for product piracy and counterfeiting. The panel's scope will be limited to whether Beijing has taken sufficient action to protect IP rights, but it could ultimately authorize U.S. trade sanctions against China valued at billions of dollars annually – the amount the U.S. claims its companies lose because of China’s alleged lax enforcement. A final decision could take years. China publicly complained about the measure, which the country blames on the U.S. It said it is going after companies and individuals who infringe U.S. copyrights and trademarks, and the U.S.'s actions could hurt trade relations between the two nations. China in September blocked a U.S.-led attempt to form a panel. WTO rules prevented the country from delaying the investigation a second time. – Mike Buetow circuitsassembly.com 12 Circuits Assembly NOVEMBER 2007 http://kyzen.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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