Circuits Assembly - July 2008 - (Page 10)

NEWS In Brief Samsung Techwin (samsungtechwin. com) will integrate its pick-and-place interfaces into Valor Computerized Systems’ (valor. com) vPlan and vManage software. AIM Solder (aimsolder.com) announced the 10th anniversary of AIM-Soldadura de Mexico, the first manufacturer of solder paste, wire, bar, and liquid flux within Mexico. The company also said it will add manufacturing lines at the site this year. World Fair (worldfair-group.com.hk) selected Valor’s (valor.com) vManage software for manufacturing control and monitoring. Sono-Tek Corp. (sono-tek.com) named to its representatives network SRS and Associates (stonesrs.com) for TN, MS, AL and GA; Murray A. Percival Co. (murraypercival.com) for MI, IN, OH and KY; Technical Marketing Co. (technicalmarketingcompany.com) for MT, WY, UT and CO; Restronics (restronics. com/florida.html) for FL; and Cope Assembly Products for VA, WV, NC and SC. Bennett Bruntil will head the newly restructured organization. Promation (pro-mation-inc.com) named Martec its sales representative in GA, AL, TN and MI. SMTA International will take place in San Diego next year, marking the first time the trade show will be sited on the West Coast. SMTA (smta.org) has contracted to hold SMTAI Oct. 4-8, 2009 at the Town and Country Resort and Convention Center in San Diego. This year’s event will take place in August in Orlando. The trade group said future events would alternate between the coasts. To register for the Orlando show, visit smta.org/smtai. BEST Inc. (solder.net), in conjunction with the SMTA Illinois chapter, will host the 2008 PCB rework symposium at its Chicago-area facility on August 14. Other technical presenters will include OK International (okinternational. com) and VJ Technologies (vjt.com). The symposium will consist of leadless device rework: the methodologies for reworking QFNs, LCCs A lot of customers, especially automotive and aerospace, deal with product lifecycles that last five to 10 years. You forecast and select components that will be around that long, but vendors now are trying to move into one or the other, often to unleaded. Do you see this as a problem? AW: We have a couple strategies depending on what type of part it is and how difficult it is to qualify the replacement. If it’s lower cost, we’ll go ahead and make a lifetime buy. It might be five, 10 years’ worth of product; we may make a decision to redesign a product in five years. We’ll then look at all the components and redesign at that time. Depending on the cost, the impact, the validations required, we have several different strategies we’ll employ. Doug Dixon: First, from the materials side, we’ve looked at it as there’s going to be this hybrid process that’s going to continue for quite some time as components transfer to Pb-free. That’s just not going to go away. In fact, with a lot of vendors supplying the components … whether it’s lead or SnPb, it’s just a change in lot number, and it’s the same part number, so no real identification with these changes. The material approach we’ve taken is that it’s going to exist, so we’re developing materials to specifically address that type of market. I don’t think we’re seeing many other vendors from a materials perspective actually denying those types of hybrid processes. We’re also looking at a lot of different alloy combinations, and ‘how do we bridge those types of gaps’ and ‘what does the actual solder joint look like when you’ve got a tin-lead solder paste and a lead-free component,’ and then you’ve got a termination or the circuit board itself. What’s the alloy you’re using on the board? What’s actually your liability when you take a look at it from a metals perspective? A lot of study is going into that. DN: As far as embracing or fighting the Pb-free movement … it’s mostly related to a host of long-term liability issues, such as tin whisker growth, creep and a bunch of other technical issues. These are real issues that will eventually be worked out. The automotive industry has been using Pbfree for more than a decade – maybe longer – but eventually we’re all going to have to transition, so embracing or fighting, it doesn’t matter; we’re going to have to do it, like it or not. Counterfeiting is not a trivial issue, and the pharmaceutical industry has proven that. They have been trying to fight counterfeiting medications for many, many years; eventually solutions will come up, including RFID and stuff of that nature that will help solve the problem. Is it possible the North American emphasis on defense and medical manufacturing could overshoot itself, with too many players angling for what is essentially a fairly small piece of the total electronics pie? And if that happens, what steps can companies take to reorient themselves? MH: When you see an opportunity, the odds are other people see it too. There’s a bit of a herd mentality in doing some of these things. Everyone is getting military qualifications. There’s a lot more military work because there’s a war on right now. Basically, that will fade over the course of time. After 1989, a large portion of the aerospace industry imploded, and a lot of the military defense industry did the same, so that’s why you have some of these huge monolith corporations these days. I think you have to establish a high level of competence so you can ride through these and differentiate yourself that way. AM: A portion of both the military and medical will definitely be outsourced. I don’t think there is much choice because of the pressure and complications. A portion of that could go away, too. So what can the companies do? Sectors are developing that have tremendous potential; one of them is the energy sector with all the oil and gas prices with the technology that is being developed in fuel cells, solar conversions and more volatile and efficient batteries, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology … the fact remains that, as the product gets mature, whether military or aerospace, it [will get] outsourced to other countries. Scott McCurdy: I think we need to focus more on technology; there are areas of the interconnect industry we’re kind of falling behind in, and I think it would behoove us to gain more foothold and take more steps to enhance the manufacturing capabilities here for high-def, interconnect, embedded passives, and some other things we’ve talked about for a long time, but that haven’t really taken hold. We need to expand technology-wise and get a bigger grip on that. What do you expect will be the impacts of the weak dollar over time? What measures should US companies be taking to mitigate those effects? Industry 10 Circuits Assembly JULY 2008 circuitsassembly.com http://samsungtechwin.com http://samsungtechwin.com http://www.valor.com/ http://www.valor.com/ http://aimsolder.com http://worldfair-group.com.hk http://www.valor.com/ http://sono-tek.com http://stonesrs.com http://murraypercival.com http://technicalmarketingcompany.com http://restronics.com/florida.html http://restronics.com/florida.html http://pro-mation-inc.com http://smta.org http://smta.org/smtai http://solder.net http://okinternational.com http://vjt.com http://okinternational.com http://circuitsassembly.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Circuits Assembly - July 2008

Circuits Assembly - July 2008 Contents Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Focus on Business Global Sourcing On the Forefront Screen Printing Tech Tips Will Electronics Follow the Sun? ‘Warm’ Manufacturing Heats Up Reputation Trumps Recession, China ‘Web Circuits’ A Novel Non-VOC Conformal Coating Krypton: Benchmarking Customer Satisfaction 2008-09 CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Buyers Guide Wave Soldering Pb-Free Lessons Learned Process Doctor Materials World SMTA Int'l Product Preview Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - July 2008

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