Circuits Assembly - September 2008 - (Page 10)

NEWS In Brief Samsung (samsung.com) and Dynatech Technology (dynatechsmt.com) have installed a Samsung SMP400 stencil printer at the American Competitiveness Institute’s (aciusa.org) EMPF demonstration factory. Samsung already has a placement machine at the site. EMS provider Nortech Systems (nortechsys.com) has achieved ISO 13485 quality certification. Orbotech Ltd. (orbotech.com) has fired dozens of employees from its workforce in Israel, according to Global Online. The firm’s LCD testing system division reportedly has been affected most because of canceled new projects. The firm also will merge its IC division with its printed circuits group, the report said. Sunburst EMS (sunburstems.com) purchased a DEK (dek.com) Horizon 03i screen printer. Indium Corp. (indium.com) named Recht Associates (rechtassociates.com) as sales representative for Northern California and Nevada. EMS firm USR Electronic Systems selected Valor’s (valor.com) vPlan enterprise-level process engineering software. Valor (valor.com) has signed an agreement to deliver a complete CAD-to-machine NPI solution for i-Pulse Co.’s (ipulse.co.jp) assembly machines. iPlan will permit intelligent data input and preparation, BoM processing, machine optimization and autogeneration of machine part libraries on i-Pulse machines. The American Competitiveness Institute (aciusa.org) will host a free workshop on selecting high frequency (6 ~ 65 GHz) connectors that require increasingly dense footprints on Sept. 10 at 10:00 am. Glen Walther of W. L. Gore and Associates will present. Register at aciusa.org/ worskhop. Industry Edited by Mike Buetow Self-Cleaning Squeegee Blade Patent Offered ARLINGTON, MA – The holder of a patent-pending self-cleaning squeegee blade arrangement is offering the technology for sale or license. The technology is said to automatically clean solder paste from squeegee blades to help eliminate buildup, thereby providing improved printing performance while reducing waste, contamination and maintenance. Interested parties are invited to contact Thomas P. O’Connell, Esq., at 781-643-1845. – Mike Buetow ACI Awarded $100M Navy Contract PHILADELPHIA – The American Competitiveness Institute (aciusa.org) has been awarded a five-year $100 million contract from the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research. The research firm will manage and operate the Benchmarking and Best Manufacturing Processes Center of Excellence. The effort, to be performed in Philadelphia, will facilitate the sharing of best-in-class practices, processes, methodologies, systems, and pre-competitive technologies. – Chelsey Drysdale R&D to Merge with Anestel SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – R&D Circuits (rdcircuits.com) will merge with Anestel Corp. (anestel.com), the companies said in a statement. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “We saw two companies with adjacent products and similar manufacturing processes addressing the same market in high performance and fine pitch test applications,” said Anestel CEO Darren Young in a press release. “Anestel’s technologies play an important role in the continued growth of R&D Circuits with its ConnectFlex brand interposers,” said R&D president James V. Russell. The combined company, whose name was not disclosed, will have sales and applications offices in So. Plainfield, NJ; Meridian, ID; Phoenix and Singapore. R&D manufactures bare boards and assemblies for the ATE industry. – Chelsey Drysdale Gear Missing from SemiCon West SAN FRANCISCO – It didn’t take much looking to realize what SemiCon West was missing this year: the equipment. While exhibitor numbers appeared stable, companies opted for much less floor space at the mid July show than in years’ past, and left the gear at home. Indeed, the backend show (there are concurrent front-end and backend shows; the front-end is much bigger, consuming the entire North and South Halls of the Moscone Convention Center) was compressed into two floors within the West Hall, making room for a solar exhibit on the third (top) floor. The first floor, as usual, was busy. The second floor, not so much. The solar exhibits were busier, but some companies there crossed over into end-customer products such as roof panels, which was of little interest to the vast majority of people walking the floor. Henkel (henkel.com/electronics) has changed its sales structure in the wake of its acquisitions of Ablestik and Emerson & Cuming. The company, explains electronics global marketing manager Doug Dixon, is trying to maintain local decision-making, but the structure is now global. To that end, whereas each manufacturing site formerly reported to a country manager, the business unit now sets performance metrics. Product development will remain in Irvine, CA, Dixon reported, and the manufacturing footprint remains in review. Dr. Michael Todd will lead global product development as VP, product development and engineering; Andreas Mader now heads Henkel’s semiconductor group, and Joe DeBiase leads the electronics assembly business. Dr. Michael Reilly has been named to run the operational organization, while ZhiWei Cai will handle business development. They report to corporate senior vice president Alan Syzdek. Dage (dage.com) revealed two advancements on the component test side. New software for its 4000HS permits greater bond-testing analysis and process control. Also, the other is a rising table that permits a BGA to be fixed so the balls can be sheared, pulled and so on during cold bump pull bond-testing. circuitsassembly.com 10 Circuits Assembly SEPTEMBER 2008 http://samsung.com http://dynatechsmt.com http://aciusa.org http://aciusa.org http://nortechsys.com http://orbotech.com http://rdcircuits.com http://anestel.com http://sunburstems.com http://dek.com http://indium.com http://rechtassociates.com http://www.valor.com http://www.valor.com http://ipulse.co.jp http://henkel.com/electronics http://aciusa.org http://dage.com http://aciusa.org/workshop http://aciusa.org/workshop http://circuitsassembly.com

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

Circuits Assembly - September 2008 Contents Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Focus on Business Global Sourcing On the Forefront Screen Printing Better Manufacturing Reflow Soldering with a SnCu Eutectic Pb-Free Alloy Improving OEE in High Mix Facilities Effectively Managing RF Design in Utility Metering Applications Solder Joint Reliability of Different BGAs Reworked Using Low Melting Point Pb-Free Alloys Tech Tips Wave Soldering Pb-Free Lessons Learned Materials World Process Doctor Equipment Advances Product Spotlight Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - September 2008

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