Circuits Assembly - September 2008 - (Page 8)

NEWS In Brief ASYS Inc. (asys.de) opened an office in Hillsboro, OR, and also is installing multiple metallization lines in its Atlanta operations. “Two service and application engineers are located onsite, and we are stocking spare parts for all of our major metallization equipment,” said Markus Wilkens, ASYS GM. A recent Fraunhofer Institute (fraunhofer.de) study found Ovation Products’ (grid-lok.com) HD Grid-Lok reconfigurable tooling capable of supporting a variety of SMDs with no damage. Fraunhofer scientists used pressure sensors to monitor components (0805s, 0402s, 0201s, QFPs, flip chips and BGAs) on the bottom side of a 240 x 135 x 1.6 mm PCB, with measurements taken at eight different points to examine pressure load on the devices in the Z direction. Squeegee pressure systematically was increased from 40 N to 160 N over several print passes, and results showed no damage to any devices. The study also concluded that use of HD Grid-Lok reduces tooling time during product changeover and eliminates custom-dedicated tooling in certain applications. A copy of the full report is available from Paddy Ash, pash@grid-lok.com. “This independent research is a gratifying validation of what Ovation technologists and our customers have already concluded,” said Neil MacRaild, president of Ovation. Digi-Key Corp. (digikey.com) entered into a global distribution agreement to supply Laird Technologies’ components for EMI shielding, thermal management, mechanical actuation, signal integrity, and wireless antennae. EMS firm IEC Electronics Corp. (iecelectronics.com) received a $3.7 million order from one of its military and defense customers. Shipments will run from the September quarter through April 2009. Allied Electronics (alliedelec.com) signed an agreement with AIM Solder (aimsolder.com) to distribute solder products, including solder paste, wire solder and bar solder lines. Industry Edited by Mike Buetow iNEMI Recommends Management Approaches for Pb-Free Alternatives HERNDON, VA – A host of major OEM and EMS companies, under the auspices of iNEMI (inemi.org), has outlined a set of recommendations for managing Pb-free alloy alternatives. The consortium members recommend the following to help manage the use of multiple solder alloys: • Drive convergence of Pb-free alloys. • Develop an industry-standard assessment methodology. • Establish performance guidelines. • Update standards. • Identify and differentiate alloys. iNEMI members supporting these recommendations include Agilent Technologies, Celestica, Cisco, Delphi Electronics & Safety, Flextronics International, Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corporation, Jabil Circuit, Motorola, Plexus Corp., Sanmina-SCI, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments. INEMI’s recommendations are available at http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/projects/ba/PbFree_Alloys/Alloy_recs.pdf. – Chelsey Drysdale IPC: Industry Not Ready for REACH BANNOCKBURN, IL – More than 40% of manufacturing and purchasing personnel have no understanding of the REACH regulation as it affects their companies, according to a recent IPC (ipc.org) survey. The same holds true for nearly one-third of senior management, 29% of engineering personnel, and 28% of environment, health and safety personnel, says the association. The survey, sent to executives in North America and Europe, reveals that even with a deadline for pre-registration of substances quickly approaching, only 18.3% of companies have identified and/or inventoried all substances in their products. In addition, only 60.5% of chemical supplier respondents are planning to register or pre-register substances at all. The EU legislation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals took effect June 1, 2007. REACH covers substances in nearly all applications, totaling about 30,000 unique chemicals. The legislation makes bidirectional communication throughout the supply chain imperative. IPC has scheduled a Sept. 18 Webcast on pre-registration issues for PCB and EMS suppliers. – Chelsey Drysdale Catalyst Starts Mexico Ops TIJUANA, MEXICO – Catalyst Manufacturing Services (catalystems.com) in July opened a contract manufacturing operation in Tijuana and began shipping production volumes. The renovated 60,000 sq. ft. facility operates as a full-service turnkey operation working with market segments including medical, aerospace, and industrial. Catalyst, which also has locations in Endicott, NY, and Raleigh, NC, offers product design assistance, documentation development, PCB assembly and test, box build, order fulfillment/logistics, and depot repair services. – Chelsey Drysdale Escatec Opens 4th Penang Plant PENANG, MALAYSIA – Escatec (escatec.ch) has opened an additional 8,125 sq. ft. facility in Penang, its fourth on the EMS company’s campus. The new building has 3,250 sq. ft. of production space in which the company is housing two SMT lines. The facility also has 4,875 sq. ft. of storage, office and R&D space. The new plant is set up for low-to-medium volumes, box builds and potential transfers from Escatec Switzerland. By year-end Escatec expects to have approximately 200 employees in the facility. The company already employs about 750 workers in Malaysia. – Mike Buetow 8 Circuits Assembly SEPTEMBER 2008 circuitsassembly.com http://asys.de http://inemi.org http://fraunhofer.de http://fraunhofer.de http://grid-lok.com http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/projects/ba/Pb-Free_Alloys/Alloy_recs.pdf http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/projects/ba/Pb-Free_Alloys/Alloy_recs.pdf http://ipc.org http://digikey.com http://catalystems.com http://iecelectronics.com http://iecelectronics.com http://escatec.ch http://alliedelec.com http://aimsolder.com 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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