Printed Circuit Design & Fab - April 2008 - (Page Insert2)

Commodities Dominate Headlines – and Bottom Lines 2008 promises to be another roller coaster year for metals, fuel and other commodities. Globalization, the value of the U.S. dollar and the sub-prime mortgage situation are causing volatility in all markets. There has been some moderating of prices for copper and nickel recently, but as we all know, gold has hit alltime highs in a quick run-up since November. Silver and palladium have also trended upwards for the past year, but in narrower price windows than gold. Gold has topped $942 an ounce, and hovers close to the $900 benchmark. Surprisingly, the cause is not the widely forecast jump in jewelry demand By Don Walsh $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Executive Editor Tom Stundza offered an overview, and some predictions for 2008. He predicts that nickel (which hit triple pricing since just 2005) will modify to the 2006 range in 2008. He also expects tin to be lower this year. The key influences will be “Gold and platinum have whether the U.S. experisailed to all-time highs. ences a recession (and if Silver is at a 27-year high” so, how severe) and the range of dollar valuation from India. Troubles with the vs. other hard currencies. Those value of the greenback are one factors will always impact the reason, but a greater influence global reality of metal prices. is the emergence of a new way As to controlling your own to invest in gold: Exchange- gold costs, please refer to the tips Traded Funds (ETFs). in my previous columns or conAccording to a December tact your Uyemura salesperson. article in The Wall Street Journal, How your costs are affected is so this type of trading has grown much more controlled by your so large that one such fund, plant's processes (best chemical StreetTracks Gold Shares, has and utilization procedures) than larger gold holdings (628 metric your best abilities at purchasing. tons) than China or the European No purchasing agreement can Central Bank. prevent, or recoup, the losses that Where are metal pricings head- result from uneven distribution, ing in 2008? Of course, no one poor reclaim, etc. knows, but all metals have risen in Improved yield is always worth value since 2002, and demand more than lower upfront cost. from China has been a major Uyemura and our partner, cause. In a story published in Purchasing Magazine 1/17/08, Umicore-Galvanotechnik, have worked closely for years to bring the best in technology and cost savings to our customers. Take full advantage! Continued from Page 1 About one year ago, with gold hovering at $650/oz. Hunter senior managers and process engineers considered numerous processes Joe O’Neil that had the potential to replace electrolytic gold, and thus reduce gold consumption. Following an initial investigation, the company evaluated three suppliers in-depth. “We gave a lot of weight to input from our process engineers,” says Hunter President Joe O’Neil. “We also looked at installation base, cost, and the vendor’s R&D activity. The Uyemura ENIG process stacked up well on all points, but tech support was the real difference-maker. “The main difference between the electrolytic gold from our previous vendor and the Uyemura ENIG is that ENIG tightly controls gold deposition,” explains O’Neil. “It instantly lowered our costs, with no diminishing of performance.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Printed Circuit Design & Fab - April 2008

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - April 2008 Contents Our Line Market Watch Around the World Happenings ROI Tip Jar Interconnect Strategies Positive Plating Improving Fabrication Yields by Design Solve Design Problems with Signal Integrity Optimization Laser Direct Imaging Made Easy Troubleshooting the Innerlayer Process SIPS Give More to Moore Off the Shelf Marketplace Ad Index BGA Bulletin

Printed Circuit Design & Fab - April 2008

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