Circuits Assembly articles from September 2003

Circuits Assembly archives from September 2003

Push or pull?(Editorial)
September 1, 2003... A lively debate broke out at the recent SEMICON West show in San Jose, California, according to nay sources. I don't think fisticuffs ensued, but the members of a semiconductor executive panel disagreed heartily with each other over this...

The costs of cutting costs.(Letters)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... I read your editorial ["Misery Loves Company?" July, 2003] with interest. I have been doing offshore contract manufacturing for nearly twenty years now. The way I see it, in a few years no one will have the money to buy the products and...

Heading to the land of opportunity.(Letters)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... I always enjoy reading your column, but this particular editorial ["Misery Loves Company?" July, 2003] really hit it! In general, I think people do not realize what is happening in the U.S. We get thrown these statistics saying recovery is...

The high price of American manufacturing.(Letters)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... As you have pointed out ["Misery Loves Company?" July, 2003], and as I have said to friends caught in this current downsizing, perhaps a career change is in order. As more jobs go overseas, especially to China, fewer job opportunities for...

Made in America?(Letters)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... I could not agree more with your editorial ["Misery Loves Company?" July, 2003]; however, I would not limit the discussion to the electronics and assembly industries. As a small business, we provide products to a variety of industries and see...

Web sites worth mentioning.(Net gain: the latest the Internet has to offer)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... www.vendorology.com Vendorology is an online service that allows contract manufacturers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to submit request for quotes (RFQs) for stencils, wave Solder fixtures and other electronic process tooling and...

Industry resources.(Net gain: the latest the Internet has to offer)(Printed Circuit Buyers Resource Center)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... www.pcbrc.com The Printed Circuit Buyers Resource Center (PCBRC) supports purchasing professionals, engineers and designers. The site includes an online directory of PCB suppliers that buyers can use to locate by region, technology or company...

Surveys and guidelines.(Net gain: the latest the Internet has to offer)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... www.circuitsassembly.com/resource/survey_index.html All of the Circuits Assembly equipment surveys are now updated! Find information on front-end software, pick and piece equipment, reflow ovens, inspection equipment, rework/repair equipment,...

Circuits Assembly online: www.circuitsassembly.com.(Net gain: the latest the Internet has to offer)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... * Part 2 of a 3-Part Series: The Wetting Balance John O'Brien, Solderability Testing and Solutions Inc. *3-D Bonding Structures Terence Collier, TQC Solutions * Protecting the U.S. Electronics Industry John MacWilliams,...

EKRA, Speedline Technologies resolve legal disputes, announce cross-license.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... EKRA (Bonnigheim, Germany, www.ekra.com) and Speedline Technologies Inc., a division of Cookson Electronics Equipment (CEE, Franklin, MA, www.cooksonee.com), announced that they have amicably resolved all pending patent disputes between them,...

Nextek selects Aegis software platform.(Industry News)(Aegis Industrial Software Corp.)(Nextek Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Aegis Industrial Software Corp. (Philadelphia, PA, www.aiscorp.com), a provider of manufacturing productivity systems for electronics assemblers, has announced that electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider Nextek Inc. (Madison, AL,...

IPC Assembly Scholarship Funds youths' visions.(Industry News)
September 1, 2003... Edward Clemons, a Curie Metropolitan High School (Chicago, IL) student, wants to major in electrical engineering at the University of Illinois, study abroad and then start his own electronics repair and rework company. Curie Senior Jaime...

UP Media Group Inc.
September 1, 2003... UP Media Group Inc. (Atlanta, GA) has announced that the final stop in the 2003 PCB Design Conference Road Series will be Sept. 16-17, 2003, in Austin, TX. The Texas Road Series will feature two days of technical tutorials and seminars taught...

Elcoteq Network Corp.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Elcoteq Network Corp. (Irving, TX), an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider for the communications technology industry, has announced that Elcoteq Americas' Monterrey, Mexico, facility has achieved a world-class quality level based...

Nextek Inc. (Madison, AL), an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider focused on electronic and optoelectronic assembly and engineering services, recently had its Quality Management System audited to the ISO 9001:2000 and AS 9100 standards.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Nextek Inc. (Madison, AL), an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider focused on electronic and optoelectronic assembly and engineering services, recently had its Quality Management System audited to the ISO 9001:2000 and AS 9100...

Soldertec (London, UK), part of the Tin Technology group, has moved northwest of London to St. Albans.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Soldertec (London, UK), part of the Tin Technology group, has moved northwest of London to St. Albans. The new address is: Unit 3 Curo Park, Frogmore St. Albans. Hertfordshire, AL2 2DD, UK; +44 (0)870 458 4242; www.lead-free.org. The company...

SMT Resource Group LLC (Wake Forrest, NC) has opened three new technical centers in the past year in Concord, CA; Temple, TX; and Wake Forest, NC.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... SMT Resource Group LLC (Wake Forest, NC) has opened three new technical centers in the past year in Concord, CA; Temple, TX; and Wake Forest, NC. The company is starting up two other divisions in 2003: SMTSpares.com for online ordering of spare...

PCB East 2003 announces final conference program, keynote speaker.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... UP Media Group Inc. (UPMG, Atlanta, GA, www.upmediagroup.com) has announced the final schedule of events for the eighth annual PCB Design Conference East (PCB East, www.pcbeast.com), the East Coast conference and exhibition for printed circuit...

IPC Annual Meeting keynote: avoiding commoditization.(Industry News)
September 1, 2003... Jim Gilmore, co-founder of Strategic Horizons LLP (Aurora, OH, www.customization.com), will be the keynote speaker at the 2003 IPC Annual Meeting, to be held Sept. 28 through Oct. 2 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, MN. ...

Caterpillar VP Palmer to deliver keynote at ATExpo.(Industry News)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Assembly Technology Expo (www.atexpo.com) will feature a keynote address by Gerald Palmer, vice president of Caterpillar Inc.'s wheel loaders and excavators division. The presentation, entitled "Six Sigma is About Success," will open the event...

Unstable economy challenges fiber optic electronic components industry.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... According to new analysis from Frost & Sullivan (San Jose, CA, www.electronics.frost.com), the current economic downturn and the uncertainties of telecommunications companies have made it imperative for fiber optic electronic component...

Study: CEM market grew 1% last year.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Contract electronics manufacturers (CEMs) were hit hard again in 2002, furthering an industry downturn that began a year earlier. But the bottom has been hit, says a new report from Electronic Trend Publications (ETP, San Jose, CA,...

June 2003 book-to-bill.(Market Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The U.S. IMS/PCB Industry Book-to-Bill Ratio for June 2003 was 1.02. Sales billed in June 2003 decreased 22.3% from June 2002, and orders booked decreased 12.5% from June 2002. Compared to 2002, bookings of PCBs are down 19.7% year-to-date,...

Rockwell Automation appoints Summerville president, Asia Pacific.(Asia Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Rockwell Automation (Milwaukee, WI, www.rock wellautomation.com), a provider of industrial automation solutions, has announced the appointment of Scott Summerville as president, Asia Pacific region. In his new role, Summerville will have...

Omron establishes control equipment company in Shanghai.(Asia Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Omron Corp. (Tokyo, Japan, www.omron.com) held an official opening ceremony on July 21, 2003, in Shanghai for the newly established Omron (Shanghai) Control System Engineering Co. Ltd. (OMH) under the control of the Industrial Automation Co....

DaimlerChrysler SIM partners with FEINFOCUS.(Asia Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... FEINFOCUS (Garbsen, Germany, www.fein focus.com) has announced its partnership with the research center DaimlerChrysler SIM Co. (Shanghai, China, www.dcsimtech.com). DaimlerChrysler SIM recently installed an FXS-160.23 x-ray inspection system...

IBM Japan transfers SLC business to Kyocera.(Asia Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Kyocera Corp. (Kyoto, Japan, www.kyocera.co.jp) and IBM Japan Ltd. (Tokyo, Japan, www.ibm.com/jp) have reached an agreement for the transfer from IBM to Kyocera of the surface laminar circuitry (SLC) business of the Yasu Site of IBM Japan ...

Sparton Corp. exploring expansion in Southeast Asia.(Asia Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider Sparton Corp. (Jackson, MI, www. sparton.com), is developing a plan to expand its manufacturing operations in Southeast Asia. Currently in the exploratory phase, Sparton is considering...

Underwriters Laboratories to aid with China Compulsory Certification.(Asia Watch)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Underwriters Laboratories (UL, Northbrook, IL, www.ul.com), an independent, not-for-profit product safety certification organization, has launched its China Compulsory Certification (CCC) agency service in Hong Kong to help manufacturers meet...

The slow road to recovery: optimism and advanced packaging will help lead us out of the slump.(On the Forefront)
September 1, 2003... The last three years have been some of the most difficult for the electronics industry since the 1970s. After riding high on compound annual growth rates in the double digits, many expected the good times to continue to roll. Instead, many...

Avoiding the resistance panic button: troubleshooting resistance measurement discrepancies.(ESD)
September 1, 2003... Most electrostatic discharge (ESD) control standards require some form of resistance measurement. We rely heavily on resistance for process monitoring and material selection. We base our specifications on resistance. And, when these...

Integrated passives technology and economics: the latest from the recent NEMI roadmap.(Components/Substrates)
September 1, 2003... The term passives usually refers to resistors, capacitors and inductors but can also include thermistors, varistors, transformers, temperature sensors and almost any non-switching analog device. The concept of "integrated," "integral,"...

The latest in underfill for advanced chip assembly: is a low-cost, surface-mount-compatible process possible?(Materials)
September 1, 2003... In component-level assembly, underfill materials are commonly used to reduce the thermal stresses on the solder joints due to the mismatch of coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) between the silicon chip and the organic substrate. The...

Product and component traceability: a complete traceability system will minimize the cost of product recalls and help eliminate them in the future.(Data Management)
September 1, 2003... Product recalls are a costly and time-consuming process. Without adequate traceability, many products will be recalled for repair or replacement, even if a large number of the units are not faulty. In the next few years, regulatory and product...

Depaneling: a study in yield and productivity: saw systems can provide a low stress and fast alternative to hand breaking methods.(End-of-Line Processes)
September 1, 2003... Depaneling is an overlooked step in surface-mount production and involves the separation of a single piece from its carrier frame (the scrap) and its sibling printed circuit boards (PCBs). Ironically, when considering the overall value-add...

DFX--facilitating EMS/OEM communication: effective DFX can translate to big savings in cost and process inefficiencies.(EMS)
September 1, 2003... In the electronics manufacturing services (EMS) world, price is a combination of visible cost, waste and profit. The challenge for many EMS providers is that, while most of their original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers expect regular...

A4 600 dpi thermal transfer printer the newest release from cab.(Assembly Insider)(from cab Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The A41600 is the newest member to our family of cab A-Series printers. High resolution 600 dpi output is ideal for high density 2D barcodes and small labels.... Ease of Use- Graphic LCD Display, Navigator Pad, USB Peripherals, Network...

Technology that excites.(Special Advertising Section)(Cab Technology Inc.)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... 15 years of experience has made cab the No. 1 supplier for PCB Separators. We offer ten different Depanelizers for prescored or routed boards. From the manual Maestro 2 to the fully automated Maestro 5 M, you will find the perfect solution...

#1--witness the difference.(Special Advertising Section)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... Leading the x-ray inspection field of competitors, Dage announces the XiDAT a groundbreaking Digital X-Ray System with outstanding image resolution, grayscale analysis and ease of operation. The XiDAT system acquires images with a resolution of...

Pick-and-place machine.(Product Preview)
September 1, 2003... The CLM 9000plus surface-mount pick-and-place machine has large component diversity. With the ability to support up to 190 feeders, the system is specifically designed for small or mid-size volumes. Integrated Intelligent feeders can be...

IR rework system.(Product Preview)
September 1, 2003... The IR-X410 focused infra-red (IR) rework system offers an alternative to hot air for reworking surface-mount and ball grid array (BGA) components. The semi-automatic system provides a high level of profiling and process control for rework of...

Dispensing system.(Product Preview)
September 1, 2003... The Servo-Flo 302 programmable meter/mix/dispense system precisely dispenses profiled, volumetric metered shots or beads of one- or two-component materials for potting, encapsulating, gasketing, molding, casting, doming or bonding. The...

Dual soldering station.(Product Preview)
September 1, 2003... JBC's digital dual soldering station allows users to connect simultaneously soldering irons and/or hot tweezers. While one tool is in use, the other rests at a sleep temperature. The station features unseen thermal recovery, increased...

Placement machines.(Product Preview)
September 1, 2003... The MY series placement machines for high-mix/low-volume surface-mount manufacturing feature a single platform placement of components from 0201s to 56 x 56 mm, advanced packaging, odd-shape components and board sizes from 50 x 50 mm to 813 x...

X-ray enabled vision.(Product Preview)
September 1, 2003... Vision Enabled X-ray components allow for non-destructive testing for online production applications. Combining machine vision and x-ray inspection, implementation is seamless and existing machine vision installations can be fitted with the new...

AOI system.(Product Preview)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The NspecFv is an automated optical inspection (AOI) system for two-dimensional solder paste, component placement and solder quality inspection. The system has a telecentric lens, unique illumination system and wave analysis software package...

Automated pick-and place machine.(Product Preview)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Automatic Pick, Place and Press (AP3) machine is a fully automated in-line pick, place and press system. The system accepts printed circuit boards (PCBs) up to 762 x 457 mm (30 x 18 in.) Manufacturers use the machine for the application of...

Cellular aqueous cleaner.(Product Preview)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The newly designed ORBI-II incorporates the attributes of an in-line cleaner in a 6 x 6 ft. footprint. Cleaning and drying is enhanced because parts are processed vertically. The parts are exposed to direct impingement in both the wet and dry...

Flux system.(Product Preview)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... PrintPlus printing paste eliminates flux splatter during surface-mount assembly operations. The splatterfree flux prevents flux scatter that often results from outgassing during solder paste preheat and fellow. Eliminating unwanted flux residue...

Placement machine.(Product Preview)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The KE-2060 is a high-speed, flexible mounter that provides one multi-nozzle laser head with four nozzles and one high resolution head for fine-pitch component placement. The machine uses both vision and laser technology, enabling high-speed...

X-ray inspection system.(Product Preview)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The FX-160.40 (T.I.G.E.R.) x-ray system offers oblique angle views, geometric magnification of up to 636X and a sample tray area of 610 x 610 mm (24 x 24 in.) to accommodate larger boards and multi-up flip chip assemblies. The two-dimensional...

Measuring system.(Product Preview)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The Hawk non-contact measuring system features high-resolution optics and customized system options including: two or three axis measurement; manual or motorized movement; and manual or fully automated optical and video edge detection (VED)....

Transfer printers.(Product Preview)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2003... The A-Series family of thermal direct/thermal transfer prints features a graphic LCD display, navigator pad, USB peripherals, network control with email alerts and stand alone printing. The advanced design features minimal footprint, single...

Understanding selective pallet soldering residue: proper heating can eliminate flux concerns.(Process Doctor)
September 1, 2003... Needless to say, high reliability hardware becoming useless unexpectedly is a little unerving. One of our customers that make sensing technology for use in safety products came to u when their hardware began suffering from field failure. Their...