HOW LEAN MANUFACTURING ADDS VALUE TO PCB PRODUCTION · Interview Inside PLUS: OPTIMIZING SMT STENCIL DESIGN BASED ON PCB LAYOUT • SOLDER-BEARING RF SHIELDS STREAMLINE PCB ASSEMBLY

Jeff Timms & Bob BlackInterview Inside

PLUS: OPTIMIZING SMT STENCIL DESIGN BASED ON PCB LAYOUT • SOLDER-BEARING RF SHIELDS STREAMLINE PCB ASSEMBLY & more

The Global Assembly Journal for SMT & Advanced Packaging Professionals

www.globalsmt.net

HOW LEAN MANUFACTURING ADDS VALUE TO PCB PRODUCTION

Volume 14 Number 5, May 2014ISSN 1474 - 0893

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Global SMT & Packaging – May 2015 – 1www.globalsmt.net

Contents

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Global SMT & Packagingis published monthlyby Trafalgar PublicationsLimited. The journal is FREE to qualified professionals and is available by subscription at a cost of $180 for the current volume (twelve issues).

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ISSN No. 1474-0893 © Trafalgar Publications LtdDesigned and Published by Trafalgar Publications LtdPrinted by Presstige Printing, Bonita Springs, FL

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Americas edition

Volume 14, No. 5

May 2014

ContentsEDITORIAL2 Intention to purchase doubles from last year Trevor Galbraith

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS10 How Lean Manufacturing adds value to PCB production Nancy Viter and Mathew Stevenson, Sunstone Circuits14 Optimizing SMT stencil design based on PCB layout Ben Scott, Datum Alloys; Chrys Shea, Shea Engineering Services; and Carol Wood, Alpha Stencils24 Solder-bearing RF shields streamline PCB assembly Peter Moran, Advanced Interconnection Technology

SPECIAL FEATURES26 Interview—Bob Black, JUKI & Jeff Timms, ASM Assembly

REGULAR COLUMNS4 Politics and the supply chain Philip Stoten18 Slower growth prevails in 1Q’14 Walt Custer and Jon Custer-Topai32 Something new, something old or something else? —Solderless assembly for electronics Joe Fjelstad

6 Industry News28 New Products

34 Association News36 International Diary

OTHER REGULAR FEATURES

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2 – Global SMT & Packaging – May 2015 www.globalsmt.net

www.mydata.com

Ready toaccelerate your success?

Meet us at booth 7-129at SMT Hybrid Packaging2014

Eliminate production bottlenecks. Find out how to seamlessly handle NPI and volume production – without ever slowing down. At SMT Hybrid Packaging, we’ll show how you can boost productivity by applying game-changing high-mix thinking to a higher volume world.

Editorial OfficesEuropeTrafalgar Publications Ltd.Globals SMT & PackagingCrown House, 72 Hammersmith Rd, Hammersmith, London, W14 8TH, UKTel: +44 (0) 207 559 1467 Fax: +44 (0) 207 559 1468E-mail: [email protected]: www.globalsmt.netUnited StatesTrafalgar Publications Ltd.Global SMT & PackagingPO Box 7579Naples, FL 34102, USATel: +1 (239) 245-9264Fax: (239) 236-4682AsiaTrafalgar Publications Group Pvt LtdM-161/1 G.L. House, Gautam NagarBehind India Oil BhawanNew Delhi – 110049Office: +86 351 652 3813Fax: +86 351 652 0409Editor-in-ChiefTrevor GalbraithTel: +1 (239) 245 9264 ext. 101UK Mobile: +44 (0)7584 072926German Handy: +49 (0)1573 278 4316US Cell: +1 (239) 287 5401Fax: +1 (239) 236 4682Skype: [email protected] EditorTel: +1 (239) 245-9264 [email protected] EditorLu [email protected] Asia Technical EditorDebasish [email protected]: +1 (239) 245-9264 [email protected] DeveloperTorrence GermanyTel: +1 (239) 245-9264 [email protected] AdvertisingEurope—Trevor GalbraithTel: +1 (239) 245 9264 ext. 101UK Mobile: +44 (0)7584 072926German Handy: +49 (0)1573 278 [email protected] AmericaSandy DaneauTel: +1 [email protected] Asia—India, Singapore & MalaysiaDebasish ChoudhuryTel: +91 120 6453260Mobile: +91 [email protected] ChangTel: [email protected], Taiwan & Hong KongPaul ChenTel: +86 [email protected]

Trevor GalbraithEditor-in-Chief

Editorial

Intention to purchase doubles from last yearIPC APEX 2014 was a resounding success and a welcome affirmation that electronics manufacturing in North America was alive and well!

One leading indicator from IPC came in the form of the exit polls conducted with visitors. In San Diego last year the intention to purchase equipment within the next 12 months was measured at 33%. In Las Vegas this year that number almost doubled to 64%.

The attendance at most of the techni-cal sessions was healthy, while on the show floor, the traffic appeared busy from the first day.

Most new equipment introductions had been made at Productronica in Munich last November and were making their US debut at APEX.

We hope you enjoy the many video clips and interviews we recorded over the three day event. Next year, it moves back to San Diego, February 24-26th.

See you there!......

—Trevor Galbraith.Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

Corrections to issue 14.4:The author for “Class ‘0’ EPA Requirements” was incorrectly stated The article was written by Hartmut Berndt, B.E.STAT European ESD competence centre.

The Pick & Place medium-to-high volume category in the Global Technology Awards feature should have shown a tie between Juki’s RX-6 and Samsung’s EXCEN FLEX:

EXCEN FLEX from SamsungThe dual-gantry modular EXCEN FLEX high-speed mounter uses a 12-nozzle flying camera to achieve the world’s highest placement speed fo 82,000 cph. It’s a One Machine Solution that can places parts from 0402 to 140 x 55 mm on PCBs up to 900 x 580 mm. Various production modes allow mixed production of different types of PCBs, independent production at the front and rear, and more, thanks to a flex-ible conveyor system. www.samsung-smt.com

RX-6 from JUKIThe RX-6 combines high quality, flexibility and productivity with a new LaserAlign® module that makes the system faster, more accurate, and more reliable than all previ-ous models. With a placement speed of 26,000 CPH, the RX Series offers a 50% faster placement rate (IPC for chips) than previous generation models (based on comparable board size). Additionally, the series boasts a 97% faster placement rate for vision (QFP, BGA, etc.) www.jas-smt.com

www.mydata.com

Ready toaccelerate your success?

Meet us at booth 7-129at SMT Hybrid Packaging2014

Eliminate production bottlenecks. Find out how to seamlessly handle NPI and volume production – without ever slowing down. At SMT Hybrid Packaging, we’ll show how you can boost productivity by applying game-changing high-mix thinking to a higher volume world.


Politics and the supply chain

I’m in the lounge at London Gatwick and can’t help notic-

ing the headline writers have gone to town on the recent developments in the Ukraine and par-ticularly the region of Crimea. It set me con-templating the impor-tance of politics in the supply chain.

What would be the ideal political system for a successful supply chain? How can an outsourced or supply chain partner mitigate the risks of volatile regions, or should they just steer clear? What influ-ence does politics have in bringing manu-facturing, and with it the supply chain, to a developing region? And should the manu-facturers be swayed? All questions worthy of consideration, I’m sure you agree….

Firstly, the situation in the Ukraine and/or Crimea. Headlines from a selection of titles here in the airline lounge include: ‘Putin’s Power Game,’ ‘Russia’s Revenge,’ ‘Kidnapped by the Kremlin,’ ‘Putin’s Gamble,’ and perhaps most unnerving of them all, ‘A New Cold War?’ All this does not bode well

for the people of the Ukraine, sat uncom-fortably between Europe and Russia with historical, political and religious ties to both. I wouldn’t dare comment on the poli-tics at play in this issue, but living in Europe has taught me that the European map is merely a snapshot: borders have moved for hundreds of year and what seems stable is often not.

The Ukraine has been promoted in recent years as a good destination for elec-tronics manufacturing, perhaps because of their proximity to both Europe and Russia, but undoubtedly because of the pool of well-educated lower cost labor. Well, that’s all well and good, providing you and your customers and your goods can get in and out. A number of contract manufactur-ers will have suffered as a result of the

recent turn of events in the Ukraine. Were they unlucky, unwise, wooed by subsidies or tax breaks, or just taking a punt on a region that really could provide the right combination of low costs, great location and decent infrastructure? Certainly the Ukraine could use a good manufacturing base and would benefit from the jobs and growth that might come with it.

The Ukraine isn’t alone in having a political agenda that impacts on the manu-facturing industry and its supply chain. Two huge regions available for comparison

Philip Stoten


Read ListenWatch

Follow Philip on Twitter @philipstoten

The Ukraine isn’t alone in having a political agenda that impacts on the manufacturing industry and its supply chain.



are China and Mexico. Mexico’s politi-cal uncertainty and law-and-order issues have for some time had an impact on its attractiveness and development as a real manufacturing powerhouse. Recently, sta-bility seems to be benefiting the region, and a positive outlook, good governance and the right words from the politician in charge seem to be fueling a real and founded interest in the region as a serious contender to China and a sensible solution for a supply chain for the Americas.

To say China’s politics are interest-ing would be an understatement. Clearly political decisions have influenced its abil-ity to become the ‘factory for the world.’ The political landscape in China might not be the most envied when viewed from the democracies of the West, but it should be the object of envy when looking to develop an industrial powerbase and a secure, robust, efficient and economic supply chain. Consistency is perhaps the key benefit that China’s system of govern-ment. There are few things more exciting to a supply chain manager than visibility, predictability, and security. Couple this

with currency management, control over economic growth and a massive pool of both labor and potential consumers, and you can easily see that China seems to have the ideal political situation for the supply chain. That’s not to say things can’t change, and often they do…. We certainly don’t know what’s around the corner politically and how the China story might play out as consumer pressures, salary growth, and a desire for better working conditions all impact on costs and potentially that all important stability.

So, is it China good, Mexico good, Ukraine bad? Well, no, it’s never that simple. The question is always one of risk and reward. What are the risks of working in a region, and what’s the potential upside? When you couple that with consideration of what risk can you afford to take, perhaps decision can be made pragmatically. For example, if an EMS with only four sites has one in a region where customers no longer want to send their executives or their orders, that could be a big problem, but perhaps in a more diverse portfolio of sites, like that enjoyed by the tier-one EMS

companies, such a risk is worthwhile and less likely to be critical to vendor or cus-tomer should it suffer a setback.

With recent news that the UK govern-ment is promoting capital investment with tax breaks, the German governments are investing in Industry 4.0, and the US gov-ernment is throwing huge weight behind made-in-America, it is clear that politics does and will continue to be key in the EMS industry and the supply chain.

Philip Stoten has spent half his career in the electronics manufacturing industry and the other half as a journalist covering it. You can find his work on YouTube and you can follow him on twitter @philipstoten.

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Nordson DAGE Industry Leading 4000Plus with Camera Assist Automation

Advanced Automated Bondtesting

Key Features

Advanced technology guarantees accuracy and repeatability

Easily retrofit-able to an existing 4000Plus mainframe providing a cost effective upgrade path

Accommodates basic and complex interconnects by utilizing at least two reference points with multiple global and local reference points available as required

Optional Multifunction Load Cartridge (MFC) for testing mixed technology hybrid packages

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Wide Range of ApplicationsWafers

Shear testing solder balls, micro bumps, flip chip bumps and copper pillars

Lead frames

Pull testing wires and shear testing first and second bonds on traditional and multi-layer products

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Pull testing wires 100% destructive or non-destructive and shear testing

ParagonTM software’s virtual map for

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4000plus Global SMT AD.indd 1 21/03/2014 15:46

Consumer electronics market tumbles in China as major device shipments slide in 2013China’s consumer electronics market declined in 2013 as demand for prod-ucts like televisions and digital still cam-eras decelerated, compelling the country’s manufacturers to devise new strategies for growth, according to a new report from IHS Technology. Combined unit shipments for the chief products comprising the over-all Chinese consumer electronics industry fell last year to 710.2 million units, down a steep 9 percent from 781.0 million in 2012.www.ihs.com

GHSP selects SEHO PowerWave N2

SEHO North America, Inc. announces that GHSP has purchased an inline SEHO PowerWave N2. The system is integrated into a complete manufacturing line from SEHO consisting of assembly conveyor, automated down lift, return conveyor and automated lifting station. The new production line is installed at the GHSP manufacturing facility located in Grand Haven, Michigan. www.ghsp.com, www.seho.com

Computrol installs Technical Devices’ new Flood Box technology

Computrol, Inc. announced that it has purchased Technical Devices Company’s patent-pending Flood Box technology for inline cleaning. The system has been

installed at Computrol’s Meridian, Idaho facility. With the Flood Box, the chem-istry is not sprayed into the air or sucked up by an exhaust system, and is more effi-ciently recycled. Computrol will benefit from lower costs and easier compliance with environmental standards. The system is able to penetrate the lowest clearances within an electronic assembly, thus the amount of chemistry needed to clean assemblies may be significantly reduced. www.TechnicalDev.com, computrol.com

BTU International and SMarTsol engage in service agreement in Mexico

BTU International, Inc. today announced that it has executed a service agreement with SMarTsol Technologies S. de R.L. de C.V. to supplement the company’s sup-port infrastructure in Mexico. SMarTsol will add three service representatives in Guadalajara, one in Monterrey, and one in Tijuana. Additionally, the company is open-ing a demo center in Guadalajara, where BTU will install a reflow unit for training

and demo purposes. www.smartsol.mx, www.btu.com

OK International closes on minority investment in 3D printing companyOK International announced that it has closed on a minority investment and prod-uct development agreement with 3D print-ing company TierTime Technology Co. Ltd of Beijing, China. OK International also announced that it has launched Quant 3D, a new brand focused on 3D printing for the professional and industrial mar-kets. The Quant 3D brand will encompass both bench top and industrial 3D print-ers for prototyping and manufacturing applications. www.okinternational.com, www.quant3d.com

Mentor Graphics acquires Berkeley Design Automation to advance nanometer analog/mixed-signal verificationMentor Graphics Corp. has acquired Berkeley Design Automation, Inc. (BDA), a recognized leader in nanometer analog, mixed-signal, and RF circuit verification. With over one hundred customers world-wide, BDA uniquely addresses nanometer circuit design challenges via its Analog FastSPICE™ unified verification platform and exceptional vertical-application exper-tise. The acquisition of BDA aligns with Mentor’s goal to deliver technologies with

Industry newsIndustry news

SolderMask, Inc. Founder and President, Frank Kurisu passes awayFrank Kurisu, 64 years old, passed away peacefully and quickly on 27 February 2014. Although he lived in Southern California, he was Kanaka at heart and wore Hawaiian shirts, sometimes taste-ful, frequently outrageous. His absence is mourned by Laura, his wife and soul-mate, his sister-in-law, Betty, and Verne, his brother who knew him longer than anyone else, his many friends and neigh-bors, and Abbey and Jackson, dogs-in-residence.

Nordson DAGE Industry Leading 4000Plus with Camera Assist Automation

Advanced Automated Bondtesting

Key Features

Advanced technology guarantees accuracy and repeatability

Easily retrofit-able to an existing 4000Plus mainframe providing a cost effective upgrade path

Accommodates basic and complex interconnects by utilizing at least two reference points with multiple global and local reference points available as required

Optional Multifunction Load Cartridge (MFC) for testing mixed technology hybrid packages

www.nordsondage.com I g loba lsa [email protected]

Wide Range of ApplicationsWafers

Shear testing solder balls, micro bumps, flip chip bumps and copper pillars

Lead frames

Pull testing wires and shear testing first and second bonds on traditional and multi-layer products

Hybrid packages

Pull testing wires 100% destructive or non-destructive and shear testing

ParagonTM software’s virtual map for

programming a pattern

4000plus Global SMT AD.indd 1 21/03/2014 15:46


Industry news

superior performance and automation for the growing challenges of Analog/Mixed-Signal (AMS) verification. www.mentor.com, www.berkeley-da.com

DfR Solutions continues to grow senior team adds Sr. VP of sales and marketingDfR Solutions announced a new appoint-ment to its management team. Chris Montgomery will serve as Senior Vice President, in charge of Strategic Business Development and Marketing. Mr. Montgomery will be responsible for busi-ness development strategy and execution for both the Services and Software sides of the DfR Solutions business. He will initially focus on the development a cohesive value proposition for customers and the estab-lishment of DfR Solutions as a thought leader in quality, reliability, and durability of electronics. www.dfrsolutions.com

Libra Industries Installs a Trek™ Triton MIL electronic cleaner

Libra Industries announces that it has installed a Trek™ Triton MIL Series Electronic Cleaner from Stoelting. The inline aqueous cleaning system for chem-istry applications is ideally suited for elec-tronics assembly cleaning. The system features polypropylene construction with various belt sizes available. The Uni-pass conveyor reduces tank contamination and the chemical isolation section conserves the chemistry and reduces cross contami-nation. Additionally, the LIQUID LOCK cleaning technology reduces consumption of cleaning solution and power for both energy and cost savings. www.libraind.com

Altium opens East Coast locationAltium Limited opened a new office in Newton, Massachusetts. As Altium con-tinues to expand the presence in the US Printed Circuit Board design market, the addition of the new office is part of the investments in the US market allowing Altium to be closer to its strategic partners

and customers in the New England area, one of the largest technology hubs in the Americas market.www.altium.com

Speedprint partners with system integrator 4Tech ElectronicsSpeedprint Technology announces the establishment of a strategic partnership with 4Tech Electronics in Detroit, MI. 4Tech is a remanufacturer of surface mount and through-hole placement equipment who will integrate and support Speedprint screen printers. The company will facilitate demonstrations as well as stock units for quick delivery in North America.www.4techusa.com, speedprint-tech.com

Horizon Sales records more than $1.7 million in orders for Juki in two weeksHorizon Sales, recorded more than $1.7 million in orders for Juki in a two-week period ending March 13, 2014. The orders were from two companies in Ohio and one in Michigan. The orders included more than five pick-and-place machines, three printers and three ovens as well as an assortment of conveyors and feeders. Two of the three orders were from new Juki customers, one of which is an OEM in the automotive industry and the other two are EMS companies. The equipment is expected to be delivered during the next two months. www.jukiamericas.com, www.orizonsales.com

Cardinal Components, Inc. certified ISO/TS 16949:2009Cardinal Components, Inc. achieved ISO 16949 certification. The ISO/TS 16949:2009, in conjunction with ISO 9001:2008, defines the quality manage-ment system requirements for the design, development, production, and distribution of automotive-related products. The cov-eted certification demonstrates Cardinal’s continuing commitment to quality management systems. The certifying Registrar was American Global Standards. www.cardinalxtal.com

Steve Pollock appointed Semi-Pac VP, marketing and sales Semi-Pac announced that Steve Pollock has joined the company as the VP, Marketing and Sales. Steve started his career as a very successful designer of calculator chips

for Texas Instruments. Steve moved to Silicon Valley to be the IC design and product engineering manager for Cal-Tex Semiconductor (acquired by Fairchild). www.semipac.com

John Perrotta promoted to president of Europlacer Americas

Europlacer announced that it has promoted John Perrotta to President, Europlacer Americas, with immediate effect.www.europlacer.com

Flextronics Lab IX partners with Mantis Vision for 3D scanning solutionsFlextronics’ hardware venture arm, Lab IX, entered into agreement to provide support to Mantis Vision, a disruptive technology company that develops and designs 3D image and motion capture hardware and software solutions for consumer and pro-fessional applications. Known as MV4D, Mantis Vision’s core technology enables motion-capable 3D capture for depth sens-ing, smart object measurement and recog-nition, and generation of high resolution 3D models. www.labix.io

Mek (Marantz Electronics) launches direct operations in the Americas

AOI and SPI designer and manufac-turer Mek (Marantz Electronics Ltd) has announced the opening of direct sales, marketing and applications engineering operations in the Americas. Headquartered in Nevada, Mek Americas LLC will be directed by industry veteran John Rider. www.mek-europe.com

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How Lean Manufacturing adds value to PCB production

Assessing the impact of Lean on PCB manufacturingPCB manufacturers have traditionally pri-oritized efficiency. This resulted in policies such as lot purchasing discounts or pro-duction runs focused on common board characteristics. While these initiatives had a positive impact on the bottom line, they did not necessarily increase the value of the boards to customers. In turn, efficiency efforts seldom became coordinated com-pany-wide programs aimed at comprehen-sive process improvement.

Recognizing the competitive need to build better boards for their customers, more and more PCB manufacturers now seek to expand efficiency efforts into com-prehensive Lean initiatives. More than a program or system, Lean is a cultural shift that defines value from the customer per-spective.

As more PCB manufacturers make this cultural evolution, the trend toward Lean becomes self-perpetuating. Manufacturers that successfully adopt Lean make continu-ous process improvements. This keeps rais-

ing the bar in terms of PCB quality, driving more manufacturers toward the Lean phi-losophy. As we near a tipping point, PCB manufacturers choosing not to initiate Lean do so at their own peril.

Value stream mapping: Value drives production Value stream mapping is a foundational Lean practice. Its roots can be traced to Ford production in the 1920s. Though it originated on the factory floor, value stream mapping can be applied to every-

Nancy Viter and Mathew Stevenson, Sunstone Circuits


ListenReadWatch

While Design for Manufacturing (DFM) certainly represents a powerful tool for PCB manufacturers, it is one component of a broader Lean Manufacturing (Lean) philosophy focused on eliminating any production component that does not deliver value to the customer.

We will explore the impact of Lean on the PCB industry, including how it may provide competitive advantage to those organizations making Lean a key part of their culture.

To create a competitive edge, Lean needs to permeate every level of an organization, making it more than just a policy change or process implementation, it must become part of the culture. Manufacturers who adopt Lean must commit to it for the long haul and seek continuous improvement over time.This type of commitment requires substantial investment to succeed. We will offer some best practices associated with successful Lean programs and highlight some ways to avoid some common pitfalls.

Read ListenWatch



thing from supply chain to logistics to cus-tomer support.

To create a visual representation of a work process, participants use a standard-ized set of symbols to connect events like steps, delays, and information flow. The result can be used to interrogate and refine the process.

By seeing global production informa-tion, materials, and design flow in the con-text of value, Lean PCB manufacturers can realize end-to-end improvement.

When is a PCB better? The definition of a better PCB is a PCB that delivers more value. Customers must real-ize value or they will seek out a new man-ufacturer who can provide timely, cost-effective PCBs that better meet their needs. With a wide array of inexpensive DFM tools now available to designers, there are fewer opportunities for manufacturers to accelerate the schedule or reduce costs during prototyping. If you want to save a customer time and money, the best method is to eliminate waste from the production process.

Lean offers a proven method for doing so. In a Lean environment, the manufac-turer works backwards from the end prod-uct to the beginning of the manufacturing process, analyzing each step and interac-tion along the way. Efficiency efforts that perhaps never escaped a departmental silo now become part of a coordinated pro-gram to deliver value to the customer.

Goals of Lean analysis • Minimize overbuild • Reduce scrap • Limit consumption of utilities such as

power and water • Improve safety on the production

floor

When individual department goals transform into a company-wide commit-ment to value, the whole organization, not just elements of the production pro-cess, improves. Lean philosophy requires the manufacturer to constantly seek out new opportunities for improvement. As a result, businesses must discover increas-ingly innovative ways to deliver value. These methods may not be directly—or even obviously—correlated to the addition of value, but they can and will contribute to delivering it.

Legend printing leaves its mark on Lean Legend printers represent an example of equipment that can power Lean. These

printers operate like massive inkjet print-ers, reducing waste and saving time versus traditional silk-screen printing.

The trend toward smaller, highly func-tional PCBs demands designers pack more circuits into less space. Legend printing makes design work easier by allowing for increased miniaturization. When design-ers have better tools for designing smaller boards, they spend less time on revisions during prototyping.

Legend printing also streamlines the manufacturer printing process. Instead of creating a unique silk screen for each design, the PCB manufacturer simply cues print jobs. This strengthens the value chain by:

• Reducing waste • Accelerating turnaround • Consuming fewer resources Lean is a philosophy dedicated to

making continuous improvements. To suc-ceed, PCB manufacturers should seek tools to help them do so. Legend printing is one example of how the right equipment can make a difference.

Never stop improvingIn order to keep discovering new ways to improve, Lean manufacturers probe deeper into their production processes to find them. Questions become more challeng-ing, consensus harder to reach, and mea-surement metrics less apparent. For a PCB manufacturer, a Lean process can explore and analyze the following questions:

• How far do our boards physically travel during the production pro-cess?

• What if we cross-trained more per-sonnel?

• Is there a better way to pack our finished products?

The answers to questions like these unlock additional incremental improve-ment for PCB manufacturers. A PCB that travels a shorter distance during produc-tion is at reduced risk of misplacement or damage, can be completed faster, and requires less labor to transport. More cross-trained employees translate into smaller, more efficient production teams. Innovative packing solutions minimize PCB damage during transport.

True Lean focuses on improvement opportunities beyond the production floor.

Lean companies invest in employees, pro-viding healthy and safe environments to protect both personnel and our environ-ment’s future. They prioritize quality of work life and provide fair compensation. A workforce made up of well-trained, pro-fessionally satisfied personnel is more pro-ductive.

These examples of Leaner decisions demonstrate the cultural shift that takes place when an organization embraces Lean

from top to bottom. While some of these Lean choices may not appear related to the production process, they trans-late into value for the customer. The proof is in a higher qual-ity, cost-effective, and first-to-

market PCB.Demand for smaller, high-functioning

boards will continue to rise along with the level of competition for that business. PCB manufacturers face a stark truth: Go Lean or go extinct.

Best practices for successful Lean manufacturingCommitment is the key to successful Lean adoption. Consider first that Lean cannot just be another program remembered for the catered kick-off breakfast and little else. Carefully evaluate the reasons for adopt-ing Lean before beginning, taking care to assess the organization’s readiness.

True Lean demands a sizable invest-ment of time and resources to transform a company culture. That investment starts at the top.

No Lean without leadership Lean requires dedication to never ending, continuous improvement. Once executive management commits to making the long-term investment, they must communicate this throughout the organization. Teach staff what Lean means for them and why it is important to succeed. Make it clear Lean will change the way the company oper-ates and how personnel will perform their duties.

Leadership needs to set expectations appropriately at every level. Lean is an investment aimed at delivering value to customers, not a perk designed to make individual job tasks easier. Improvement will not happen overnight, so both staff and management must be patient. Be prepared to recognize small victories from the outset in an effort to build momentum and foster support throughout the organization.

The proof is in a higher quality, cost-effective, and first-to-market PCB.



Kaizen: accelerate “good” changeKaizen events are quick and focused team analyses of particular processes or issues. They can produce rapid improvement in multiple areas at once. Participants pose difficult process questions that demand consideration by the group. Kaizen events challenge the status quo and force PCB manufacturers to address the validity of long engrained industry truths. The result: Leaner decision-making and PCB production delivering more value.

Use evangelists to fill communication gaps The standard structure of organiza-tions generally leaves top manage-ment too far removed from the staff to provide persistent, clear direction on Lean adoption. That responsibility must then fall to leaders within the orga-nization who possess the vision and abil-ity to recognize Lean opportunities. While these individuals are often in managerial positions, Lean “evangelists” who adopt the philosophy early and take the initiative to improve can evolve from any level of the org chart.

Internal communication is not unlike the production line itself. We established benefits of minimizing the distance a PCB travels during production. The same can be said for communicating Lean throughout the organization. If key personnel do not take responsibility for maintaining clear, organization-wide communication, the top down Lean message will fade with time.

Not every corner of an organization speaks the same language. Lean messaging must be tailored to the departmental—or even individual—audience by these evan-gelists. Executive buy-in is the first step, but success or failure hinges on participation during day-to-day operations. The great ideas for process improvement come from the personnel doing the work each day. Evangelists need to convey the importance of Lean and listen carefully for opportuni-ties to affect change.

Lean communication is two-way. When the commitment message descends from executive management and the means to improve bubble up from company person-nel, Lean will begin to take hold.

No second chances If Lean does not transform the organiza-tion, the results are often catastrophic. Lean implementation failures are well doc-umented. The aftermaths of these unsuc-cessful attempts rarely make news.

When Lean is not implemented cor-

rectly—usually because of poor education and communication—it becomes very dif-ficult to get the momentum started again. Failure is most often avoided by strength-ening the lines of communication and reacting quickly when Lean encounters resistance. As long as top management remains involved and evangelists stay per-sistent, speed bumps will not bring a Lean initiative to a stop.

KPI and Lean: never miss an opportu-nity to measure success Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be applied to every aspect of production. From leading strategic measures to results-oriented measure of labor costs, KPIs help Lean manufacturers identify areas for improvement, regardless of where they are hiding.

Track and record improvement Metric-driven companies are better pre-pared to adopt Lean, because they under-stand how to measure success and avoid the pitfalls associated with failure. Once your organization makes the commitment to Lean, establishes strong two-way com-munication, and provides the tools neces-sary to make continuous improvement, you need to be able to measure results.

This is good news for PCB manufactur-ers interested in Lean. Metrics have always been a critical component of efficient man-ufacturing. Prior to having accurate mea-sures of time, labor, and materials, PCB manufacturers found it hard to be com-petitive even before the Lean trend began.

Now, truly successful Lean programs leverage existing measurement method-ologies to create “S.M.A.R.T.” goals (spe-cific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time bound). These improvement mea-sures target everything from water usage to amounts of rigid material used during production. By adding metrics where they previously did not exist, a culture shift takes place for every person in the com-pany, regardless of role.

Without the cultural evolution, long-term success will prove elusive. Beginning with top management, the entire organiza-

tion must invest in Lean for it to succeed.

ConclusionsIn the competitive landscape of the future, Lean may be mandatory for the success of PCB industry players. Demand for smaller, more complex boards means PCB manu-facturers must work smarter to provide value to their customers. Lean offers a path to value for those who choose it.

Lean PCB manufacturers evolve traditional efficiency measures into a new company culture that considers value first. By making Lean decisions on everything from equipment to production floor layout, PCB manu-facturers find ways to improve in places they had never even looked in the past.

Your next step For those embarking on the Lean path, we recommend exploring its concepts further. Many great resources exist to help busi-ness leaders learn more about the practical components of adopting a Lean philoso-phy.

The Lean Enterprise Institute (www.Lean.org) is a great place to start. Founded in 1997, this non-profit organization offers a wide range of easily searchable content.

The success stories begin with a top down commitment, rely on clear communication throughout the organization, and do not end. Successful Lean PCB manufacturers never stop improving.

Truly successful Lean programs leverage existing measurement methodologies to create “S.M.A.R.T.” goals.

Technology with Passion

Please contact our sales organization:

YXLON International GmbH Essener Bogen 15 22419 Hamburg, Germany Phone +49 40 527 29-101

or visit us at www.yxlon.com

Precision at its finest

YXLON FF20 CT

■ Ultimate 3D insight into minute structures

■ Smart touch operation for multiple user profiles

■ Time saving remote monitoring and push messages

SMT NurembergHall 7 · Booth 228

Control StuttgartHall 3 · Booth 3310

Technology with Passion

Please contact our sales organization:

YXLON International GmbH Essener Bogen 15 22419 Hamburg, Germany Phone +49 40 527 29-101

or visit us at www.yxlon.com

Precision at its finest

YXLON FF20 CT

■ Ultimate 3D insight into minute structures

■ Smart touch operation for multiple user profiles

■ Time saving remote monitoring and push messages

SMT NurembergHall 7 · Booth 228

Control StuttgartHall 3 · Booth 3310


Optimizing SMT stencil design based on PCB layout

Design reviewPCB layout drives the primary consid-erations of stencil design: foil thickness and aperture sizes. Larger components, through-hole connectors, and components with known coplanarity or warpage issues require larger paste deposits from thicker stencil foils, whereas smaller components with finer pitch I/Os push the area ratio limits and drive the use of thinner foils. When both appear in the same layout, they clash, but there are a number of options for accommodating the conflicting require-ments.

The first step in resolving the conflicts is identifying them. Automated design-checker software like Alpha’s ARTE system reads a stencil’s Gerber file and calculates all the area ratios, issuing warnings about those below a threshold set by the user, often in the 0.60 to 0.66 range. In addition to basic design rule checking, ARTE also

uses transfer efficiency equations devel-oped in Alpha’s solder paste labs to predict transfer efficiencies and deposit volumes. This unique capability enables the user to quickly investigate numerous aspects of

When both large and smaller/fine picth components appear in the same layout, they clash, but there are a number of options for accommodating the conflicting requirements.

With so many different stencil technologies out there, how is a stencil designer to know which will work best on any given product? Just like almost everything else related to SMT assembly, it all depends on the board layout. Component type and location, population density, and PTH presence all factor into selecting the best materials, manufacturing processes, and performance-enhancing coatings to get the best possible results in the solder paste printing process.

Ben Scott, Datum Alloys; Chrys Shea, Shea Engineering Services; and Carol Wood, Alpha Stencils


ListenReadWatch

ARTE – Area Ra*o and Transfer Efficiency Calculator

Excel program reads Gerber file, user inputs foil thickness –  Automa'cally calculates ARs & TEs –  Warns at low AR (selected by user) –  Acknowledges AR correc'ons –  Can change aperture size or foil thickness on the fly and immediately see effects

–  Can add preforms into calcula'on –  Predicts individual deposit volumes –  Predicts total amount of paste deposited on PCB

Figure 1. Screenshot of ARTE.

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This article was presented at IMAPS New England 2014 Symposium and Expo held on May 6 in Boxboro, MA



the stencil’s design, including the effects of changing foil thickness or aperture size and stepping stencils. It can also suggest the best solder preform to use to compensate for thinning foils and calculate the solder volume difference based on its suggestion or on the user’s own selection. A screenshot of ARTE is shown in Figure 1.

Stepped StencilsOften times stepping stencils provides the optimum solution to conflicting thickness requirements. Stencils can be stepped a number of ways:

• Step Up: Thickens stencil locally• Step Down: Thins stencil locally• Top or Bottom side steps, or both• “Stepless” steps: Smooth the tran-

sition (used with enclosed print heads)

• Angled steps: Reduce squeegee damage (also used with enclosed print heads)

• Cavity relief: on the PCB side of the stencil to accommodate labels or other topographical features

Design guidelines for steps include a maximum step height or depth of 2 mil

(50 µm) per step to maintain good fill pres-sure, and a minimum keepout perimeter of 25 mil (625 µm) around the apertures. The farther away from the apertures the step can be located, the better. It will allow for better squeegee blade deflection into the step, and keep the paste that always builds up and dries out near the step wall farther away from the apertures (Figure 2). Components that do not necessarily require steps but can accept them are often included in the stepped area to maintain the keepout zone. Other layout options include clustering components that require steps to create fewer, larger stepped areas instead of many smaller ones.

If the desired step depth is only 1 mil (25 µm), then an incrementally-sized foil may provide the ideal solution. Alpha pro-vides nickel foils that are grown in their electroforming tanks in half-mil (12.5µm) increments: 3.5, 4.5, 5.5 or 6.5 mils thick. Nickel foils not only offer these sub-1 mil incremental thicknesses; they also offer high durability for processes that must run excessive print pressures.

Foil thickness, material selection and manufacturing processStainless steel (SS) is the material of choice, except when special circumstances dic-tate nickel. Standard SS is the least expen-

sive option, but can be prone to thickness variations, inclusions or other flaws in the material, and warping or bowing in reac-tion to the heat generated by laser cutting. Premium SS manufactured specifically for SMT stencils by Datum Alloys is precision rolled to maintain very tight thickness tol-erances and is stress relieved to prevent distortion from the heat of cutting. In addition to the popular stress-relieved SS alloy known as PhD, Datum also offers a fine grain (FG) SS that reduces the typical grain size by an order of magnitude (Figure 3). The finer grains produce smoother stencil walls and crisper steps. Many high precision stencil printing processes depend upon it.

When should a designer choose PhD or FG? The considerations are shown in Table 1.

Well-tuned modern laser cutters pro-duce high accuracy stencils. If nickel is required, laser cutting the apertures into a formed nickel “blank” will likely produce a more accurate stencil than most electro-forming process. It will also save lead time and cost. Regardless of the foil material, the overall performance of a stencil is heavily dependent on the quality of the aperture wall, and many studies have correlated wall roughness to print performance.

PhDStress-relieved

304SS

FGStress-relieved

301SS

Miniaturized or high-density assembly PArea ratios <0.66 PGeneral SMT, lead pitches ≥ 0.5 mm, leadless PStepped stencil for µBGA, CSP, QFN, BTC PUniform foil thickness ≥ 150 µm PPowder size Type 4,5,6 PPowder size Type 3 P P

SQUEEGEE 2mil (50µm) MAX per step

Keep out perimeter 25mil (0.625mm)

Figure 2. Larger keepout zones keep dried paste buildup in the corner of the pocket, away from the apertures.

Standard Microstructure 301/304 SS

FG Microstructure Modified 301SS

5 µm 3,000X 3,000X 5 µm

Grain size 15-30µm Grain size 1-2 µm

Figure 3. Fine grain stainless steel reduces the typical grain size by an order of mag-nitude.

Table 1. When to select PhD or FG.



Nickel plating and electropolishingSecondary processes like nickel plat-ing over SS or electropolishing the SS are

sometimes used in conjunction with laser cutting. Plating nickel over SS is supposed to add the durability of nickel to the pre-cision of SS to combine the best qualities

of both. In recent tests, it did not fare as well as laser-cut premium SS in print per-formance; the nickel plating lowered area ratios both by increasing the foil thick-ness by and reducing the aperture sizes. Differences as large as 0.4 mils in aperture size and foil thickness were noted.

Electropolishing was very popular in the early days of laser cutting SS because it removed the scalloped peaks in the walls produced by the wider laser beams of the original cutting equipment. In contrast to the nickel plating process that adds mate-rial to the original stencil, electropolishing removes small amounts of it. In addition to smoothing the walls, the electropolish-ing process actually opens up the apertures and thins the stencil a bit, giving it a slight area ratio advantage, helping it demon-strate better transfer efficiency than non-electropolished stencils. Unfortunately, it also tends to round the corners of the aper-tures to compromise gasketing and induce more print volume variation (Figure 4). It is not often used anymore—modern lasers can cut cleaner, smoother walls from more consistent, laser-friendly materials and electropolishing is not necessary. A good laser cut achieved with a well calibrated and maintained cutter will produce walls smooth enough to provide optimal paste transfer performance without requiring any secondary processes.

NanocoatingNanocoating can substantially boost pro-ductivity. This special repellency treat-ment is applied to the finished stencil, and prevents the flux from spreading on the bottom surface, keeping it cleaner for longer. The cleaner stencil bottom:

• Gaskets better• Produces crisper prints

Electropolished Non-‐ Electropolished

Figure 4. Effect of electropolishing on aperature geometry.

Untreated stencil Flux wicks out on the bo1om surface away from the apertures

Treated stencil Flux is repelled from the bo1om surface and is contained primarily within the apertures

QFN and 0201s a4er 10 prints with no wipe Same board, same stencil, same print stroke

Figure 5. Nanocoating repels flux on stencil’s bottom surface.

Figure 6. QFN and 0201s after 10 prints with no wipe: same board, same stencil, same print stroke. Untreated left, nanocoated right.



• Extends under wipe intervals• Cleans easier• Saves money on wiper paper, and

(sometimes) solvent and cycle timeFigure 5 shows the stencil apertures

for QFNs after 10 prints with and without Aculon’s NanoClear nanocoating. Figure 6 shows the resultant prints. The difference in print definition is visible in the deposits for the thermal pad and the wet-bridged 0201s.

When nanocoatings were first intro-duced, their utilization was focused on improving fine feature printing processes. Continued research on their applica-tion has revealed that they will enhance just about any print process, regardless of PCB layout. Over the past year, their cost has been reduced and their availability improved, and as users continue to docu-ment the increases in quality and pro-ductivity, their popularity will continue to grow.

SummaryOptimizing stencil performance based on a PCB layout is a straightforward process, but requires a number of decisions based on the features of the layout. The first, and most critical, choice is on foil thickness. Typical SMT processes use 5 mil (125 µm) foils, but some components require larger deposits that drive thicker foils and some require smaller, more precise deposits that require thinner foils. The stencil designer needs to make sure the foil thickness and aperture sizes do not violate area ratio rules, and stencil design analysis software like ARTE speeds the calculation process while preventing errors.

Sometimes foils must be stepped to accommodate multiple thicknesses. Stepping guidelines are available to help insure the best possible print quality; if the guidelines are compromised, the print quality is likely to suffer. Steps of 1mil or less may be addressed by using an incre-mental size nickel foil; steps or 2 mil or greater should use Fine Grain SS. Other considerations for using Fine Grain SS include foil thicknesses of 5 mil (125 µm) or less, devices with pitches of 20 mil (0.5 mm) or less, high density or highly minia-turized layouts, or area ratios less than 0.66.

Secondary processes like nickel plat-ing over SS or electropolishing have not been shown to improve overall print per-formance in recent studies and typically should not be a factor in stencil design or manufacturing decisions. Rather, the cut quality that a supplier is capable of provid-ing should be a larger consideration. The

smoother walls created by the combination of specialized SS and modern laser cut-ters have shown to produce the best print quality in successive tests, consistently out-performing every other stencil fabrication technology available. The finer the feature, the more important cut quality becomes—1206s are more forgiving than 0201s; as are QFPs compared to QFNs. Nanocoating improves quality and cost by keeping the PCB side of the stencil clean, reducing underwipe frequency and improving print definition. It can positively impact any solder paste printing process, regardless of PCB layout.

Figure 7 depicts the decision path and its factors, and indicates a feedback loop for Design for Manufacturability inputs. Understanding how the PCB layout affects the entire print process—from stencil design to production yields—enables development teams to incorporate cost-conscious manufacturing decisions in early stages of product design, where they have the greatest impact.

Ben Scott is the CEO of Datum Alloys, the #1 worldwide supplier of SMT stencil mate-rials; [email protected]

Chrys Shea is the president of Shea Engineering Services, an electronics manu-facturing consulting firm; [email protected]

Carol Wood is the North American Operations Manager for Alpha stencils, combining Alpha’s global knowledge, experi-ence and service to produce over half a mil-lion stencils worldwide; [email protected]

Figure 7. PCB layout drives the stencil print process.


Slower growth prevails in 1Q’14

©2014 Mentor Graphics Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Mentor Graphics is a registered trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation.

2013 finished strongly with global elec-tronic equipment sales up 5.6% in 4Q’13 vs. 4Q12. However the rate of end market expansion has recently slowed as 1Q’14 equipment sales growth declined to an esti-mated 2.5% (Chart 1). By March many of the country specific PMI leading indica-tors (although still positive) had softened noticeably. These PMI growth rates have either plateaued or declined (Chart 2). This suggests a subdued expansion near term.

The rest of the electronic supply is behaving in a similar fashion. Country spe-cific monthly electronic equipment sales are given in Chart 3. SE Asia clearly domi-nates. The normal “consumer electron-ics” driven peak at the Christmas holidays was followed by a sharp January/February decline again this year. Demand rebounded in March but we await April and May to determine the strength of this year’s elec-

tronic equipment recovery.Taiwan listed ODM companies’ sales

(Chart 4) have paralleled electronic equip-ment growth. Their 1Q’14 expansion was positive but not as strong as 4Q’13.

Printed circuit board shipments (Chart 5) are following a similar pattern. They peaked last October (two months before electronic equipment) and then plunged through February only to rebound strongly in March. We expect that they will follow the forecast path given in Chart 5 based upon historical seasonal precedent.

Chart 6 is my colleague Ed Henderson’s forecast for electronic equipment ship-ments by region by year. Low to mid-single digit growth this year appears likely for most areas.

Despite Chart 6’s forecast there is still uncertainty. The early 2014 “slower growth” scenario could persist into mid-year. Keep

watching the leading indicators and also monthly electronic equipment, component, EMS and ODM results. Business conditions are fluid and require careful monitoring.

End marketsHigh-tech exports will make up more than 25% of total worldwide goods traded by 2030 compared to 22% in 2013.—HSBCWorldwide IT spending is expected to grow 3.2% y/y to US$3.8 trillion in 2014.—GartnerChina • Handset sales reached 107 million units

in 4Q’13 with smartphones accounting for 97.63 million units.—Analysys

• Major consumer electronics device shipments declined 9% y/y to 710 mil-lion units in 2013 and are expected to continue to decline to 674 million units (valued at $105 billion) in 2014.—IHS

N American Robotics shipments grew 11% y/y to 22,591 robots, valued at $1.39 bil-lion.—Robotic Industries AssociationTaiwan’s electronics orders rose 8.2% y/y to US$16.6 billion in first two months of 2014 and electronics shipments to China grew 37.6% y/y to US$84 billion in 2013.—MOEAMobile CommunicationsCellular communications nodes for smart grid revenues are forecast to grow from US$75 million in 2013 to US$348 million in 2018.—Navigant ResearchComputers & Peripherals• PC, tablet, ultramobile and mobile

handset shipments are expected to grow 6.9% y/y to 2.5 billion units in 2014.—Gartner

• Tablet hybrid device shipments are projected to rise from an estimated 9.5 million in 2013 to 50 million globally by 2018.—Juniper Research

• Tablet shipments are forecast to grow 38.5% y/y to 271 million units in 2014.—Gartner

• High performance computing techni-

Walt Custer and Jon Custer-Topai

Slower growth prevails in 1Q’14What can we expect for

the balance of 2014?

Electronic Equipment SuppliersComposite of 141 Public Companies

Revenue, Net Income & Inventory

Computer 13, Internet 9, Storage 10, Communication 20, SEMI 20, Medical 23, Instruments 11, Military 6, Business & Office 3, Consumer 13, Automotive 11

-100

0

100

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Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 20132014

$ Billions

Revenue

Income

Inventory

+5.6%

Preliminary1Q’14/1Q’13 est

+2.5%

Chart 1.

Read ListenWatch

©2014 Mentor Graphics Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Mentor Graphics is a registered trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation.



cal server market revenues declined 7.2% to $10.3 billion in 2013.—IDC

• U.S. video-game hardware spending increased 42% y/y to $347 million in February 2014.—NPD Group

• PC monitor shipments fell 0.4% q/q to 34.9 million units in 4Q’13.—IDC

• External controller-based disk storage revenues increased 5% y/y to US$6.3 billion in 4Q’13.—Gartner

Consumer Electronics • Consumer electronics accessories sales

will reach $8.5 billion in 2014.—CEA• Wearable consumer user device sales

will rise tenfold from 15 million units in 2013 to 154 million in 2018.—Strategy Analytics

• TV shipments declined by 6% y/y to 225 million units in 2013. – HIS

• 4K TV shipments reached 1.6 mil-lion units in 2013, with nearly 1 mil-lion units shipped in 4Q’13.—NPD DisplaySearch

Other• 3D printing equipment, materials and

software will grow from about $1.5 billion in 2014 to $4 billion in 2025.—

IDTechEx• Global antenna, transducer, and

radome market is estimated to grow at a 6.27% CAGR from $17.7 billion in 2014 to $25.5 billion by 2020.—MarketsandMarkets

• Smart building technology spending is expected to grow at a 28.4% CAGR from US$7.3 billion in 2014 to US$21.9 billion in 2018.—IDC

• Wearable electronics batteries are expected to jump from $6 million in 2014 to $77 million in 2018.—IHS

• Wireless charging market revenues will increase from US$216 million in 2013 to US$785 million in 2014 and US$8.5 billion in 2018.—IHS

• Purpose-built backup appliance fac-tory revenues increased 9.7% y/y to $962 million in 4Q’13.—IDC

EMS, ODM & related assembly activityEMS and ODM market is projected to grow from US$364 billion in 2013 to US$368 billion in 2015. – ReportsnReports

Axiom Manufacturing Services • added a Fuji Aimex IIs SMT assem-

bly line comprising a Dek Horizon 03iX printer, 3 Fuji Aimex IIx place-ment units, an Asymtek jet dispensing platform and a BTU Pyramax 150z12 reflow oven.

• promoted Mike Jones to Director of Operations.

CheckSum appointed Jayson Moy, VP of Sales.Chemigraphic added Juki Automated stor-age systems and labeling cell equipment.Computrol purchased Technical Devices Company’s Flood Box technology for inline cleaning.E-Lead is investing US$3 million to build an assembly plant in Karawang, Indonesia.Enics Suzhou received ISO/TS 16949 com-pliance certification.ETAS Test Consulting and Engineering Services launched test operations services for embedded systems.Flextronics • appointed Michael Capellas to its

Board Of Directors.

World Purchasing Managers Index3/12 Rate of Change

ISM, JPMorgan, Markit Economics

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

Jan

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2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

3/12

Rat

e of

Cha

nge

ChinaUSAEuropeWorld0 Growth

Chart 2.

World Electronic Equipment Monthly Shipments

Converted @ Constant 2012 Exchange Rates

Source: Custer Consulting Group & Electronic Outlook Corp

0102030405060708090

100

Jan

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2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

USA

W Europe

Japan

Taiwan+China

ROA

ROW

US$ B

Chart 3.

Large ODM Companies Composite of 10 Public Manufacturers

Quarterly Revenue Growth

Asustek Computer, Compal Electronics, Foxconn, Chimei Innolux, Inventec, Inventec Appliance, Lite On Technology, Mitac International, Pegatron, Quanta Computer, Wistron

-40

-20

0

20

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Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Chart 4.

World PCB Shipments (with forecast)Converted @ Fluctuating Exchange Rates

2.0

2.5

3.0

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4.0

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5.5

6.0

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99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15

ActualForecast

+1.3%

-1.1%

$ Billions

Source: Custer Consulting Group - 2010 base year expanded by monthly growth of N. American, European, Japanese & Taiwan/China monthly PCB shipments

Calendar Year

Growth calculations:Europe = Eurostat “Wiring Device”Japan & N. America from JPCA & IPC dataTaiwan/China:46 rigid & flex company compositeRest of Asia growth = Taiwan/China 44 company compositeIncludes S Korea data for 2011-2013

+4.7%

Chart 5.



• began providing supply chain solu-tions and manufacturing for 5BARz Partners’ network extender devices.

• created a Universal Automation Line comprising multiple stations that can be changed to adapt to new products or production processes.

Lab IX entered a partnership with Mantis Vision for customized 3D scanning solu-tions.Foxconn/Hon Hai added 15,000 new employees primarily for R&D functions and increased salaries for Taiwan employ-ees who earned less than NT$1.2 million (US$39,560) per year.Hunter Technology acquired the equip-ment and inventory assets of Spectral Response.IEC Electronics received IPC-J-STD-001/IPC-A-610 Qualified Manufacturers Listing under IPC’s validation services program for its Newark, New York and Albuquerque, New Mexico facilities.Jabil • selected BT to standardize its global

architecture across 25 countries and 112 locations.

• sold its aftermarket services business to iQor Holdings.

Jaltek Systems added a MIRTEC MV-7

OMNI 2D/3D In-Line AOI Machine.Kimball Electronics Group promoted Julie Dutchess to VP, Human Resources, Sandy Smith to VP, Information Technology and Janusz Kasprzyk to VP, European

Operations.Kingfield Electronics invested an addi-tional GBP 500,000 for assembly equip-ment, which includes: Speedprint SP710 in-line stencil printer, EuroPlacer iineo II

World 1.0 -2.5 4.8 6.2 5.8

USA -0.9 -3.3 1.0 5.8 5.6

W. Europe -3.4 -3.6 2.6 3.3 3.1

Japan -2.6 -10.3 3.4 4.0 3.2

Four Tigers -1.2 2.3 4.8 6.0 5.7

China 2.6 -2.4 6.8 7.4 6.7

Henderson Ventures 4/2014www.hendersonventures.com

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Electronic Equipment Production Growth

Constant $ Growth Rates Converted @ Constant Exchange Rates

Chart 6.



placement machine, Aleader ALD770 AOI system, TSM A70-82 reflow oven.Kitron received a NOK 30 million elec-tronics modules order for Kongsberg Gruppen’s weapon guidance system.Libra Industries • installed a Trek Triton MIL series elec-

tronic cleaner from Stoelting.• named Joseph Walkos, Supply Chain

Manager.Lite-On Technology acquired LarView Technologies.Mictrotek Laboratories opened a European test lab at Gen3 Systems’ facility in Farnborough, UK.Nam Tai Electronics named Liu Pi Hao, CEO.NATEL EMS • created a hands-free microelectronics

assembly line.• promoted Kunal Sharma to COO.Nitronica • appointed John Harley, Business

Development Manager.• named Alan Peters, Sales Manager for

Northern & Southern Ireland.OnCore Manufacturing named Abbas Arsiwala, CIO.OPSOL UK appointed Richard Whitehead, GM.Optimum Design added a Viscom Model 8011 X-ray machine from Zero Defects International.PKC Group purchased a Mek iSpector AOI.Quik Tek Assembly opened an 8,000 SF facility in Tucson, Arizona.Scanfil EMS acquired Schaltex Systems.SemiGen launched Design & Assembly services.SMTC appointed Josh Chien, Sr. VP of Worldwide Sales and Marketing.Sparton acquired Aubrey Group.Surface Mount was delisted from SGX as a result of market capitalization falling below S$40 million within 120 day period.Valtronic purchased two SMT lines, which include a JUKI K3 fully automatic screen printer, a JUKI high speed flexible parts placer KE-3020 VLN, and a JUKI RS800 eco-friendly reflow oven.

PCB FabricationElectronic Design Automation indus-try increased 5.7% y/y to $1881 million in 4Q’13; PCB & MCM design revenue increased 14.2% y/y to $191 million.—EDA ConsortiumAaron PCB added an Essemtec Paraquda SMT pick & place system in Shannon, Ireland.Advanced Circuits purchased an Orbotech Paragon-Xpress LDI system and COBRA

Hybrid Laser Via system.Altium opened new office in Newton, Massachusetts.Apex completed 70,000 M2/ month PCB plant in Thailand.Aspocomp named Johan Wicksell, Sales Manager in Scandinavia.Bay Area Circuits released a Design for Manufacturability tool, InstantDFM.DAP’s HDI plant in Anseong, South Korea was destroyed by a fire.Data Respons moved to new and larger premises in Stavanger, Norway.Electro Plate Circuitry (Carrollton, Texas) added an Excellon HS-2L Intelli-Drill system.Fineline Group acquired KBL Circuits (Holzkirchen, Germany).IPC • elected Marc Peo (President, Heller

Industries), Chairman of the Board, Joe O’Neil (President, Hunter Technology), Vice Chairman, Mikel Williams (President and CEO, JPS Industries), Secretary/Treasurer and Steven Betza, Corporate Director, Advanced Manufacturing & Development, Lockheed Martin Corporation, first-term Director.

• named Tom Sandman, CFO.Live Electronic was acquired by Ian Brown.Mentor Graphics • acquired Berkeley Design Automation.• introduced its new Xpedition PCB sys-

tems design platform.MicroConnex purchased a Wise UltraFlex chemical etching system from Technica.Newbury Electronics installed a Limata UV-P300 LDI system.PCB Connect opened a new office in Poland.Printed Circuits, Inc. added a Microcraft USA flying probe test machine in Minneapolis, Minnesota.Ramaer was sold to ELCO Group.Rimaster opened a new office in Lyon, France.Sierra Circuits installed an eSurface pro-cess line in Sunnyvale, California.Unimicron Technology is establishing a PCB factory in Huangshi City, China.Vycom appointed Paolo Ciocca, European Sales Manager.ZVEI elected Udo Bechtloff, Chairman of the ZVEI PCB group.

Materials & process equipmentConductive ink market will grow at a 3.5% CAGR to $3,660 million by 2018.—MarketsandMarketsElectronic chemicals & materials (sili-con wafer, PCB laminates, photoresist,

specialty gases, etc.) market will grow at a 7.0% CAGR to $59 billion by 2019.—MarketsandMarketsGlobal nanocoatings demand will grow at a 24.7% CAGR from USD 1.45 billion in 2012 to USD 6.75 billion in 2019.—Transparency Market ResearchAerotech relocated its UK subsidiary to new and larger facility in Ramsdell.BALVER ZINN granted a SN100C alloy sub-license to Estaños & Soldaduras Senra, S.L.U.Co-Tech increased copper oxide produc-tion capacity to 200-300 MT/ month.CyberOptics • acquired 3D Metrology Company.• promoted Eugene Sitoh to Asia Sales

Manager.Cytec acquired an equity position in C-CON Holdings GmbH.ECD is celebrating its 50 year anniversary.Europlacer promoted John Perrotta to President, Europlacer Americas.Hesse Mechatronics hired Tod Sladek as Applications Engineer, Advanced Process Development & Demonstration.Indium • hired Tony Teo as Associate Director

for Sales and Marketing for Asia-Pacific region.

• is celebrating its 80 year anniversary.Insulectro appointed Ken Parent, VP of Business Development & Chief Marketing Officer.Isola • launched a new certification program

for PCB fabricators. • promoted Janet Fromm to Sr.

Director—Quality & Operational Excellence and Michael Gastonguay to President-Americas.

Iteq increased CCL capacity to a total of 3.4 million units/month.JOT Automation opened 1300 M2 site in Shenzhen, China.Kodak named Jeff Clarke, CEO.Koh Young Europe appointed Wolfgang Runte, Sales Manager.KYOCERA consolidated its North American operations in the indexable, micro-tool and PCB cutting tool markets into wholly-owned subsidiary, Kyocera Precision Tools.Mek (Marantz Electronics) opened direct operations in the Americas, headquartered in Nevada and directed by John Rider.Micron Laser Technology achieved AS9100C and ISO 9001:2008 certifications.Micronic Mydata • changed its name to Mycronic AB.• received an order for FPS5500 mask

writer.MKS Instruments bought Granville-Phillips.



Nordson • DAGE expanded its R&D

facility in Colchester, Essex, UK.

• opened a 2,000 M2 tech-nical center in Shanghai, China.

OK International entered a minority investment and prod-uct development agreement with TierTime Technology.OMG Electronic Chemicals’ Director of New Products and Business Development, Michael Carano received the IPC Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame award. Congratulations Mike!Scanditron opened new facil-ity for production of laser-cut stencils in Johannesburg, South Africa.Simplimatic Automation is building a 60,000 SF automa-tion manufacturing facility in Bedford County, Virginia.Speedprint named Electronic Assembly Products its U.S. representative for Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, Indiana and Kentucky.Stemmer Imaging acquired Parameter AB.Ventec USA named Ray Young, GM of California operations.Viscom appointed Jacques L’Heureux, Business Development Manager.Vision Engineering is building 80,000 SF (7,432 M2) global HQ in Send, Surrey, UK.ZESTRON purchased a 4320 M² facility in Penang, Malaysia.

Semiconductors & other componentsWorldwide semiconductor rev-enue expanded 5% y/y to $315 billion in 2013.—GartnerWorldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment sales decreased 14% y/y to $31.6 billion in 2013.—SEMIWorldwide semiconductor industry capex will reach US$62 billion in 2014, led by Samsung (+$11 billion), Intel (+$11 billion) and TSMC (slightly under $10 billion).—Digitimes/IC InsightsTaiwan’s semiconductor

output is forecast to grow 11.1% to NT$2.1 trillion (US$69 billion) in 2014.—Industrial Economics and Knowledge CenterConsumer and mobile appli-cation combo sensor revenue is projected to grow at a 23% CAGR from $608 million in 2014 to $1 billion by 2017.—IHSIC backend service industry is forecast to grow 4.2% y/y to US$52 billion in 2014.—Digitimes ResearchIndustrial electronics chip reve-nue increased 11% y/y to $33.7 billion in 2013.—IHSLED chip demand is expected to grow from 17 billion in 2012 to 61 billion in 2014.—DisplaySearchOE automotive semiconduc-tor market is estimated to have reached $27 billion in 2013.—Semicast ResearchO-S-D (optoelectronics, sensors and actuator devices, and dis-crete semiconductors) market will grow from US$59 billion in 2013 to US$64 billion in 2014.—IC InsightsPersonal computing sys-tems IC market is forecast to increase 6% y/y to $78 billion in 2014 and expand additional 6% in 2015 to $82 billion.—IC InsightsRFID Market will grow 17% y/y from $7.9 billion in 2013 to $9.2 billion in 2014.—IDTechExTop 20 MEMS producers accounted for combined rev-enue in 2013 of $7 billion, or 78% of the industry total of $9 billion.—IHS

Walt Custer offers a daily news service and market reports on the PCB and assembly automation and semiconductor industries. He can be contacted at [email protected] or visit www.custerconsulting.com. Jon Custer-Topai is vice president of Custer Consulting Group and responsible for the corporation’s market research and news analysis activities. Jon can be contacted at [email protected].


Solder-bearing RF shields streamline PCB assembly

Key challenges of shield assembly and solderingIntegration of RF shielding is a critical element in a widening variety of product designs, ranging from communications infrastructure systems to the plethora of mobile handheld devices that have become a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. As these products are getting smaller, more com-plex, and are offering higher performance features, the integration of RF shielding is becoming more challenging.

For example, longer shields (over 30 mm) can exhibit a gap between the shield and the PCB, such as shown in Figure 2. This can be due to a combination of copla-narity issues with the PCB and/or the RF shield itself. It can also result from warping of the PCB during production line assem-bly and soldering, in which case, the prob-lem does not become apparent until after initial assembly. The extra thin PCB materi-als, denser circuitry and higher frequency signals in new-generation devices are all combining to make these shield assembly problems a critical issue.

If gaps between shielding and PCB substrates are not addressed, it can lead to signal leakage that reduces the effectiveness of the shielding and degrades product per-formance, as well as mechanical stability problems that can cause hard field failures of the devices

Costs of secondary solder applicationThe above described problems can result from variations in the application of solder and/or flux to the bare shields, which cause in lack of consistency in the solder joint integrity after initial assembly.

One way that the industry has been

dealing with this issue is to inspect each product after initial assembly and to selec-tively add solder balls in order to fill the gaps. However, this approach presents a number of problems, including:

• Cost and time of post-assembly inspecting and selecting items for rework

• Solder ball application and solder-ing cost (can add $0. 10 to $0. 20 per assembly)

• Potential damage to sensitive parts during secondary re-heating of assemblies

• Potential risk of shorting or solder-bridging during secondary solder-ing steps

• Potential risks of higher scrap due to inconsistent secondary soldering processes

Interplex NAS has been manufacturing circuit board edge clips for over 25 years and in particular has developed both the intellectual property and manufacturing knowhow for integrating solder and flux preforms into the jaws of these clips. Hundreds of millions of such pins have been produced in a variety of SIL, DIL and surface mount formats. The pins are available in long strips with the individual pin held on precise pitch. Figure 1 shows a typical SIL pin with the solder and flux held in the jaws. Once the circuit board has been pushed into the jaw such that the circuit board contact pad aligns precisely with the jaw there is very little else to do. Simply heating the pin by anyone of a number of techniques causes the solder to flow. After cooling the pin is electrically and mechanically bonded to the circuit. Depending on the choice of flux further cleaning may or may not be required.

The quantity of solder and flux applied to the joint is very precisely controlled and so there is very little variation in the solder joint parameters. As will be discussed in the following sections these are exactly the parameters required to assemble shielding boxes onto circuit boards.

Peter Moran, Advanced Interconnection Technology


ListenReadWatch

Figure 1. Typical SIL pin with solder and flux held in the jaws.

Figure 2. Longer shields can exhibit a gap between the shield and the PCB.

Read ListenWatch



The bottom line from a production standpoint is lower throughput, higher cost and increased waste.

Costs of undetected problems and shield pop-upAnother issue that can be even more prob-lematic is the risk of undetected solder problems with the RF shielding, which can lead to “shield pop-up” or detachment during the product life cycle and therefore results in higher field failure rates.

In today’s highly competitive markets for phones, tablets and other consumer devices, every product maker’s reputation is under constant pressure and scrutiny. Each new product launch is a high profile event and is quickly followed by wide-spread user feedback, market reviews, and competitive comparisons, all amplified by the megaphone of social media. In this environment, any trend toward perceived or real field-failure problems can quickly gain a life of its own and critically harm a company’s reputation, market share and profitability.

Whenever such problems can be traced back to suppliers, such as RF shield pop-up issues, the supplier reputations and profit-ability are also at great risk. The best solu-tion is to proactively take corrective mea-sures within the assembly process and to avoid the root cause of RF shield assembly gaps and/or inadequate solder-joint forma-tion - during the initial assembly/soldering steps.

One-step approach with solder-bearing shieldsThis alternative addresses the problem of shield gaps and the risks of shield pop-up

before they can occur by incorporating a precise amount of solder onto the RF shields during their fabrication.

As discussed in the introduction, this approach leverages years of technology advances and innovation in the solder-bearing lead seg-ment, which focuses on integrating solder and/or flux directly into all types of components during the design, stamping and fabrica-tion processes. The goal is to create parts that are ready for placement and soldering, without the need for secondary dip-ping or other solder/flux application steps and which can deliver 100% solderability results while streamlining the production process.

For example, in a solder-bearing shield application such as the one shown in Figure 3, the solder would be integrated directly into the shield during its fabrication.

By incorporating the precise amount of solder as part of the shield prior to its placement on the PCB, this approach not only eliminates the need for apply-ing solder/flux to the shield; it avoids the process variations that can lead to gapping

and/or inconsis-tent solder-joint formation.

Because it is an integrated part of the actual shielding fab-rication, the solder-bearing shield technique can easily be adapted for vir-tually any shape, size or configu-ration of shield. A p p l i c a t i o n specific ready-to-place solder-bearing shields can be custom tailored to con-

form to the exact product design require-ments, including the ability to easily pro-vide shielding on two or more sides of the device (Figure 4).

Summary: solderability improvements and yield advantagesOver the course of decades of develop-ment, refinement and applications-specific deployments, solder-bearing technology has been shown to deliver 100 percent sol-derability results, while reducing the cost and complexity of secondary operations. The bottom line outcome has been a sig-nificant increase in production yields and product reliability.

By using flexible shield manufacturing techniques, these yield, quality and pro-ductivity advantages are now being seam-lessly adapted to streamline and improve production results for a widening range of shielding configurations and applications.

More information regarding Solder Bearing Lead Technologies and products can also be found on the web by visiting http://www. interplex. com/nas.

Figure 3. Solder-bearing shield application.

Figure 4. The solder-bearing shield technique can easily provide shield-ing on two or more sides of the device.

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I’m hoping you guys are going to give us some conflicting views and we’re going to have a little bit of debate going here but let’s start off with what both of you think the key drivers are behind next-genera-tion placement system. Is it features get-ting added to the machine or is going to be more placement accuracy down to smaller geometries. What do you think’s going to drive it?

BB: If I quote some of our customers, espe-cially in the large EMS area, they seem to have it down to a very simple formula, and that’s CPH per square meter per dollar. I think it’s a little more complex than that because you have to add accuracy in there. I think accuracy is critical with the new generation of smaller components. But basically we’re in the business of delivery machinery that has to go faster, accurately, at a lower cost every year, and that’s the challenge we face in the placement business.

JT: I agree with Bob, particularly in the fact that it’s an economic driver more than anything, and let’s face, we don’t sell these things for people to have with. We sell them

to make money. At the end of the day, Bob is right in that it comes down to compo-nents placed per meter squared per dollar. Beyond that, it also comes back to an oper-ational efficiency metric, and from a very simplistic standpoint, how many hours out of a given day are these machines running and producing product that I can sell and make money with? And that’s where the rubber meets the road.

So you’re referring to uptime there of course, but there’s also the fact that more and more customers are buying machines where they don’t know what they’re going to be making in six months’ time, so they need to build a certain amount flexibility into these systems to be able to cope with future requirements.

BB: You’re absolutely right. In fact, at the SMEMA meeting yesterday, we discussed putting a new category in our marketing statistics, because there are platforms now where the customer can reconfigure the platform to do different types of compo-nents for different jobs. Flexibility of the machine is also I think becoming quite

important, changeable heads, changeable configurations of platforms we’re going to see more and more of.

JT: Flexibility is absolutely key, but I think there’s two ways to go about that. One is to change heads, but I think in any scenario, whether you’re talking about changing over from product A to B to C or reconfiguring a machine, the best changeover strategy is no changeover. So if you can increase the bandwidth of the heads you’re using, if you can increase the bandwidth of your com-ponent inputs, if you can increase the flex-ibility of the way you manage your different products to be run on the line, then you’ll drive your operational efficiencies up, and ultimately profitability goes up.

One of the issues that we have with the placement systems in general is the fact that they’ve got the most moving parts, they’re one of the most complex machines on the line, and yet in many cases they have the smallest margin. How does that happen?

BB: Well, we could ask some people who probably aren’t present at this table, because

Trevor Galbraith moderated a small debate at APEX on the future of assembly technology, focusing on pick & place, which is probably the most important component in the manufacturing line. Taking part in the debate were two of the key leaders in that area: Bob Black from JUKI Automation Systems and Jeff Timms from ASM Assembly Systems.

Interview—Bob Black, JUKI & Jeff Timms, ASM Assembly

Interview

ListenReadWatch


I wouldn’t accuse Mr. Timms of being the main driver of that factor, or myself neither, but you’re right, we’re in a very competitive business. There are probably twenty com-panies around the world that are viable manufacturers of placement equipment. That’s probably too many given the size of the market and what’s available, so there is competition, and companies that are having a slow quarter will get very aggres-sive on price, and sometimes that costs you the business. We have a very simple phi-losophy at JUKI: we will be aggressive, but we will not lose money on an order. I think we’re in the business to make money, as our customers are. If we can’t stay healthy, then we can’t support them properly.

But have you been too aggressive?

BB: No. Ourselves not. We run a successful business worldwide. Japanese companies are historically fairly financially conserva-tive, and we have corporate rules for what we’re allowed and what we’re not allowed, so I don’t think we’ve gone beyond that point or I couldn’t afford my nice booth in this show. But I will say the trend the last few years has not been in a positive direc-tion in this area. I do worry, and we pay great attention to the cost of our machines in development and the cost of the total manufacturing process to try to keep ourselves competitive because that’s a key thing to staying profitable.

That hits on a key point for ASM because, since Siplace was acquired by the ASM Group, one of the key drivers after the acquisition was to try and source cheaper raw materials in Asia.

JT: I think the term “cheaper raw materials” is maybe a bit of a misnomer; however, one thing I can say for sure is that the access to the supply chain and the vertical integra-tion of ASM overall has given us access to a supply chain where we don’t find ourselves forced into stacking margins and things of this nature. If you look at the history of pick and place equipment for the last ten to fifteen years, it is a steady line in the down-ward direction in terms of cost per place-ment, so speeds are going up and prices of machines are dropping. There’s only one way you can survive in that environment, and that is to continue to be very cost-con-scious yourself and further reduce the cost of the manufacture of the products.

Another way that both of you have used to try and defray this is to horizontally integrate by offering other production machines on the line. Bob, you are now offering printers and ovens and that sort

of thing where you’re making higher margins than you make on your place-ment machines.

BB: That’s very true. I give thanks for that every day. The trend is back towards the beginning of surface mount, when a cer-tain amount of customers wanted a com-pletely engineered line and a sole source of responsibility. I think Panasonic has followed that for years because they make everything. Fuji makes almost every-thing. They OEM their ovens. We have a lot of customers, especially in the Latin American countries, who say, “Hey, JUKI, quote a whole line or don’t quote.” I see the DEK guys coming on board with ASM. I think that’s a trend in the same direction. I think you’re going to see the major place-ment companies offering that option to the customers. Now that doesn’t mean we don’t welcome customers who want to put together their own line with the best piece that they think in each position, and we’ll certainly cooperate with that and make our machines standardized to join those type of lines, but I think you’re going to see an increasing number of customers sourcing lines again. That trend I think is going to continue.

I’m assuming you’d agree with that, Jeff, because ASM is doing the same with the recent acquisition of DEK of course.

JT: It is definitely a trend that’s expanding throughout the industry, but if you go back just as an example, ten, fifteen years, there was this concept called Best in Class Lines, and somebody would buy a chipshooter from one company, but a flexible placer from another company, a screen printer from yet another, but as we were just dis-cussing before, this market has changed quite a bit, and to depend on the infrastruc-ture to be provided by the manufacturer of that equipment in every case is becoming more and more difficult, so I think there are a couple of factors at play here. One is to be able to deliver a workable process that can deliver that can deliver a predict-able result at the end of the line in terms of product quality. The other is to make sure the companies maintain and achieve an economy of scale so that the infrastructure that’s required to support the customer is maintained.

It is quite an important point. It plays into some of the recent software develop-ments where they’re trying to get more control of the entire line and be able to use fewer operators on the line and increase the amount of automation.

BB: Absolutely. Software is becoming a more important part of our business, and delivering an integrated solution to the customer, where he can manage his fac-tory floor more efficiently and get the maximum amount of dollar return out of his capital investment. I think Jeff ’s com-pany and most of our large competitors were moving in that direction, and that’s another driver of this line philosophy because having to take this best in class and communicate with everybody is dif-ficult, yet when you’ve got control of your own machines putting a package together that you’re going to offer to your customers is much easier. I think that’s another factor in the single-source line move.

Let’s look ahead to some of the future technologies here and sub-ten micron placement. Do you think that’s going to become a de facto standard going for-ward?

JT: I don’t know that I could say de facto standard; however, that is a driver, and certainly the world of semiconductor and pick and place for PCBA are converging. It’s been talked about for many years, but without a doubt the convergence is hap-pening. It’s happening rather rapidly.

Do you think that sub-ten microns is achievable using rotary heads?

JT: I do. Particularly when you consider the vision systems that are employed to actually locate, position, and manage the components. But I think there’s another level of complexity that is going to need to be addressed as the miniaturization of the components continues to be a driving factor. All of the sudden the traditional manufacturing methods of those com-ponents start to go by the wayside. It’s no longer possible to necessarily score and break pieces of ceramic and put metalized on them for contacts, right? So all of the sudden now we’re talking about devices that are sawed out of silicon, and they’re bottom-edged terminated, which means they have to be place right-side-up all of the sudden. There again, the smaller your devices, the smaller the space. All of the sudden the more dependent you are on a good printing process and a good SPI pro-cess and a good reflow process, so this all starts to fit together that to be successful, you need a line concept and you need to think in terms of the overall process.

BB: As far as rotary heads are concerned, probably six months I would have said I doubt it, but since then we merged with

Continued on page 35

Interview

Title


Juki releases new RP-1 Automatic Screen Printer

Juki Automation Systems (JAS), Inc. intro-duces the RP-1 Automatic Screen Printer. The printer achieves high-accuracy posi-tioning of ±10 ?m and high-speed print-ing within six seconds plus printing time. The RP-1 high-speed and high-precision printer is equipped with the Motion Screen feature that automatically corrects the printing position by moving the screen. High-Speed Cleaning and an Automatic Solder Dispenser are available as options.www.jukiamericas.com

BTU lowers operating costs with ENERGY PILOTBTU International, Inc. announced the new ENERGY PILOT software feature designed to reduce the consumption of electrical power and process gas for manu-facturers that may have interruptions in production. ENERGY PILOT is a feature in the latest release of BTU’s windows-based WINCON™ operating system. The ENERGY PILOT saves manufacturers money whenever the oven is idle. www.btu.com

Mentor Graphics launches new Xpedition platform to optimize advanced PCB systems design productivityMentor Graphics Corporation announced the first phase of a new systems design enterprise platform to address today’s

printed circuit board (PCB) systems chal-lenges of increased complexity, changing team demographics, and systems-aware design requirements. The Mentor Graphics Xpedition™ platform significantly simpli-fies and accelerates the development of the industry’s most challenging designs. www.mentor.com

LPKF introduces stretching frames for frameless solder paste stencils

High precision is a critical factor for laser cutting of SMT stencils. With LPKF’s new stretching frame for stencil foils, a continu-ous tension with a homogeneous tension-ing force distribution is achieved. A single tensioning system suffices for the entire range of standard stencil sizes. The variable frame guarantees fast changeover from one size to another and slashes setup times.The LPKF stretching frame was designed for fast and easy use in production. A newly designed clamping mechanism ensures even clamping of the foil to ensure a high cut quality. www.lpkf.de

Essemtec provides easy programming for flexible small batch/prototype/NPI assemblyNot only the placement speed, but the flexi-bility of component parts and PCB formats,

as well as the ease of programming and the reliability of the assembly from lot size 1, are the decisive criteria for small batch/prototype production. For this market seg-ment, the new Paraquda2 from Essemtec offers an unmatched combination of mini-mal programming effort and precise place-ment of all SMD components from 01005 up to large and complex components on a single machine. Equipped with two high-speed placement axes. www.essemtec.com

Microtronic now offers Akrometrix CXP for cost-effective elevated temperature surface characterization

Microtronic now offers Akrometrix LLC’s CXP, the latest surface measurement equip-ment platform powered by Studio Software. Akrometrix LLC is the leader in elevated temperature surface characterization. The CXP addresses EMS and PCB market needs for affordable surface characterization of PCB local areas under reflow conditions. The capabilities of the CXP tool make it a cost-effective solution for EMS and PCB companies to apply the new IPC 9641 stan-dard, concerning warpage measurement of PCB surface mount regions.www.microtronic.de

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• Very fast wetting for excellent com -ponent touch-up operations, dragsoldering and manual assembly

• Halogen-free feature allows use of HF-850 in processes in which otherhalogen-free soldering materials areused

• Very low flux spatter and low levels offumes for operator friendly use and acleaner working environment

• Clear non-tacky residue does not requirecleaning

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New products

Henkel Develops new suite of encapsulant materials for maximum device protection

LOCTITE ECCOBOND EN 3838T is a flexible, low Tg encapsulant that can be selectively applied to deliver a bar-rier impervious to moisture and fluids. LOCTITE ECCOBOND EN 3810T and LOCTITE ECCOBOND EN 3838T are novel encapsulant formulations that can be selectively applied to environmentally-sus-ceptible components, delivering a barrier that is impervious to moisture and fluids. Both materials are ideal for handheld and automotive applications where exposure to various liquids, chemicals and fluids is common and potentially detrimental.www.henkel.com/electronics

Pillarhouse introduce new flying fluxer

As part of the new Pillarhouse machine range a high speed ‘Flying Fluxer’ unit is being included in the specification options. Still utilizing the proven drop jet or ultra-sonic flux head the new flying fluxer offers up to 20% reduced fluxing operation in an in-line Fusion machine.www.pillarhouseusa.com

Polyonics Polyimide label material meets ASTM E595 out-gassing requirementsPolyonics has introduced a new high temperature label material that meets the stringent ASTM E595 out-gassing requier-ments. Along with minimal out-gassing, the new label material, XF-528 will also survive the high temperature exposure and chemical attacks typically used in the manufacturing process for printed circuit boards. Out-gassing is a critical issue in the

manufacturer and operation of specialized electronic devices such as optical devices and hard disk drives. www.polyonics.com

Super Dry launches low temp desiccant storage cabinets

Moisture specialist Super Dry has launched a new series of desiccant storage solutions. Complementing the company’s extensive range of ultra-low humidity desiccant storage cabinets, the XSDC Cooling series features both <1% RH and below ambient temperature control. Due to rapid changes in packaging design and material, many companies find themselves forced to pur-chase additional quantities of components in order to guard against the impact of component obsolescence on their final product designs. This in turn creates an issue of long term inventory storage. www.superdry.info

XJTAG and Agilent Technologies unveil XJLink2 3070

XJTAG has released the XJLink2 3070. Approved by Agilent Technologies, it provides convenient, integrated access to XJTAG’s powerful test and programming

tools from Agilent i3070 ICT machines. The combination of XJTAG’s advanced connection test and non-JTAG device test-ing/programming with the i3070’s mea-surement capabilities makes capturing defects easier than ever.www.xjtag.com, www.agilent.com

UA1780 Fit-Line Inspection Data Creation System from Seika supports the new HIOKI FA1240 Flying Probe Tester

Seika Machinery, Inc.’s new UA1780 Fit-Line Inspection Data Creation System sup-ports the new HIOKI FA1240 Flying Probe Tester. With the Hioki UA1780 Fit-Line Software application, users can generate high-quality test data even without PCBs. The software supports the newly debut-ing Hioki FA1240 platform with simple, intuitive Windows 7 based operation. Additionally, the new UA1780 Fit-Line software application uses Gerber data files rather than CAD, which can sometimes be difficult for customers to obtain, if not non-existent. www.seikausa.com

Rainbow Technology Systems develops a finer solution for plastic electronics

As demand for curved TV screens, more sophisticated touchscreens and flex-ible smart phones continues to explode, Rainbow Technology Systems is at the fore-front of developments in plastic electronics. Rainbow’s unique imaging process means that finer and straighter tracks (down to below 20 microns) can be printed on to a clear plastic substrate. In traditional PCB production the copper is removed using a subtractive process whereas with additive chemistry a seeding layer is printed and electroless copper grows over the printed track. www.rainbow-technology.com


New products

Fisnar Europe launches new series of THERMADOSE® Hot Melt production equipment

Fisnar Europe is pleased to announce the launch of its new line of THERMADOSE® hot melt production equipment. Machine improvements to the new system provide the ultimate in pulse-free, temperature controlled, thermoplastic dispensing for industrial applications using pressure-sen-sitive adhesives, contact adhesives, waxes and sealants. THERMADOSE® Reservoir tanks are coated with inert Teflon® heated by quick-change cartridges for easy main-tenance and the Tank controllers include independent over-temperature and over-pressure protection for safe operation. Independently controlled heat zones mini-mize adhesive degradation for precise, uni-form patterns. www.fisnareurope.co.uk

Support plates for ezLOAD Board Support System

Count On Tools Inc. released new sup-port plates for its line of ezLOAD Board Supports. By utilizing the support plates on the ezLOAD modules, customers can limit the movement of the ESD-safe foam fingers while shortening the compression height. This provides enhanced support for heavy load procedures. The ezLOAD Support Plates are available in 1/4” (0.25) and 3/8” (0.375) heights. www.cotinc.com

IPTE’s advanced FlexMarker II processes both sides of PCBsWith the new FlexMarker II the factory automation specialist IPTE presents now an even more efficient successor to the much proven laser-marking system FlexMarker. A unique feature of this advanced machine is the integrated electrical flip unit with

PCB thickness compensation (option) so the work piece can be laser-marked on both surfaces. This automated compensation results in an always-in-focus laser beam - independent of the PCB thickness. A board warpage correction is being offered as an option as well.www.ipte.com

GOEPEL electronic automates embedded test of differential clock signalsConcurrent with the IPC APEX Expo, GOEPEL electronic will announce the extension of the ChipVORX® embedded test instruments for universal frequency measurement based on special FPGA soft macros. The ChipVORX® models are mod-ular IP to control chip embedded instru-ments which now allow FPGA-assisted test of differential clock signals and the mea-surement of frequencies directly inside the system application. This allows the user to verify the dynamics of the signals and to increase test coverage, where the workflow is fully automated by the software. www.goepel.com


Something new, something old or something else?

The very idea of eliminating solder from the assembly process can be quite intimidating. Solder is the uni-

versally accepted way of connecting com-ponents to printed circuits in electronic assemblies. It comes without surprise that many folks scoff at the notion, but it can be done. Earlier discussions of the topic in this space have offered examples of solder-less assembly methods that have been used in the past. As a refresher for those who read previous columns and in deference to those reading this column for the first time, examples include press fit interconnection,

separable interference interconnection, wire bonding, resistance welding, and con-ductive adhesives. The method of choice for the manufacture of SAFE assemblies is, however, plating, including both electro-lytic and electroless processing methods.

The fundamental concept is simple enough and is perhaps best illustrated by contrasting it with traditional assembly. In traditional assembly, components are placed on and interconnected to circuit boards. In contrast, SAFE assemblies are created by building up circuits on compo-nent boards as illustrated in Table 1, which

compares processing steps between the two approaches.

There are a few different concerns that are commonly registered by those first hearing of this radical approach to manu-facturing electronic assemblies. One of the first is: “How do you rework and/or repair the assemblies?” This is a question that is perhaps best addressed by asking a coun-terpoint question: “Why must you rework or repair your assembly?” The answer to the latter question is, of course, because rework and repair are considered to be an inescapable part of the electronic manu-

Joe Fjelstad


Capital Equipment List for Traditional Electronics Manufac-ture (Abbreviated List)

Capital Equipment List for SAFE(Abbreviated List)

PCB Fabrication• Shearing equipment• Drilling equipment (mechanical & laser)• Surface preparation equipment (chemical & mechanical)• Metalization and plating equipment• Photoresist application equipment (includes solder mask)• Photoimaging equipment (contact and laser direct print)• Image development equipment• Lamination equipment• Routing equipment• Cleaning equipment• Testing equipment (electrical & xray)• Packaging equipment

PCB Assembly• Baking ovens• Solder paste application equipment (stencil printer)• Solder paste inspection equipment (optical or x-ray)• Pick and place equipment• Component placement inspection (optical)• Reflow system (convection ovens, vapor phase, others)• Specialty cleaning equipment• Inspection and test equipment (optical, x-ray and electrical)• Solder rework & repair equipment• Depanelization equipment• Packaging Equipment

• Pick and place equipment• Component placement inspection (optical)• Shearing and punching equipment• Encapsulation equipment• Via formation technology (laser or photoimage)• Surface preparation equipment (chemical or mechanical)• Metallization and plating equipment• Coating equipment (for photoimage materials)• Image development equipment• Routing/depanelizing equipment• Cleaning equipment• Packaging equipment

Solderless assembly for electronics (SAFE)

Read ListenWatch

Table 1. Though the lists above are not exhaustive (There are many minor process steps unaccounted for in both lists), they provide a reason-able approximation of the difference in capital equipment requirements of traditional versus SAFE assembly.



facturing process. And when using solder for electronics assembly, that is a very true assumption. Soldering is a complex and multivariate process with many potential opportunities for failure. The list of things that can and do go wrong is long one and one which has only become longer with the advent of lead-free. These were identi-fied and enumerated in an earlier column1. Suffice it to say that solder is the number one cause of both defects and failure in electronic assemblies, and unfortunately, the higher temperatures required for the most popular lead-free solders comprised of tin, silver and copper (the so-called SAC alloys) can both damage and degrade elec-tronic components. (Electronics reliability experts have long known and warned that there is an inverse relationship between higher temperatures and electronic device reliability.) Thus a good component is committed to assembly, and after assem-bly it is defective and requires removal and replacement. Might it have survived its expected lifetime without high tem-perature assembly? Who can say? But on the other hand, does it really make sense to use the assembly process as a stress test to weed out possible defective parts? Moreover, there is always the potential of seeing devices fail due to the explosive outgassing of moisture entrapped in the encapsulation, a phenomenon called “pop-corning.” It is left to the reader to consider how much loss is acceptable in their pro-cess, but the argument from this side is that

“acceptable losses” are actually unacceptable. Wouldn’t it be better to build assemblies in a more robust and less damaging way? The long-time lament of many production managers is: “Why is there never enough time to do something right but always enough time to do it over?” The simpler processing proposed in SAFE manufactur-ing should offer plenty of time savings to meet both the production schedule and desire for high assembly yield if one takes the time to do it right the first time.

Another concern registered by those considering for the first time assembly of electronics is the fact that some odd form factor components appear to be ill suited to assembly as prescribed Figure 1. A clas-sic example is the large electrolytic capaci-tor. One response is to again ask a question:

“Why do they have the form factor they do?” The answer appears to be, by and in large, because there were no restrictions when the devices were first being developed, and thus they could be any shape that device designer chose. Could they be made to be more amenable to SAFE assembly? The

answer is arguably Yes. If a component designer is unconstrained, they will hope-fully come up with highly effective design, but they may also just come up with a con-venient design. If on the other hand, they are constrained, they are forced to consider alternatives to the conventional approach. Who says that an electrolytic capacitor could not be flat or that a dry capacitor could not be developed that would pro-vide the same or even better performance? As Shakespeare warned us in his play Anthony and Cleopatra, “Make not your thoughts your prison.”

The key take away point for the reader in this brief discussion on the elimina-tion of solder from the assembly process is that our assumptions need and deserve continuous evaluation in the light of the continuous change that surrounds us and our industry.

1. Small Matters – January 2014 “Solder Assembly – A Steely-eyed Look at ‘The Devil We Know’”

Verdant Electronics founder and president Joseph (Joe) Fjelstad has more than 40 years of international experience in electronic interconnection and packaging technology in a variety of capacities from chemist to process engineer and from international consultant to CEO. Mr. Fjelstad is also a well known author writing on the subject of electronic interconnection technologies. Prior to founding Verdant, Mr. Fjelstad co-founded SiliconPipe a leader in the development of high speed interconnection technologies. He was also formerly with Tessera Technologies, a global leader in chip-scale packaging, where he was appointed to the first corporate fellowship for his innovations. He has 150 US patents to his credit.

Title


IPC Releases IPC-1755, Conflict Minerals Data Exchange Standard establishes requirements for suppliers and their customersIPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries®, working in partnership with the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), the Conflict-Free Sourcing Initiative (CFSI) and the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association (JEITA), recently published IPC-1755, Conflict Minerals Data Exchange Standard, to help suppliers and their customers effectively facilitate conflict minerals data exchange along the entire global supply chain.

When the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finalized its conflict minerals regulation in September 2012, industry was faced with an enormous supply chain data collection task: trace back to the mine-of-origin, the tin, tanta-lum, tungsten and gold in their products. The standard includes easy-to-understand terms and definitions, descriptions of dec-laration classes, data requirements for a conflict minerals declaration and provides verification guidance.

“IPC-1755 is XML-schema based, which allows for more efficient commu-nication and quicker application of data across companies, supply chain levels and industries,” said John Plyler, chair-man of the 2-18h Conflict Minerals Data Exchange Committee and supply chain social responsibility manager at BlackBerry.

“IPC-1755 will be compatible with several software tools and Version 3.0 of the CFSI Conflict Minerals Reporting Template. Organizations will still be able to use the template to collect information, but with the new standard, it will be much easier to exchange that information throughout the supply chain and ultimately improve indus-try’s effort to trace and eliminate non-con-flict-free conflict minerals.”

IPC-1755, Conflict Minerals Data Exchange Standard, is available as a free download and in hard-copy format for IPC members for $36 and nonmembers for $72. www.ipc.org/IPC-1755

SMTA publishes Handbook of Electronic AssemblyThe Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) announced the pub-lication of a new book titled “Handbook of Electronic Assembly and A Guide to SMTA Certification.” Originally conceived as a supplement to the SMTA Certification Program, the book provides an in-depth understanding of the entire electronic assembly process with a special focus on helping those new to the industry develop competence in the technology.

Chapter topics include soldering and materials, printed wiring boards, com-ponents, paste-print stencil, component placement, assembly line design and opti-mization, solder reflow, wave soldering, dispensing, and inspection and test. Each chapter outlines the fundamental attributes of critical assembly processes providing full-color images and diagrams to illustrate real-world applications.

Professor Ronald Lasky, Ph.D., Dartmouth College/Indium Corporation; W. James Hall, ITM Consulting; Katherine Hickey and Jennifer Tate, Ph.D., Dartmouth College, wrote and organized the book over a span of several years. Fred Dimock, BTU, and Ed Briggs, Indium Corporation, are credited for their contributions to specific chapters. Publication through the SMTA allows this work to reach the largest audi-ence at the lowest price.

The handbook is available in full-color print format through the SMTA BookStore. SMTA members receive a $10 discount on all titles. There is no charge for ship-ping if sent to an address in the US. http://www.smta.org/store/book_detail.cfm?book_id=436

Six industry volunteers receive IPC Presidents AwardIn recognition of their significant contri-butions of time, talent and ongoing lead-ership in IPC and the electronics industry, six long-time IPC volunteers were pre-sented with IPC President’s Awards at IPC APEX EXPO® at Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. The award recipients were: Daniel Gamota, Jabil Circuit, Inc.; E. Eddie Hofer, Rockwell Collins; Gerard

O’Brien, Solderability Testing & Solutions, Inc.; Richard Rumas, Honeywell Canada; Tony Senese, Panasonic Electric Works; and Donald Walsh, Uyemura International Corp.

Gamota was honored for his role in IPC’s printed electronics initiative and ser-vice on 17 IPC technical committees; Hofer, for his leadership in the development of box build standard, IPC-A-630, Acceptability Standard for Manufacture, Inspection, and Testing of Electronic Enclosures and service on 31 IPC technical committees. O’Brien was recognized for his service on 23 IPC technical committees and data col-lection to support standards development.

Rumas received his IPC President’s Award for his leadership role in the devel-opment of IPC-A-630 and service on 21 IPC technical committees. Senese was rec-ognized for providing leadership on the UL laminate classification project. With his guidance, IPC spearheaded the reclas-sification of FR-4, while maintaining the integrity of UL’s polymeric safety standard, UL746E. Walsh was honored for his ser-vice on eight IPC committees, including three standards development committees, two market research committees and three steering council committees and chair-manship of the IPC EXPO Trade Show Subcommittee.

“IPC and the entire electronics indus-try are fortunate to have these dedicated men volunteer their time and expertise to IPC standards and program development,” said John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO.

“Their work has enriched both the industry and IPC.”

For more information on the IPC President’s Award and this year’s award recipients, contact Anna Garrido, IPC director of marketing and communications, at +1 847-597-2804. www.IPC.org.

Association & institutes news

Association & institutes news


Interview

Sony’s EMCS division and we’ve gotten some rotary head technology. Just right now on a regular chip shooter, we’re seeing 15 micron accuracy in a high-speed rotary head, so I have to say that probably 10 micron is possible and achievable. But I agree with Jeff in the point that I don’t think this will be a standard for placement, but I do think it will be needed in certain sec-tions of the line and in certain lines because I do agree with him that flip chip and some other semiconductor technologies are merging toward general board assembly, and they will need those accuracy to suc-cessfully place those and get good yields.

What role do you think AOI and dis-pensing is going to play in the future? Is there really a role inside the placement machine for these activities?

BB: AOI we are sort of already doing. Inspection inside the placement machine I think will be a further trend. The ability to alert the customer to problems before it gets to the end of the line, I think that’s going to be a trend for all people. Dispensing, I mean, you can buy a nice freestanding dis-

pensing machine for $75,000-$80,000, so I fail to see why you’d want to put a dis-pensing head in your $500,000 placement machine. Let it place the parts, which you paid for it to do, and let the dispenser do its job. I can understand for entry-level customers having an all-in-one thing is probably an interesting thing, but I think in volume production you’re not going to see so much of that.

I think you have that ability inside some of your machines.

JT: We take a little bit of a nontraditional approach. And actually, just the term “dis-pensing,” that’s a broad category. If you’re looking at high volume adhesive dispens-ing or high volume adhesive depositing for gluing of mass quantities of components, Bob’s absolutely right. It doesn’t belong in the placement machine. You’re not going to do that cost effectively. It’s going to slow down your cycle and create a lot of prob-lems for yourself. However we do see an ever-increasing role for that occasional, that occasional connector that needs the extra support of adhesive in addition to the soldering aspect of the connection, so we take an approach within the Siplace line of having what we call a dispensing feeder, so it’s a jetting feeder that actually occupies

a couple of feeder slots and jets adhesive directly onto the component. Now that’s something that doesn’t occupy a gantry, it’s not a $500,000 placement system. It’s an optional plug in and you can move it around from line to line when you need. So there are some creative ways of achieving that, but that in concert with AOI, AOI’s another broad category. I think if you’re looking at AOI as an after-the-fact quality assurance inspection device, there’s less of a future role than there is in terms of AOI and solder inspection, where you’re pre-venting defects from occurring to begin with. There’s a big role for both. There are aspects of AOI that will be embedded in the machine, ball inspect, part pad inspec-tion, making sure that things aren’t going to interfere with the connectivity of the device, co-planarity checking, things like these. You can categorize all that as AOI if you really want to broaden that term. In terms of solder paste inspection and really reducing the defects on that side of things, that’s going to happen before you get to the placement system.

Well, gentlemen, we’ve had a fairly good debate on a number of the technologies affecting placement. Thank you both for joining us. —Trevor Galbraith

Interview with Bob Black & Jeff Timms—Continued from page 27


International diary

International Diary4-6 June 2014JPCA ShowTokyo, Japanjpcashow.com

5-6 June 2014Semicon RussiaMoscow, Russiasemiconrussia.org

10-12 June 2014NEPCON MalaysiaPenang, Malaysianepcon.com.my

19-22 June 2014SEMICON Thailand Bitec, Bangkoknepconthailand.com

8-10 July 2014SEMICON WestSan Francisco, California, USAsemiconwest.org

26-28 August 2014NEPCON South ChinaShenzhen, Chinanepconsouthchina.com/en/

3-5 September 2014SEMICON TaiwanTaipei, Taiwansemicontaiwan.org

23-25 September 2014electronica India/productronica IndiaBangalore, Indiaelectronica-india.com

30 September-1 October 2014SMTA InternationalRosemont, Illinois, USAsmta.org/smtai

7-9 October 2014Semicon EuropeGrenoble, Francesemiconeuropa.org

9-11 October 2014Nepcon VietnamHanoi, Vietnamnepconvietnam.com

14-15 October 2014IMAPS Intl Symposium MicroelectronicsSan Diego, California, USAimaps2014.org

Global SMT & Packaging – September 2012 – 45www.globalsmt.net

SMTA International 2012

Vitronics Soltec 6746 is a selective solder-ing automation work cell that has been optimized for maximum throughput and fl exibility, while minimizing its footprint in the factory. It features an inline design that provides parallel processing for fast cycle times, and intuitive program-ming features enhance the automation capacity of the work cell. � e small size of the 6746 allows it to be easily recon-fi gured into a new production cell or line when changing demands require it. www.vitronics-soltec.com

ZESTRON—Booth 311

ZESTRON will feature its latest cleaning agents, HYDRON® WS 325 and VIGON® N 600. Powered by FAST® Technology, HYDRON® WS 325 is specifi cally designed for water-soluble (OA) defl uxing spray-in-air inline and batch cleaning applications. VIGON® N 600 is a revolutionary pH-neutral MPC® Technology based cleaning agent specifi cally developed for various spray-in-air inline and batch defl uxing applications. To have your cleaning ques-tions answered by accredited ZESTRON engineer Umut Tosun at the Doctor’s Hours or to learn more about ZESTRON’s com-plete line of products, stop by the booth. www.zestron.com

Don’t miss Doctors’ HoursSMTA International’s Doctor’s Hours Program provides solutions and guidance from high-level experts at no-charge to SMTA International attendees. Experts will be in exhibitor booths on the show fl oor at designated times for consultations, to answer questions and solve problems that attendees are currently experiencing. View the full schedule of doctors’ hours at www.smta.org/smtai/drs_hours.cfm or check your Show Directory when you arrive at the event.

Global Technology AwardsPresenting the year’s Best of the Best in electronics manufacturing. � e 2011-2012 Global Technology Awards awards ceremony will be held at SMTA International on Tuesday, October 16th in the Show Floor � eater. http://awards.globalsmt.net

THEREARENOSHORTCUTSTOA5-MILDOTSmall, repeatable volumes area challenge. But not impossibleif you have been creating them aslong as we have. However, to doit well, you need three things:

Dispensing Expertisein a variety of applications:micro-attach, precision fill,highly-repeatable patterns;

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Product Development for patented valves,dispensing cartridges, needles, and accessories.

For Micro Dispensing, there is oneproduct line that is proven and trustedby manufacturers in semiconductorpackaging, electronics assembly,medical device, and electro-mechanicalassembly the world over.

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www.dltechnology.comDL Technology is a registered trademark of DL Technology LLC. DispenseLink is a registered trademark of DL Technology LLC.HY-FLO is a trademark of DL Technology LLC.

DispenseLink® for MicroVolume Dispensing

Micro Valve

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DL Technology EZ-FLO™ Ceramic Needles

The DL Technology patented EZ-FLO™ Ceramic Needles are available in surface mount, Luer Lok and encapsulations styles. The ceramic molding process allows for smaller more precise inner diameters with a glass-like fi nish.

Ceramic needles are used mostly for conductive epoxies, but also for SMD epoxy, solder paste, and other materials. They are available in .010” ( .254 mm) Thru .003” (.0762 mm). Standard length is .350” (8.89 mm). Custom sizes are available per request.

www.dltechnology.comDL Technology is a registered trademark of DL Technology LLC. EZ-FLO is a trademark of DL Technology LLC.

EZ-FLO™ Ceramic Needles

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“Adding MIRTEC’s MV-9 3D best in class inspection machines to our complex assembly process has improved our production efficiency and enabled process improvements resulting in improved quality and customer satisfaction. MIRTEC’s strong support and technical expertise has made them a partner of choice for Krypton Solutions.”

Dipak Patel, Owner and Operations Mgr

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Documents

HOW LEAN MANUFACTURING ADDS VALUE TO PCB PRODUCTION · Interview Inside PLUS: OPTIMIZING SMT STENCIL DESIGN BASED ON PCB LAYOUT • SOLDER-BEARING RF SHIELDS STREAMLINE PCB ASSEMBLY