Circuits Assembly back issues from August 2008:
Dynamic duo teams again.(Caveat Lector)
Aug 01, 2008; ... The phone was ringing and it was Phil Marcoux on the line. Believe me, when the man known as the Father of SMT calls, you put down your comic book, take your feet off the desk and snap to attention. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "A group of us want to launch a new movement ...
Cobar Europe.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Solder supplier Cobar Europe (cobar. com), a member of the Balver Zinn Group, named ...
Molex Inc.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Molex Inc. (molex.com) completed a previously announced acquisition of AFlex-tech Inc ....
Zestron America.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Zestron America (zestron.com) has taken delivery of a ...
Kester (kester.com) named Cluff & Associates.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Kester (kester.com) named Cluff & Associates (cluffin.com) as ...
Fine Line Stencil.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Fine Line Stencil (finelinestencil.com) ...
Indium Corp.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Indium Corp. (indium.com) named Powell Industries its sales ...
Jabil Circuit.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Jabil Circuit (jabil.com) has begun pilot production of Location Based ...
Zollner.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Zollner (zollner.de) purchased an Agilent Technologies ...
Austin American Technology.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Austin American Technology (aatcorp.com) and Zestron America (zestron.com) have completed compatibility experiments for cleaning equipment and products. The testing was conducted with current PCB defluxing inline and batch equipment, as ...
Lord Corp.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Lord Corp., a supplier of thermal management materials, adhesives, coatings and encapsulants, has invested $2.5 million to renovate its electronic materials labs at its Cary, NC, headquarters. As part of the ...
A-Laser.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... A-Laser (a-laser.com), a division of FCT Assembly, ...
Mirtec Co. Ltd.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Mirtec Co. Ltd. (mirtecusa.com) said North American revenue was up more than 81% year-over-year for the first six months of fiscal 2008. The ...
BPM Microsystems.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... BPM Microsystems (bpmmicro.com) named Esman ...
Lenthor Engineering.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Lenthor Engineering (lenthor.com) has been ...
Valor Computerized Systems.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Valor Computerized Systems (valor.com) signed a cooperative agreement establishing a technological partnership under which it will ...
EMS firm Assel selected Valor's.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... EMS firm Assel selected Valor's (valor.com) vPlan ...
Photo Stencil.(In Brief)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Photo Stencil (photostencil.com) has expanded its capacity in the US and abroad, upgrading its ...
Robert Willett.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Cognex Corp. named Robert Willett president, Modular Vision Systems Division, the company's largest operating division. He was group ...
Steven DiMarco.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... CyberOptics promoted Steven DiMarco to vice president and general manager, Inspection Systems Business, responsible for new systems product development and a manufacturing center in ...
Bhawnesh Mathur.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... EPIC Technologies named Bhawnesh Mathur CEO, replacing interim CEO Randy Haight, who remains on the ...
Lauro Montalvo.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... AIM named Lauro Montalvo national sales manager, Mexico, responsible for managing promotional, sales and support ...
Michael Greenlee.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... ViTechnology Inc. named ...
T. Scott Hatton.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Sypris Solutions vice president and CEO T. Scott Hatton resigned, effective July 4 ....
Geraint Anderson.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... TT Electronics named Geraint Anderson chief executive, effective Aug. 4. He supersedes Neil Rodgers, ...
Warren Mitchell.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... EMS firm Winland Electronics named Warren Mitchell vice president of operations and supply chain ....
Greg Hayes.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Indium named Greg Hayes Southeastern USA regional sales manager, responsible for soldering products for the region. He has 15 years' ...
Doug Burkhardt.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Key Tronic Corp. promoted Doug Burkhardt to vice president of worldwide operations and Larry Bostwick to vice president of engineering and quality. Burkhardt has been with Key Tronic for 19 years, most recently as director of ...
Jim Yeager.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... EMS firm Silicon Forest Electronics named Jim Yeager quality assurance manager. He was previously director of quality and engineering at Suntron ....
John Anderson.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... HumiSeal Europe named John Anderson development chemist. He received a ...
Tim Kardish.(People)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Assembly and process equipment supplier APS Novastar LLC named Tim Kardish chief executive. He ...
Dynasil acquires RMD in $20M deal.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... WEST BERLIN, NJ - Dynasil Corp. of America (dynasil.com) has acquired Radiation Monitoring Devices Inc. and specific assets of RMD Instruments LLC (rmdinc.com) for $20 million, including $12.5 million cash and 4.6 million shares of common stock. RMD owners Dr. Gerald Entine and ...
Right recipe can cut Pb-Free PCB costs.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... ROMULUS, MI - The right combination of materials, finishes and solders can have a marked effect on bare board cost and reliability. Indeed, according to Jim Kelch, director of sales/marketing, at PWB fabricator Saturn Electronics Corp. (saturnelectronics.com), the right recipe ...
St.pete ok's package to keep Jabil.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- St. Petersburg officials have approved almost $35 million worth of tax incentives to keep Jabil Circuit headquartered here, a local paper reported on July 3. Under terms of the deal, the state of Florida would pay $20 million, the city $12.7 million and ...
Henkel, Shanghai University form electronics analysis Center.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... SHANGHAI - Henkel (henkel.com/electronics) and Shanghai University, along with other research universities, have entered into an agreement to form a Shanghai Region Joint Electronics Research and Failure Analysis Center. "One-third of Henkel's Shanghai-based 150-person research ...
Private investment group purchases SCS.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... INDIANAPOLIS - Private investment firm Berwind Corp. has acquired Specialty Coating Systems (scscoatings.com) from Bunker Hill Capital L.P. for an undisclosed sum. ...
Catalyst acquires Ramp Industries.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... ENDICOTT, NY - Catalyst Manufacturing Services (catalystems.com) has acquired certain assets of fellow NY-based EMS provider Ramp Industries (rampindustries.com). No financial terms of the agreement were ...
Silicon forest growing capacity.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... VANCOUVER - EMS firm Silicon Forest Electronics (si-forest.com) has added 20,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space and reconfigured two manufacturing lines to increase speed and flexibility for quickturn, low-volume production. The company also added ...
Building blocked: Lego pulls flex deal.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008 ... COPENHAGEN - Lego Group is taking its toys and going home. Europe's largest toy maker will end its three-year outsourcing deal with Flextronics (flextronics.com) next year and bring manufacturing back in-house, the company said in July. "During the past year, it has become ...
Elcoteq halts sale of Russian unit to Flextronics.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... HELSINKI - A deal to purchase Elcoteq's subsidiary in Russia fell through after Flextronics failed to obtain approval from Russian competition authorities. In May, a Russian paper reported Flextronics (flextronics.com) had failed to provide data about its beneficiaries. "As ...
Nihon Superior upgrades Singapore to regional HQ.(Industry NEWS)
Aug 01, 2008; ... SINGAPORE - Nihon Superior Co. (nihonsuperior.co.jp) has upgraded its Singapore location - Nihon Superior Trading (S) Pte Ltd.-to a regional headquarters, with plans to establish an English-speaking R&D center there. The R&D center will be in operation before the end of 2008, ...
Semis Drop by Half.(Market WATCH)
Aug 01, 2008; ... <Pre> Trends in the U.S. electronics equipment market (shipments only). % ChangeMar. April (r) May *YTD Computers and electronics products -0.8 5.9 -2.3 1.2 Computers ...
June PMI above 50%.(Market WATCH)
Aug 01, 2008; ... TEMPE, AZ-Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in June, following four months of contraction, says the Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws). June's PMI was up 0.6 points, reaching 50.2%, while new orders dipped slightly to 49.6%. A PMI reading above 50% ...
Industry market snapshot.(Market WATCH)
Aug 01, 2008; ... <Pre> Book-to-bills of various components/equipment. Jan. Feb. Mar. Apr. May Semiconductor equipment (1) 0.89 0.92 0.87 0.82 (r) 0.79 (p) Semiconductors (2) 1.70% 1.34% 1.82% 3.82% (r) 5.8% (p) Rigid PCBs (3) ...
Metals index.
Aug 01, 2008 ... <Pre> Price Per Lb. Date 7/9/07 4/7/08 5/6/08 6/9/08 7/14/08 LME Cash $6.44$9.35 $10.99 $10.23 $10.70 Seller and Settlement for Tin LME Cash $1.34$1.34$1.17 ...
Q2 Global PC shipments up 16% YoY.(Market WATCH)
Aug 01, 2008; ... EL SEGUNDO, CA-Worldwide PC shipments in the first quarter rose in accordance with normal seasonal patterns, increasing 16% over a year ago, according to iSuppli Corp (isuppli.com) ....
Execs bullish on US mfg.(Market WATCH)
Aug 01, 2008; ... WASHINGTON-Some 44% of North American companies intend to expand production in the US over the next three years, according to a survey released in June by the National Association of Manufacturers (nam.org), The Manufacturing Institute (manufacturinginstitute.co.uk), the Canadian ...
World growth rates slowing.(Market WATCH)
Aug 01, 2008; ... LOS ALTOS, CA - China's electronic equipment production market is finally slowing down, and taking the rest of the world with it. Citing the recent economic environment and spate of earthquakes, research firm Henderson Ventures (hendersonventures.com) said China's short-term equipment ...
An rx for growth.(Talking Heads)(Interview)
Aug 01, 2008; ... Revenues from Jabil's (jabil.com) industrial, instrumentation and medical businesses have risen 68% compounded annually over the past three years. Yet the vice president of Jabil's global business units, Tony Allan, says there is still plenty of room to grow. He and busi ness unit director ...
It's not all about miniaturization: processing large boards means thinking big.(Screen Printing)
Aug 01, 2008 ... It seems everything electronics-related I read these days has to do with miniaturization. I've even written several papers, columns and articles on the subject and, of course, it is the main driver in our industry. But, many other electronics devices being manufactured are at the opposite ...
The underappreciated manufacturers' Rep: Be kind to the rep. They are vital to the chain.(Better Manufacturing)
Aug 01, 2008 ... While I usually discuss SMT processes, equipment and materials in this space, every now and then it is important to take note of the human aspect. One of the most overlooked and, in many cases, underappreciated personnel is the manufacturers' representative. If you've ever been in a ...
Auditing a fabricator: guidelines for prototypes and production boards overlap, but for offshore production the rule is caveat emptor.(PWB Procurement)
Aug 01, 2008; ... PWB procurement can be categorized as either procuring prototype or production boards or both. But the common denominator is both require assurances the fabricator has the capability and capacity to deliver the required quantities on time and with high quality. A PWB order ranging from a ...
Cutting machine programming time: How a novel process can avoid repeated online debugging.(Program Generation)
Aug 01, 2008; ... One of the biggest challenges in printed circuit board manufacturing is generating programs offline for production machines. This process is required for every assembly we build. But, for many manufacturing engineers, it means many more hours of online programming when time on the ...
Simultaneous acoustic imaging and surface mapping: combining the methods reveals not only the anomaly, but the extent of 3-D distortion.(Cover Story)
Aug 01, 2008; ... Plastic-encapsulated microcircuit (PEM) warping is of interest to manufacturers for several reasons. First, component warping may create internal stresses that, if eventually released, may result in electrical failure. For example, warping eventually may cause the silicon die to crack. ...
Stop the HOP; When HOP failures pop up, review the reflow profile.(Tech Tips)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Recently, a customer observed intermittent opens on thin and fine pitch BGAs (TFBGA). The PCB is a Pb-free design and the TFBGAs were soldered with SAC 305 paste. X-ray inspection of the identified failure locations on the TFBGAs indicated possible non-wetting between the paste ...
Problems in the mix: why lead and Pb-free are often an unhappy marriage.(Soldering)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Components with Pb-based alloy finishes, put into a Pb-free process, don't always go willingly. Problems can result, as in the instance recorded here. It seemed innocent enough: Double-sided boards, including surface mount and through-hole components, were assembled using reflow ...
Decoding the ICT programming house; As in assembly, going outside has its time and expertise advantages.(Test and Inspection)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Test escapes leading to field returns are a test engineer's worst nightmare. The cost of field failures is enormous. As with each test and inspection step, robust test implementations can reduce the potential for field failures. One of the fundamental steps for creating a good test ...
How clean must bare boards be? The fabrication process is a prime source of contaminants.(Process Doctor)
Aug 01, 2008; ... Many ask why we need clean bare boards for a "cleaned assembly" process. The answer is most cleaning systems are designed to remove only the easy-to-get-to flux residues. But take, for instance, underneath low-standoff areas, where it is difficult to reach some flux residues. Why compound ...
ABCs of price vs. value: what first-graders can't tell you about cost of ownership.(Pb-Free Lessons Learned)
Aug 01, 2008; ... Which values are smaller: 3% or 2%? Eighty hours or 180 hours? $95,000 or $120,000? If you selected 2%, 80 hours and $95,000, congratulations: You understand the "greater than" and "less than" principles, and are at least as smart as a seven-year-old child. But if those values ...
Faster throughput through reliability analysis: Thorough reliability analysis helps minimize process variability.(Getting Lean)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Capitalizing on the benefits of Lean manufacturing requires a companywide focus on elimination of non-value added activity and enhanced throughput. Reliability analysis resources can be great tools in supporting this effort. At EPIC Technologies, an in-house reliability laboratory supports ...
Molex's Solder Charge interface.(Component Advances)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Solder Charge PCB interface optimizes benefits of density of a BGA tail, but improves on the latter's shortfalls in processing and manufacturing. The concept consists of a blanked solder mass that gets extruded through a hole near the tip of a terminal until it fills a volume on the ...
3-D laser scanning microscope.(Product SPOTLIGHT)
Aug 01, 2008 ... VK-9700 confocal microscope has capabilities of SEMs and noncontact profilometry. Said to be capable of 18,000x magnification and 0.001 [micro]m precision. Performs surface profile, roughness, 3-D and comparative measurements. Optional adjustable stand ...
Electroformed ni squeegee blades.(Product SPOTLIGHT)
Aug 01, 2008 ... Slic Blade squeegee blades are said to form a surface with low surface energy. Provide 100% electroformed nickel that reportedly will not chip or flake. Are said to provide lowest wiping pressure, longest blade ...
Enterprise monitoring dashboards.(Product SPOTLIGHT)
Aug 01, 2008 ... iMonitor 2.0 enables creation of real-time dashboards to monitor the enterprise, factory, and lines in real-time through web browsers. Creates unlimited numbers of interactive and real-time production tracking, materials, utilization and quality dashboards. Dashboards are constructed by ...
Placement machine with dispensing head.(Product SPOTLIGHT)
Aug 01, 2008 ... FLX2010 MKL placement machine now comes with a three-head system that performs material dispensing and consecutive placement of LEDs on film substrates. Features placement axis with an integrated component adjustment mechanism, and two independent axes with a ...