Procurement
'Re-Sourcing' Outsourced Electronics
It's called a "priceberg": 80% of the risk may be hidden below the waterline in startup and ramp-down, where management costs per units sold tend to be the highest. Building a harmonious, minimally disruptive dual-sourcing strategy requires an understanding of priceberg composition.
Ed Grimes

Customer Service
What Your Field Service Representative Wants You to Know
They are like firefighters. When you need them, you need them now. The results can be tense, technical – and funny.
Frank Murch

PCB Design Trends
Understanding Outsourced PCB Layout
Here are an EMS provider's insights into the stages of PCB layout, for which key components include corporate standards and OEM-EMS collaboration.
Paul Barsley

Cover Story
Maintaining Customer Satisfaction during EMS Acquisition Integration
Customers of EMS firms aren't buying an end product; they are buying the capabilities, systems, processes and internal culture used to manufacture their product. This in turn puts pressure on the EMS company to manage expectations – and move quickly.
Todd Baggett

Case Study: Preforms
In the Hot Zone
In the competitive oil and gas drilling industry, a project's success – and a company's reputation – can hinge on seemingly insignificant variables such as a few degrees of temperature on a circuit board. That was quite literally the issue facing a major oil-exploration company as it performed data-collection tests at a client's wells sunk deep in the Indian Ocean.
Cheryl Ross

Caveat Lector
Where will you be next fall?
Mike Buetow

Talking Heads
Juki Automation Systems' Bob Black.
Mike Buetow

Focus on Business
Formal programs for sharing customer information.
Susan Mucha

On the Forefront
Anorexic packaging.
E. Jan Vardaman

Screen Printing
Automated stencil inspection.
Clive Ashmore

Better Manufacturing
Getting what you want.
Peter Grundy

Tech Tips
Lowering wire bonding defect rates below 100 ppm.
American Competitiveness Institute

Wave Soldering
The role of eutectics.
Gerjan Diepstraten

Test and Inspection
Using x-ray laminography on PTH joints.
Jeremy Jessen

Process Doctor
Dendritic growth.
Terry Munson

Equipment Advances
Inovaxe's inventory control tools.

Technical Abstracts

Nickel Stencils
Improvements in Pb-free Stencils
When screen printing with Pb-free solder pastes, stencils made from pure nickel or a nickel alloy help to achieve paste transfer efficiency comparable to the levels achieved using SnPb pastes with stainless steel laser-cut stencils. Combined with the efficiencies of a framemounted interchangeable foil stencil system, nickel is the optimal medium for process repeatability and productivity.
Clive Ashmore and Michael Zahn

Placement Software
New Tools for High-Mix Manufacturers
Though the speed and accuracy of modern component placement systems still factor greatly in equipment evaluation, software is emerging as a differentiator. Here, a major EMS company discusses how use of new software helped it cut NPI setup by 1.5 to 2 times.
David Garfield and Steve Bowen

Cover Story
Key Issues in Supporting Customers Not Transitioning To Pb-Free
Many OEMs need to sustain leaded products for reasons of cost or reliability. This article looks at challenges associated with products that are not transitioning to Pb-free and suggests considerations for both the EMS company and the OEM.
Curt Williams

Case Study
Finding Hidden Placement Problems
High-mix, low volume EMS companies spend large amounts of time in machine setup and changeover. Using a special technology that measures machine accuracy, one EMS provider was able to improve its placement machine accuracy.
Kary Voegele

DfM Trends
Practical Steps to Reduce Total Cost of Ownership
From R&D to boxbuild, the telecom equipment supply chain is highly complex. Yet many OEMs fail to bring their EMS providers into the process until a new product is ready for volume production. Here’s how to fix that.
Petra Ebner

Caveat Lector
A Speedline solution.
Mike Buetow

Letters

Talking Heads
Kyzen's Tom Forsythe.
Mike Buetow

Global Sourcing
Labeling China.
Chelsey Drysdale

Screen Printing
Process verification and tracking.
Joe Belmonte

Better Manufacturing
Reliable Pb-free joints: An oxymoron?
Phil Zarrow

Tech Tips
Attachments to "die" for.
American Competitiveness Institute

Wave Soldering
Pb-free coatings and alloy combinations.
Gert Schouten

Test and Inspection
Custom test plans.
Shebetey Alkhasov

Process Doctor
Rescuing failed hardware.
Terry Munson

Technical Abstracts

Test and Inspection
Evaluating ROI of AXI vs. AOI
A model for calculating savings from reduced DPMO against equipment investment costs clearly demonstrates that the economic benefits of either technology depend upon the board complexity, throughput, labor costs, cost of field failures and returns, and equipment performance, as well as capital equipment, programming and operating costs.
Keith Fairchild

Supplier Sourcing
Prototype vs. Production Outsourcing
When outsourcing PCBs, OEM procurement staff must fully understand the differences and nuances associated with prototype and production manufacturing, regardless of where those services are situated.
Zulki Khan

Board Finishes
Pb-Free Hot Air Leveled Solder Coatings
A series of tests from wetting balance to copper dissolution show that the most popular Pb-free pastes work better with HAL versus other common finishes.
Howard Stevens and Nimal Liyanage, Ph.D.

Cover Story
Simulating Pb-Free Reflow
Computational fluid dynamics simulation of the reflow oven makes it possible to design PCBs for Pb-free manufacturing by predicting thermal gradients during solder reflow processing.
Sherman Ikemoto and Robin Bornoff

The Dover Deals
'Confusion and Clarity'
As a new owner – Francisco Partners – enters the scene, what's in store for Universal, Vitronics and Unovis?
Mike Buetow

Caveat Lector
The downside of higher stocks.
Mike Buetow

Talking Heads
TXP's Eric Miscoll.
Mike Buetow

Focus on Business
Preventative maintenance.
Dr. Jonathan Linton

Screen Printing
Printer customization considerations.
Joe Belmonte

Better Manufacturing
When Lean goes too far.
Phil Zarrow

Soldering Tips
To flip, or not to flip?
American Competitiveness Institute

Wave Soldering
Configurations for soldering conveyor angles.
Gert Schouten

Equipment Advances
Assembléon's "A" series of placement machines.

Technical Abstracts