Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Current

Press Releases

REDDITCH, UK — Leading suppliers and businesses from the electronics industry came together at ‘The Factory of the Future’ for two days of networking, knowledge sharing, and machine innovation. Hosts Altus Group, a leading distributor of capital equipment in the UK and Ireland, and Fuji Europe Corp., a specialist for highly flexible placement systems, confirmed the event exceeded expectations.

‘The Factory of the Future’ was designed as an environment where like-minded companies could discover exciting insights and learn how technology could benefit future business. Over 100 participants and 60 companies attended the event at the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry. Visitors had the opportunity to view 25 of the most innovative machines available in the marketplace, with demonstrations held throughout the event.

Adding further depth to ‘The Factory of the Future’ was two days full of presentations from leaders in the industry, including Koh Young, Cencorp, Promation, Heller Industries, Lazpiur and Essemtec to name but a few. Through on-site talks and via live-connections from countries like the USA and Spain, attendees learnt about a range of topics in electronics production.

Joe Booth, Altus CEO said: “The Factory of the Future last week was a real milestone for Altus and all of the team. We are chuffed with how it played out. Our suppliers supported the event massively by providing their time and machines to showcase. Our customers showed their support by embracing the amazing opportunity to learn more about emerging technology. This all combined to make it an event to remember.

“We are striving to be the best at what we do for the customers we serve, and with events like this, I hope that we can set the standard in terms of value added to our new and existing network and show what is possible with a partnership with us. These events are special, so I look forward to recreating these magical two-days in the following years.”

If you missed the event but would like to benefit from the latest insights from the world’s pre-eminent electronics equipment suppliers, you can watch key speakers from the event on the Altus YouTube channel.

TAIPEI — Test Research, Inc. (TRI), the leading test and inspection systems provider for the electronics manufacturing industry, participated in the launching ceremony of the EMS industry leaders to promote smart manufacturing and international standardization through the IPC-CFX-2591 standard. The ceremony was celebrated on September 27 2022, at the GIS MOTC Convention Center, Taipei, Taiwan.

Over 13 distinguished industry leaders participated in the ceremony; Jim Lin, Vice President of Test Research, Inc., attended the ceremony and expressed, “TRI is committed to supporting the digitalization of manufacturing through international standards. We have supported IPC-CFX since its beginning, and TRI is to this day the company with most IPC-CFX compliant machines, which includes SPI, AOI, AXI, and ICT”.

As an IPC CFX supporter, TRI is pursuing innovative cooperation with other vendors to revolutionize how Industry 4.0 SMT solutions communicate with one another. From closed-loop solutions, metrology-based inspection, and M2M communication protocols, TRI is committed to developing robust and flexible inspection solutions to meet current and future production line requirements.

About TRI

Test Research, Inc. (TRI) offers the most robust product portfolio in the industry for Automatic Test and Inspection solutions. TRI provides the most cost-effective solutions to meet a comprehensive range of manufacturing Test and Inspection requirements. Learn more at http://www.tri.com.tw. For sales and service information, please write to us at marketing@tri.com.tw or call +886-2-2832 8918.

About IPC-CFX

IPC-CFX (Connected Factory Exchange) is an industry-developed open international standard forming the foundation/backbone of Factory of the Future applications. IPC-CFX is a plug-and-play solution that simplifies and standardizes machine-to-machine communication while facilitating machine-to-business and business-to-machine applications. Learn more at https://www.ipc.org/ipc-cfx.

ROSEVILLE, CA — PRIDE Industries has announced the addition of Charles Sharp, MBA, as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In this role, Sharp will lead the finance, accounting, risk management, internal audit, compliance and legal, and data analytics departments, serve as a key contributor to the company’s executive team, maintain relationships with market-leading financial institutions, and formulate and execute overall financial strategies to meet the company’s capital requirements.

“Charles is an accomplished executive with a passion for our mission to create employment for people with disabilities,” said Jeff Dern, President and CEO at PRIDE Industries. “His decades of experience in senior finance leadership positions, knowledge and strategic understanding of current trends in finance, and his ability to relate to others make him an ideal fit for our entrepreneurial culture.”

In 2021, The National Diversity Council honored Sharp with a Top 50 Financial Diverse Leaders Award. This year, Sharp’s more than 15 years of progressive financial leadership led to his recognition as a Top Diverse Leader in Healthcare by the Health, Equity and Inclusion Conference.

PRIDE Industries’ mission hits close to home for Sharp.

“I have several family members, including a son, with disabilities,” he said. “Joining PRIDE Industries allows me to make a difference for them and others by helping to build a more inclusive world where people of all abilities can thrive.”

Prior to joining PRIDE Industries, Sharp was the Chief Financial Officer at Dignity Health Management Services Organization. Before that, he held positions as Director of Budget Planning and Analysis at UC Davis Health, and Senior Director of Finance at Blue Shield California. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Bridgeport and a Master of Business Administration degree from Lindenwood University.

Sharp is committed to giving back through volunteer work and has served on the boards of several community organizations, including the El Dorado Hills Chamber of Commerce, Hands 4 Hope, and the YMCA.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The SMTA announced Chief Operating Officer for Autel Energy, John Thomas, will keynote the SMTA International Conference and Exposition on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 9:00am in the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, MN, USA.

During his presentation titled, “The Electric Vehicle (EV) Conundrum” John will address what it will take to provide the infrastructure to support fast charging of electric vehicles across the globe. He will cover the current state of EV infrastructure, challenges, and the future outlook from both a strategic and a manufacturing perspective.

As a 30-year automotive veteran and EV driver, John Thomas leads with a passion for anything on wheels. He has defined his career by engaging in the advancement of technical solutions that elevate the in dustry and support clean vehicle and EV adoption. With a goal to improve our planet’s sustainability, his efforts have had long lasting effects that enhance the driver experience, support community health initiatives and positively impact carbon emissions. As the COO (Chief Operating Officer) of Autel Energy, John is leading his team to grow Autel with the ambitious target to power the planet by connecting vehicles and energy ecosystems through cloud, AI and big data. This interconnected approach improves total system efficiency while transitioning our world towards renewable energy independence. Under his leadership Autel Energy is defining a new industry benchmark with the best and most comprehensive line of cloud connected, high-quality AC & DC level 2 and level 3 EV chargers supported by world class customer service.

Details are available online at https://smta.org/mpage/smtai-keynote

CRANSTON, RI — AIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, is pleased to announce their participation in the upcoming SMTA International Expo taking place from October 31st to November 3rd at the Minneapolis Convention Center. Jen Fijalkowski, AIM's Technical Marketing Engineer, will be presenting "Addressing Low-Temperature Rework Concerns."

Low-temperature, high-bismuth solders are being implemented to minimize component warpage, reduce energy consumption and lower material costs. Flux cored wire is typically used in rework and post-assembly processes; however, high-bismuth alloys are brittle which inhibits their manufacturability in this form. This study details how equipment, techniques and soldering materials available today may affect the quality of a joint initially assembled with low-temperature solder paste.

AIM Solder will also be highlighting their new ultra-low-voiding, no clean paste, V9. Formulated to solve one of the industry’s most difficult challenges, V9 has proven to reduce voiding to as low as 1% on BGA and <5% on BTC components while exhibiting stable print performance on fine feature devices over 12 hours. V9 post-process residue is easily probed and possesses high SIR values required for high reliability applications.

To discover all of AIM’s products and services, visit us at stand 1106 at the SMTA International Expo from October 31st- November 3rd for more information and to speak with one of AIM’s knowledgeable staff members, or visit www.aimsolder.com.

About AIM

Headquartered in Montreal, Canada, AIM Solder is a leading global manufacturer of assembly materials for the electronics industry with manufacturing, distribution and support facilities located throughout the world. AIM produces advanced solder products such as solder paste, liquid flux, cored wire, bar solder, epoxies, lead-free and halogen-free solder products, and specialty alloys such as indium and gold for a broad range of industries. A recipient of many prestigious SMT industry awards, AIM is strongly committed to innovative research and development of product and process improvement as well as providing customers with superior technical support, service, and training. For more information about AIM’s complete line of advanced solder products and global technical services, please visit www.aimsolder.com.

PASADENA, CA — Through regular exchanges of industry perspectives, long-standing strategic supply chain partners Supplyframe and Jabil, a global manufacturing solutions provider, have developed insights indicating that the electronics supply chain’s new normal is neither new nor unusual. Disruption may ebb, but it is, and has always been, present in the electronics supply chain. Mixed end-market signals and difficulty forecasting demand, paired with the pandemic, have evolved from a black swan event into a black swarm of events. New supply chain approaches and intelligence sources are needed to navigate the electronics ecosystem amid the swarm.

Stalling automobiles

In 2021, the global chip shortage robbed automakers of an estimated $210 billion in revenue, according to AlixPartners. Automotive microcontrollers often have lead times of a year or more. Other automotive-grade semiconductors are also constrained, with lead times averaging over nine months, according to Jabil and Supplyframe.

Automotive-grade integrated circuits remain significantly restrained, with lead times averaging between 40 and 60 weeks, the partners say. Commodity IQ analysis from Supplyframe indicates that significant to severe constraints of complex semiconductors such as automotive microcontrollers will persist into the first half of 2023.

The partners add that contingent labor availability and cost issues, in addition to decreasing but still elevated logistics and raw material costs, continue to plague semiconductor production operations. Climate change, geopolitical upheaval, and a global shortage of electrical engineering talent further add to the black swarm.

Supply chain impacts on electronics design

The 2022 Lifecycle Insights Electronics Design for Resilience (EDfR) Study commissioned by Supplyframe parent company Siemens revealed most engineers regularly must remove and replace electronic components from designs due to supply chain issues.

Over 30% of the respondents indicated their company must replace components between five and 20 times per design. An incredible 99% said they are executing spot buys, with 15% doing so daily. Another 9% reported spot buys on an hourly basis due to late-stage component supply chain issues. And nearly half of the study participants reported that they saw their approved vendor lists grow by 10% or more in 2022.

Initiating real-time, real-world change

Jabil and Supplyframe believe organizations must lay the foundation for resilience by treating commodity/category management as equally important to transactional sourcing; ensuring short-term wins are not at the expense of long-term needs; reducing cognitive overload by viewing partners and ecosystems as strategic imperatives; and investing in third-party, real-time predictive analytics and demand-forecasting solutions.

“Beyond such arrangements as producing custom chips with partners for future supply assurance in the automotive space, manufacturers across industries must address the daily as well as the strategic challenges of component availability, lead times, and pricing dynamics to build resilience into their supply chains,” added Frank McKay, senior vice president, chief supply chain and procurement officer at Jabil. “It’s clear that they require objective market-in analytics and analysis to augment their enterprise information and move from fragmented data culled from multiple, often inconsistent and stale data sources.”

“It’s time for OEMs and other electronic components buyers to move beyond biased, incomplete, spreadsheet-based datasets that focus on web pricing and factory lead times,” said Supplyframe Chief Marketing Officer Richard Barnett. “Instead, they should collaborate with manufacturing partners and solution providers with deep domain experience to receive holistic and real-world views of their supply chains. Companies with access to commodity-level intelligence can respond to changing market conditions, more thoughtfully select which components and materials to design into their products and align sourcing teams to ensure supply is available when and where it is needed. This will better position them for fluctuating demand, lower their costs, and reduce their risk of product delays while affording advanced protection from the next, inevitable black swarm.”

About Supplyframe

Supplyframe’s unmatched industry ecosystem, and pioneering Design-to-Source Intelligence (DSI) Solutions, are transforming how people and businesses design, source, market, and sell products across the global electronics value chain. Leveraging billions of continuous signals of design intent, demand, supply, and risk factors, Supplyframe’s DSI Platform is the world’s richest intelligence resource for the electronics industry. Over 10 million engineering and supply chain professionals worldwide engage with our SaaS solutions, search engines, and media properties to power rapid innovation and optimize in excess of $140 billion in annual direct materials spend. Supplyframe is headquartered in Pasadena, Calif., with offices in Austin, Belgrade, Grenoble, Oxford, San Francisco, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. To join the Supplyframe community, visit supplyframe.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.