Laser cutting is one of the most innovative and advanced methods for separating PCBs today and is changing the way electronics components are being manufactured. Although relatively new to the UK and Ireland, Altus Group, a leading distributor of capital equipment, has been introducing LPKF’s systems to the electronics industry and is seeing growing interest in the process.

With traditional depaneling methods, assembled PCBs are cut out of the panel using a mechanical separation process. The laser depaneling process from LPKF, however, uses a focused laser beam that ablates the material layer by layer. This offers several advantages over conventional mechanical cutting processes including stress-free processing, high quality edge quality and design and flexibility freedom. These are important factors in electronics manufacturing as assemblies become smaller and more complex to produce, and increasingly cost and labour intensive.

Joe Booth Altus CEO said: “Working with LPKF is great because they are by far the best at what they do. This is reflected in their success across Europe. They produce highly capable, well-engineered systems that perform exactly how you would expect a top piece of German engineering to operate.

“We have hit the ground running and the appetite for laser depaneling is growing in the UK and Ireland. Companies care about very accurate break out, with limited stress on their products. In addition, they also buy into the flexibility, as a CEM, to break out flexi-rigid, rigid, ceramic or metal alloy assemblies with a single machine, with some movement on throughput. Laser depaneling is an extremely sellable process due to its unique and highly flexible capabilities. It can be the difference between a CEM winning a project or not.

“LPKF has shown great faith in our partnership by exclusively working with Altus to promote their depaneling solutions. We hope to repay that confidence by growing future business together. I can only imagine that there will be many more LPKF units in the industry as they get budgeted for equipment road maps in the next years. “

Vitalij Wottschel, LPKF Sales Manager added: “Altus is an ideal partner for LPKF as they have an outstanding reputation for customer support. This is an important attribute for us and one which we value highly.

“The UK and Ireland has a great product market fit. With high cost of labour and high value production, but with a higher mix, lower volume scenario, that puts quality above throughput. These are the priciniples which make laser depaneling so attractive.

“With our superior technology, great range of products, and Altus‘ knowledge of the local market and customer base, we have already seen some great success. As the advantages of laser based depaneling becomes more understood and widespread, the momentum and interest in our products are increasing. I cannot wait to see our customer pool grow even further in the region.“

www.altusgroup.co.uk

Indium Corporation’s Brian O’Leary, global head of e-Mobility and infrastructure, will deliver the keynote presentation on market trends in the thriving electric vehicle (EV) landscape at the Surface Mount Technology Association’s (SMTA) LA/OC Expo & Tech Forum, at 10:30 a.m. local time, Tuesday, Nov. 15, and Thursday, Nov. 17 in Long Beach and Escondido, Calif., U.S, respectively.

The automotive landscape is changing at a breathtaking speed as start-ups and legacy automotive makers alike pour billions of dollars into electric vehicles (EVs). EVs have been called “computers on wheels” and for good reason, having more than three times the electronics and a fraction of the mechanical parts of an internal combustion engine. Unlike prior technologies that might have started in the United States to only later migrate offshore, EVs are an equal opportunity industry with thriving local manufacturing and a trend to locally source. In e-Mobility: Important Trends to Help Drive Your Business, O’Leary will explore some important trends in the market, such as commercial, technological, and supply chain. Participants should leave with key insights on how they might compete in this exciting and growing industry.

O’Leary is responsible for promoting Indium Corporation’s full range of products and services for e-Mobility, which include the markets for EVs, charging stations, and infrastructure, among others. He joined Indium Corporation in 2014 and has more than 20 years of experience in sales, marketing, and channel management in the electronics industry. He currently serves as the chair of the IPC e-Mobility Quality & Reliability Advisory Group. In addition to regular technical conference participation, Brian co-hosts a free monthly webcast—EV InSIDER Live—with Loren McDonald of EVAdoption and a high-profile industry stakeholder as a guest. In the webcast, they discuss current pressing issues and hot topics in the rapidly evolving electric vehicle landscape. He earned his master’s degree in international management at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University, Phoenix, Ariz. He also co-authored two books on thermal profiling: Profiling Guide for Profitability and Profiling Guide for Six Sigma.

About Indium Corporation

Indium Corporation® is a premier materials refiner, smelter, manufacturer, and supplier to the global electronics, semiconductor, thin-film, and thermal management markets. Products include solders and fluxes; brazes; thermal interface materials; sputtering targets; indium, gallium, germanium, and tin metals and inorganic compounds; and NanoFoil®. Founded in 1934, the company has global technical support and factories located in China, Germany, India, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the U.S.

For more information about Indium Corporation, visit www.indium.com or email jhuang@indium.com. You can also follow our experts, From One Engineer To Another® (#FOETA), at www.linkedin.com/company/indium-corporation/ or @IndiumCorp.

About SMTA LA/OC Expo & Tech Forum

SMTA is an international network of professionals who build skills, share practical experience, and develop solutions in Electronics Manufacturing (EM), including microsystems, emerging technologies, and related business operations.

EL DORADO HILLS, CALIFORNIA --The Occam Group’s (TOG) game-changing solderless assembly technology will reorder the way electronic components are assembled, greatly improving reliability and performance, while significantly reducing product size and cost.

Occam inventor Joe Fjelstad commented: “Occam isn’t just a new process but a reordering of current methods. It is an enabling technology allowing the industry to move toward a future where higher reliability, lower costs and less environmental impact are the norm. Occam will transform the industry into something substantially simpler and better.”

The company is now seeking partners to help bring the Occam process to the market, and believes that EMS providers desiring to build highly reliable electronics are best positioned to take full advantage of this revolutionary technology. EMS companies play a central role as providers of the types of services Occam will affect most: the pcb and assemblies. “EMS companies are in a perfect position to exploit the Occam opportunities for their businesses,” said Fjelstad. “We believe Occam is the most significant advance in electronics manufacturing since the wholesale introduction of surface mount technology in the 1980s. The Occam Process will help circumvent the myriad of daily challenges the industry faces in trying to make SMT defect free using solder which has proven to be a Sysiphen task for the EMS industry.”

The weakest link

Some of the most common manufacturing defects and failures in electronic products are related to the older process and the solder joints formed, especially in high reliability applications.

Most electronic manufacturing defects are related to the soldering process and most field failures occur as a result of solder weaknesses, such as fatigue due to shock and vibration and/or repeated thermal excursions in operations or rework. Since Occam is solderless, solder related failures are eliminated. Occam bypasses the weakest link, inherently driving up product reliability while opening the door to a host of new capabilities and benefits for product designers.

Eliminating the limiting

Think about all the added costs, performance compromises, the risks and non-value effort related to the limitations of solder in the assembly process. It’s a pretty long list. With Occam, instead of focusing on all of the workarounds and compromises, the sky’s the limit!

Benefits to an exclusive EMS partner

The Occam opportunity will allow for: significantly higher reliability assemblies (no solder defects or failures); lower cost of operation—fewer process steps; low capex—uses existing equipment mostly; low risk—gradual uptake as industry transitions; cycle time reduction; strategic market advantage—unique and exclusive partners; on-shoring opportunity; more reliable, lower cost; environmental plus. There are a huge number of Occam possibilities yet to be discovered. EMS partners will have a front row seat and opportunity to help direct and grow Occam as the industry transitions to this significantly better design and manufacturing technology.

To learn more about The Occam Process download the ebook, SAFE, Solderless Assembly for Electronics

Cranston, Rhode Island USA – AIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, is pleased to announce their participation in the upcoming SMTA Long Island Expo taking place on October 19th at the Marriott Melville in Melville, New York. AIM will highlight V9, their new ultra-low-voiding, no clean paste, along with their full line of solder assembly materials.

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 the company at the SMTA Long Island Expo on October 19th 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.