With recycling efforts well below international targets, will manufacturers be forced to adapt again?

Environmental issues have been front and center in electronics for decades. Most engineers today remember when the Restriction of the Use of Hazardous Substances in Electronics (RoHS) first went into effect in July 2006.

Michael Kirschner is president of Design Chain Associates, where he helps manufacturers understand and ensure their products comply with health and environmental regulatory, customer and market requirements. He has broad expertise in areas including semiconductor quality and reliability, software design and development, hardware design, development, and manufacturing, as well as manufacturing processes and supplier/supply base management.

The annual trade show was slow by historical standards but attendees were pleased to be there. 

The annual IPC Apex Expo trade show, traditionally the largest assembly show in the US, was more “expo” than “apex” when it resumed as a live event in San Diego in late January. Traffic was certainly lower than typical, and notably quiet at times. See what Covid hath wrought.

Several suppliers decided not to bring equipment. Some others cut back on the number of machines they brought. Many exhibitors reduced their employee headcount as well, leaving those East of the Mississippi at home and counting on their West Coast staff to carry the load.

Here are prospective buyers’ questions. Do you have the answers? 

If you’re an owner planning to sell your EMS business, here are questions to expect from would-be buyers. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say. For those who haven’t been through the process yet, this is a basic primer before striking a deal.

“Can I relocate your business to my own location?”

Prospective buyers want to increase their sales and bottom lines, so many, if not most, buyers are looking for new customers, not real estate or used equipment. If they can move your customer base into their own shop, they can make much of your labor force redundant and maximize their profit. So, depending on the buyer’s intent, this can be the question that makes or breaks the deal.

Changing a stencil printing machine’s conveyor configuration helps make it more efficient.

A well-balanced surface mount line takes into consideration all the equipment comprising it and any indirect factors that affect it. Here we examine stencil printer cycle time (CT).

Internal factors considered for a CT study include conveying time in and out of the machine, stencil and board fiducial recognition, cleaning time, solder paste measurement time, dispensing time, and printing time.