Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

ST. LOUIS -- LaBarge Inc. has been awarded a contract worth more than $18 million by L-3 Communications to produce subassemblies for an airline checked-baggage screening system. The agreement is in addition to a contract L-3 awarded LaBarge last spring, and expands the company's involvement in the program to the production of higher-level electronic assemblies.

ATLANTA, GA —UP Media Group has developed a Year of the Designer Website (yearofthedesigner.com) as part of its yearlong celebration of the PCB design profession. The site gives designers a forum for sharing “war stories,” swapping ideas, discussing issues and staying informed about upcoming Year of Designer events.

UPMG officially designated 2006 to be the Year of the Designer. UPMG president Pete Waddell explained: “For over 20 years, a large part of our focus has been on PCB designers. Many people think that designers are under-appreciated and under-recognized. Whether that is true or not, we recognize that design is the foundation on which all electronics products are built. We also believe that the PCB designers of the world should receive the credit they deserve.”

The Year of the Designer Website focuses on a variety of designer interests, including:
· “Designer Spotlight” to help give designers the recognition they deserve
·           “Design Firm Focus” to detail your neighborhood service bureaus
·           “My In Box” to spotlight designs that designers are working on
·           “Deep Thoughts” to explain what designers like about designing boards and more
·            “Favorite Design Tool” to let designers discuss their favorite tools
·           “The Rant” to tackle issues plaguing designers at the moment
·            “Designer’s Library” to prove life exists outside of design
·           “The Listening Room” to highlight the tunes that fill designers’ headphones.

The site’s content will be updated often and will grow—based in part on the amount of content that PCB designers themselves contribute.

“The site is live, but we need your help to keep the content fresh,” said Waddell. “I know many designers have strong opinions, and we want to hear them. Tell us about your favorite EDA tool or the design you’re working on, or simply ‘rant’ about a pet peeve.”

Send comments and site content to Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture editor Andy Shaughnessy: ashaughnessy@upmediagroup.com).

All PCB designers are invited to attend the Year of the Designer Reception at PCB Design Conference West (pcbwest.com) on March 29 in Santa Clara, CA.

Companies interested in becoming a Year of the Designer sponsor should contact Kamden Robb: krobb@upmediagroup.com.

MYRTLE BEACH, SC -- AVX Corp. reported third quarter net sales of $349.1 million, up 7.1% sequentially and 15.5% over last year. For the period ended Dec. 31, net income was $24.4 million, up 220% versus a year ago.

Income from operations improved sequentially $30.5 million for the quarter, up 376% year-over-year.

United Kingdom --Bob Willis was given the “Process Development Award” from Soldertec Global/Tin Technology, in recognition of his achievements assisting industry in the preparation for Pb-free legislation.

Known for his training courses, lectures and practical advice, he writes technical articles, is a regular contributor to magazines (including Circuits Assembly) and has assisted in producing many soldering books.

Willis has coordinated Pb-free hands-on working areas at international exhibitions, including Productronica, the Hannover Fair and Nepcon. He has organized training workshops for research groups such as: ITTF, SINTEF, NPL and IVF.

Willis also coordinates the SMART Group activity for the EU project LEADOUT, currently Europe’s largest funded research project.

Endicott, NY – Endicott Interconnect Technologies has entered into a joint development and manufacturing agreement for high performance power modules with a major research lab. The agreement calls for technology transfer of development know how, including the fabrication process and manufacturing parameters from the research firm to EI. EI is supplying prototypes for the power module qualification.

The technology was developed to address the performance limitations that current packaging and interconnection approaches impose upon high performance power semiconductor devices. The product relies on flexible substrates and a direct die attach to connect to power electronic devices. This method eliminates wire bonds, while attaining a small footprint, thin profile and high reliability.

Norwalk, CT - Richard Schuler, the director of Lean implementation at Raytheon's Integrated Air Defense Center (IADC) in Andover, MA, will give the keynote address for the Nepcon East/Electro and Assembly East event in Boston this May. His presentation will cover "Lean Transformation Process...Leveraging the Power of Many."

Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) was awarded the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing last September for its successful Lean manufacturing strategies and practices.

Schuler is responsible for leading the transformation to a Lean inclusive culture within IDS by establishing the strategy, policy deployment, process and measurements used by the organization. He joined Raytheon in 1966, holding various positions in reliability engineering. From 1979 to 1989, he left to work in several commercial companies. Upon returning to Raytheon, Schuler was director of metal fabrication. He also served as the director of integrated air defense operations and is responsible for providing resources and direction for the operations team that was aligned with the IAD business to execute all air defense programs.

"Raytheon's achievement in winning the 2005 Shingo Prize is not only something to honor but also something to learn from," said Kelvin Marsden-Kish, vice president of the NEPCON/Assembly family of events, produced by Reed Exhibitions. "The constant demand of doing more with less is what manufacturing professionals are challenged with daily. We are very excited to have Mr. Schuler share his successes and how they can be applied to the working environments of our attendees."