The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI, Herndon, VA), an industry-led consortium focused on strengthening the global electronics supply chain, and the IEEE Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society (CPMT, Piscataway, NJ) have entered into a formal agreement that outlines key areas of collaboration between the two organizations.
One of the primary collaborations under this new agreement will be roadmap development, beginning with the 2004 NEMI roadmap. The roadmaps, created every two years, map the future manufacturing needs of the electronics industry to identify the key technology and infrastructure developments required to assure leadership of the global supply chain over the next decade. It helps companies anticipate shifts in product requirements and provides an early warning of changes in technology or infrastructure.
The CPMT Society's members are technical professionals whose fields of expertise complement and substantially overlap with NEMI, and many CPMT Society members have represented their respective employers in the development of previous NEMI roadmaps. With more than 40% of the Society's members outside the U.S., the CPMT Society is committing experienced professionals from Europe, Asia and North America to many of the NEMI roadmap chapter committees.
Involvement of this broad-based group will help NEMI in its efforts to globalize the scope of the 2004 roadmap. Other areas of collaboration include NEMI involvement in CPMT Society-sponsored conferences, workshops and refereed publications, and CPMT Society coordination with the NEMI Technical Committee on development of research and development priorities.
"We have worked informally with the CPMT Society for many years, but wanted to form a more structured relationship with planned activities that would allow us to work together rather than just doing things on an opportunistic basis," said Jim McElroy, executive director and chief executive officer of NEMI.
Rolf Aschenbrenner, vice president of technical activities for the CPMT Society, said, "We also look forward to NEMI members presenting their work at CPMT Society workshops and conferences as well as soliciting papers for IEEE CPMT Transactions journals. In fact, we are already coordinating a NEMI tin whisker workshop as part of our Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) in Las Vegas this June."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
EFD Inc. (East Providence, RI)'s new Ultra 2400 Dispensing Workstation is a precision dispensing system that applies accurate, consistent amounts of solder paste, flux, adhesives, epoxies and other fluids used in electronics assembly processes—from uniform dots as small as 0.10160 mm (0.004 in.) in diameter to neat, controlled beads.
According to the company, benefits of the system's consistent fluid application include higher yields, reduced fluid costs, better process control and shorter training time for new operators.
The workstation features a vertical design that conserves benchtop space and a footprint 60% smaller than standard electro-pneumatic dispenser configurations.
Standard features include: simultaneous digital display of dispense time, air pressure, vacuum, shot count and dispense mode, for greater process control than standard analog gauges; dispense time adjustable in 0.0001 second increments for precise control of deposit size; an internal pressure reservoir that reduces cycle time and improves deposit control; multilingual display in English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese or Japanese; automatic voltage regulation from 85 to 265 volts, with universal power plugs; automatic U.S./metric conversion of all dispensing parameters; and security lockout with tamper-proof password control
Several accessories are available to customize the workstation, including a flexible task light, a 1.7X magnifier for precision closeup work, a flexible syringe barrel holder, and an ergonomic barrel grip with a touch-sensor finger switch and LED spotlight to illuminate the dispensing area.
The system includes all components needed to begin immediate production, including dispense tips, syringe barrels and pistons matched to the user's specific application.
EFD Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nordson Corp., a producer of precision dispensing equipment.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Aqueous Technologies Corp. (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) has announced the appointment of Howard Budovsky of Matthew Associates Inc. (Waban, MA) as a manufacturer's representative serving the New England Area.
With more than 15 years of experience serving all aspects of the electronics environment, Matthew Assoc. has developed long-term relationships with a large and diverse base of customers. As a manufacturer's representative, they bring to high-technology companies an array of electronics assembly products.
Aqueous has chosen Matthew Assoc. for their expertise in both the manufacturing and cleaning equipment arenas, as well as their industry knowledge, attention to detail and follow-up that Aqueous customers have come to expect.
Additionally, Matthew Assoc. offers consulting services that specialize in developing process optimization and qualification, testability, factory flow implementation, manufacturing and test equipment selection, and process qualification. These services can be offered in conjunction with equipment selection or as an independent element.
For more information on Matthew Assoc., contact Howard Budovsky, Matthew Associates, 92 Crofton Rd., Waban, MA, 02468-2115; (617) 965-6126; email: hbudovsky@matthewassociates.com.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Indium Corp. (Binghamton, NY) now offers flux-coated solder preforms to support the optimization of electronic assembly processes.
According to the company, flux-coated solder preforms offer several advantages over plain solder preforms, including: improved process time—using the pre-applied, fused flux, the preforms eliminate the need to add flux as an additional process step—and improved accuracy since the process fuses precise amounts of flux onto each solder preform. The system also reduces variability by eliminating process steps and by improving the consistency and accuracy of the flux quantity.
Flux coatings are available in no-clean formulations and the solder preforms are produced in a large range of sizes and shapes, to precisely suit each requirement.
Indium Corp. is a supplier of electronics assembly materials, including solder pastes, solder preforms, fluxes, lead-free solder alloys, underfill materials and die-attach materials. The company is also a supplier of commercial grade and high-purity indium.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Asymtek (Carlsbad, CA), a Nordson company, was named a recipient of Intel Corp.'s 2003 Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) award, Intel's highest honor for its suppliers, for outstanding commitment to quality and performance by suppliers that provide products and services deemed essential to Intel's success. The company was given the award for its efforts in supplying Intel with automated fluid dispensing equipment.
Henkel Technologies (Industry, CA) was also named a recipient of Intel Corp.'s Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award for its efforts in supplying Intel with die attach adhesive and underfill.
The SCQI and PQS award winners were honored at a celebration in Burlingame, CA, on March 23. Intel also recognized award winners with an advertisement in the U.S., Europe and Asian editions of the Wall Street Journal.
"Congratulations to Asymtek, who has moved up from being a 2002 Preferred Quality Supplier winner to this year earning Intel's highest supplier award the SCQI award," said Randy Bollig, Intel director ATCED. "Being flexible and responsive to our dynamic needs while executing flawlessly earned Asymtek the SCQI award. Working with Asymtek this past year has been a pleasure as they met or exceeded all of their commitments."
Robert L. Ciardella, president of Asymtek, said, "Given the adverse business climate of the past 12 months, the additional effort which was required to move from the PQS to SCQI award level is a true measure of Asymtek's continued commitment to Intel and our entire customer base."
"Henkel Technologies appreciates the opportunity in working with Intel," said Pat Trippel, president of Henkel Technologies' Electronics Group. "Working with Intel has improved our manufacturing and development capabilities allowing Henkel Technologies to be a better supplier to the industry. We look forward to continuing to work with Intel and strive to attain SCQI."
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is a manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products.
Asymtek supplies automated fluid dispensing systems to customers worldwide, specializing in semiconductor, surface-mount and electronics packaging applications.
Henkel Technologies Electronic Materials Group provides adhesives, sealants and solders for electronics packaging and assembly applications, and specializes in printed circuit boards for products such as cell phones and computers.
http://supplier.intel.com/quality/
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Advanced Circuits (Aurora, CO), a quick-turn printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer with real-time customer service, again experienced record growth in a down economy and an industry that has been declining for several years.
Although the PCB industry in the U.S. shrank 40% from 2001 through 2003, Advanced Circuits grew more than 15% each year during that time. Exceeding its goals for 2003, the company ended the year with more than $27.5 million in revenues.
"At a time when the U.S. PCB market is losing business to manufacturers overseas, we created a niche for ourselves in the prototype PCB market when we developed a system for building small quantity, quick-turn prototypes with a low premium price," said Ron Huston, president and chief executive officer of Advanced Circuits.
The company invested more than $5 million in capital into equipment and facilities in 2003, including a 62,000 sq. ft. office and manufacturing facility. Investments have already been planned for $500,000 worth of additional equipment in 2004. The company added 15 employees in 2003, bringing its total to 195, which includes three shifts in production and multiple shifts in other departments.
Advanced Circuits has gained an average of more than 200 new customers a month for the past three years. The company attributes its tremendous growth and customer retention to reliability and the customer-focused attitude of the entire staff. To time-pressed design engineers, the fact that Advanced Circuits delivers more than 99% of their boards on time or early is a significant quality in a manufacturer.
To ensure that this growth continues in years to come, a full-time professional marketing and training staff have been added to the Advanced Circuits team. Huston is also showing appreciation to the employees that made this success possible by treating the entire staff to an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas, NV, over Memorial Day weekend.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Press Releases
- CE3S to Discuss Strategic Sourcing and Distribution Solutions at the SMTA Long Island Expo & Tech Forum
- KIC to Exhibit at Four SMTA Expo & Tech Forums in August
- Genie Electronics Leverages Cetec ERP for Superior Efficiency and Customer Service
- Automatic Nozzle Height Adjustment Reduces the Potential for Soldering Defects in Wave Soldering Processes