Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

IPC (Northbrook, IL) has announced the schedule for its second annual Sacramento Day, taking place Feb. 3-4, 2004, at the California Chamber of Commerce headquarters in Sacramento, CA.

Open to all companies in the electronic interconnection industry with operations in California, IPC and its California Circuits Association's (CCA) two-day event will assist businesses in lobbying the California Legislature to develop and pass a pro-growth, pro-manufacturing, fiscally responsible agenda for California's printed circuit board industry.

On the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 3, participants will kick off the event with dinner and a presentation by Richard Costigan, legislative secretary for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Costigan will address the attendees on the Governor's recently released 2004 budget blueprint and present the keys to returning California to fiscal stability.

Fred Main, counsel, government and policy division of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips LLP, will commence Wednesday's activities with a primer on lobbying the California Legislature. Then, Dominic DiMare, vice president of government relations for the California Chamber of Commerce, will discuss the key business issues facing the legislature in 2004.

Next, the attendees will meet their Assembly Members and Senators to share crucial industry concerns, such as workers compensation reform and the creation of a pro-business environment to foster increased investment, innovation and jobs in California's high-tech manufacturing community.

After a morning of lobbying, the attendees will hear luncheon speaker Dan Walters, political columnist for the Sacramento Bee, discuss the historic recall effort, the election of Governor Schwarzenegger and its impact on the political environment in the Golden State. Following lunch, attendees will participate in afternoon lobbying visits before a wrap-up session to compare notes from the day.

For more information, visit www.calcircuits.org/sacday or contact Dick Crowe, CCA's executive director, (714) 343-6267.

www.ipc.org

Chief executives from several leading high technology companies called on Congress this week to stay away from policy initiatives that penalize companies from outsourcing labor to foreign nations.

"As the U.S. encounters new global realities policy makers face a choice: we can compete in the international arena or we can retreat," said Craig Barrett, chief executive officer of Intel Corp. "America can only grow jobs and improve its competitiveness by choosing to compete globally, and that will require renewed focus on innovation, education and investment."

In a report issued today, the Computer Systems Policy Project said U.S. companies "must engage in business worldwide to capitalize on opportunities and respond to competitive challenges."

"Countries that resort to protectionism end up hampering innovation and crippling their industries, which leads to lower economic growth and ultimately higher unemployment," said CSPP in its report.

CSPP, whose members include Michael Dell, Carly Fiorina, Sam Palmisano, Joseph Tucci, Ed Zander and Barrett, among others, lobbied Congress for programs that promote technological innovation and improve education and training for American students and workers.

"As a nation we must renew our investment in competitiveness, just as businesses must do," said Fiorina, chairman and CEO of HP. "Today we're calling on our national leaders to partner with the private sector to develop a competitiveness agenda that maintains the processes and discipline that made the U.S. the leading technology exporter it is today."

Barrett said white-collar jobs in the U.S. are no longer a guarantee. "It had been assumed we had a lock on white-collar jobs and high-tech jobs. That is no longer the case."

Noting the disparity in federal subsidies for agriculture, which number the in the tens of billions of dollars, versus those for physical sciences--reportedly just $5 billion--Barrett said, "I can't understand why we continue to pour resources into the industries of the 19th century."

AMTECH Inc. (Branford, CT), a supplier of solder powders, pastes, fluxes and associated products used in electronic assemblies, has introduced NoVOC™, a water-based, no-clean liquid flux for use in wave soldering.

The low solids liquid flux contains no rosins, resins or volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It improves solder joint reliability and reduces the risk of rework since it leaves no insulating residue on test pads or conductive pads. The no-clean formula eliminates the need for wash-up, since any residual flux residues are non-corrosive and halide-free.

The flux features low surface tension, for wetting prior to wave soldering double sided or multi-layer boards. It is ideal for board assemblies containing sensitive sliding switches or conductive carbon pads.

With water as the main ingredient, the flux is inherently more economical to manufacture than rosin-based fluxes. As a non-hazardous material, it easily transported and contains no irritants.

The flux is available in 1, 5 and 55 gallon containers. It can be applied by spraying or dipping and can be diluted when required by using deionized water.

www.solderproducts.com

Shoda Techtron Ltd. (Hamamatsu, Japan), a manufacturer of printed circuit scoring, beveling and shear/beveling systems, announced that it has entered into a sales and service agency agreement with Christopher Group Inc. (Santa Ana, CA) for distribution of their complete product range of products in the North American market.

Shoda has also announced the introduction of the ACS-1500NC III automatic laminate cutting saw, developed for materials to .002 inches in thickness, and the IT-700HA automatic printed circuit board (PCB) thickness measurement system. The system was developed to accurately measure thickness of PCBs for controlled impedance applications.

Shoda has installed over 1,500 systems worldwide, while Christopher provides distribution and engineering support focused on the North American market.

www.stech.co.jp

www.christopherweb.com

Universal Instruments (Binhamton, NY) has trimmed the footprint and increased the maximum board size for its high-speed placement platform. According to the company, the result is more flexibility in a smaller shop-floor space. The new 4797R HSP accepts up to 96 feeders with placement speed maintained at 48,000 cph.

The machine is capable of handling boards up to 610 mm (24 in.) x 460 mm (18 in.) within a footprint machine measuring 3,100 mm (122 in.) x 2,155 mm (84.8 in.). Three-sigma accuracy is 0.08 mm for MELFs and small chips and 0.05 mm for leaded components.

Accepting up to 72 components on standard 8 mm tape feeders, or 96 components with dual-track feeders, the machine has a minimum placement tact time of 0.075 seconds. Feeder axis tact time is 0.09 seconds or 0.08 seconds with the dual-track feeder.

Standard equipment includes 12 five-spindle, advanced direct-drive placement heads and Universal's software for offline programming. Available options include component library data teach, pattern program data teach, barcode validation system (BVS), traceability package, ball grid array (BGA)/ chip scale package (CSP) recognition, and GEM/SECS II.

www.uic.com

The Electronic Components, Assemblies and Materials Association (ECA, Arlington, VA) has acquired CARTS, the conference and exposition for passive components.

CARTS USA 2004, the 24th Capacitor and Resistor Technology Symposium, will be held March 29-April 1 in San Antonio, TX. CARTS Europe will be held Oct. 18-21 in Nice, France.

ECA purchased CARTS from the Components Technology Institute (CTI). CTI will continue to manage CARTS during the next two years as ECA takes an increasingly more active role. ECA and CTI will establish a CARTS advisory board that will include officers from both organizations and senior-level executives from electronic component companies.

Leon Hamiter, the show's founder and CTI president, said, "ECA has the membership connections, the conference experience and the reputation within the worldwide resistor and capacitor community to ensure the health and vitality of CARTS into the future."

CARTS will benefit from ECA's extended reach into the electronics industry, according to James Kaplan, chairman of Cornell Dubilier and ECA industry vice president.

CARTS will join an ECA conference line-up that includes the International Relay Conference (IRC), the Electronic Distribution Show (EDS), the Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) and the International Wire and Cable Symposium (IWCS).

www.ec-central.org