Jersey City, NJ – Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials had 23 applications engineers trained and certified as IPC Specialists in May. 

“At Cookson Electronics, we are focused on helping our customers meet their electronic assembly objectives by providing them with innovative assembly products and the highest possible level of technical assistance,” said Steve Brown, director – Global Applications Technology. “We train and certify our field applications engineers to the IPC Standards which are used globally by our customers. This is especially important as they transition to lead-free processes in response to the RoHS requirements.

The standards covered during the training session were IPC J-STD-001 Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies and IPC-A-610D Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies.

Minneapolis, MN -- The SMTA is again co-locating SMTA International with the Assembly Tech Expo this September in Rosemont, IL. The program will consist of over 100 technical papers, 26 tutorials and special symposiums on Contract Manufacturing, Staying Competitive and Lead-Free Soldering Technology, as well as various free events.



The technical sessions are organized into tracks on Manufacturing and Assembly, Advanced Packaging, Substrates, RoHS, and Process Control.



Full- and half-day educational courses will focus on Manufacturing and Assembly, Advanced Packaging, Substrates, Soldering, Test/Inspection/Quality, and Process Control.


The Emerging Technologies Summit will feature sessions on Packaging Space: Nano to Outer, Wireless Technology and Using RFID to Add Value to Your Products and Services. It will conclude with an Emerging Technologies Panel.



The Contract Manufacturing Symposium will consist of two paper sessions: Exploring the Dollars and Sense of EMS and EMS Program Management. The Lead-free Symposium will feature paper sessions on the Joint Council on Aging Aircraft/ Joint Group on Pollution Prevention Lead-Free Solder Project, Lead-Free Manufacturing Experiences and Lead-Free Industry Standards, Lead-Free Fatigue, and Accelerated Life Testing for Lead-Free Solder Joints.



A new Symposium on Staying Competitive in the Global Market will address how to improve your competitive position in your market. The emphasis is on North American issues related to cost, productivity, automation, finance and quality.



Free events include:

The Opening session: What’s Next? Global RoHS and Emerging Technologies

Future Directions for Packaging

NPI and Rapid Setup Aid time to Market

iNEMI Roadmaps

Standards Update

Emerging Technologies

Selecting the Right Lead-Free Cleaning Process

Problem Solving and Reliability Modeling
 
The conference will include a full day workshop, “Beyond RoHS and WEEE: Preparing for the Energy-Using Products (EuP) Directive & Design for Environment,” co-sponsored by the SMTA, Technology Forecasters and The GoodBye Chain Group.

HERNDON, VA  — iNEMI’s High-Reliability RoHS Task Force has published process and reliability guidelines for high-reliability electronics that may include both SnPb and Pb-free parts. Reliability concerns arise due to the differences in processing temperatures and materials.
 
RoHS5 modules (5 of 6 RoHS materials) are products that are RoHS-compliant, but contain Pb (under an applicable RoHS exemption). RoHS6 modules (6 of 6 RoHS materials) are soldered with Pb-free solder and are fully RoHS-compliant and Pb-free.
 
With current RoHS exemptions for high-reliability electronics, it is possible for assemblies to contain Pb and still be RoHS-compliant. Manufacturers taking the Pb exemption will continue to require SnPb-compatible components for their products, and may also use subassemblies, such as hard disk drives and power modules, that may or may not be Pb-free. 
 
Thilo Sack, principal engineer, corporate technology, for Celestica and co-chair of the iNEMI High-Reliability RoHS Task Force, noted, “If RoHS6 subassemblies are to be used in RoHS5 products, the subassemblies should be thoroughly qualified to ensure that they will meet the higher reliability requirements of the RoHS5 products. Furthermore, in some cases solders and processes should not be mixed. For example, only BGAs with SnPb solder balls should be used in a SnPb assembly process, and only SAC solder balls in a SAC process.”
 
The task force recommends that Pb-free Sn finishes on leaded and discrete components only be used when these finishes (1) include suitable tin whisker mitigation practices, per IPC/JEDEC JP002, and (2) have passed Class 2 level tin whisker acceptance testing requirements, per JESD-201. For subassembly modules meeting RoHS5 or RoHS6 requirements, plated leads or pins that will be attached to the PCB should be backward compatible with SnPb assembly processes.
 
The complete guidelines can be downloaded here:
http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/projects/ese/High-Reliability_RoHS/High_Rel_position_061206.pdf
 
The task force consists of OEMs and EMS providers with long service life products and high-reliability requirements, including:
Agilent Technologies, Alcatel, Cisco Systems, Celestica, Delphi Electronics & Safety, HP, Intel, Jabil, Lucent, Plexus, Sanmina-SCI and Sun Microsystems.

FOSTER CITY, CA -- Arena Solutions, a provider of product lifecycle management software, and components distributor Avnet Electronics Marketing have signed a joint sales and marketing deal that covers both firm's tools and services.

Arena and Avnet will provide a complete, integrated on-demand PLM and component line that includes the latter's extensive component database -- said to number more than 19 million parts.

Avnet will make available purchasing data, and parametric and analytical data, along with documentation from IHS. The combined content database consists of rich data for over 19 million unique electronic components. and includes RoHS and environmental regulation information, product change notifications and part specification data.

Avnet content now can be imported directly into the Arena PLM tool.

Ed.: An earlier version of this story reported that IHS Parts Management would also be involved as a reseller. While Avnet Electronics and IHS have a partnership under which Avnet resell's IHS's content, Arena does not have a reseller agreement with IHS.

MILPITAS, CA  -- Solectron Corp. last night reported third-quarter net earnings of $42.4 million on sales of $2.7 billion.

The numbers reversed a loss of $66.7 million on $2.6 billion in revenue a year ago.

Read more ...

Minneapolis, MN -- The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) is seeking abstracts for its Pan Pacific Symposium. The conference will be held in Maui on Jan. 30 – Feb. 1, 2007.
 
Papers are sought in the following areas:
Packaging
Interconnection
Business Issues
Markets
Assembly
Microsystems Technology

The deadline to submit an abstract is July 17. The full call for papers can be found at: smta.org/pan_pac/call_for_papers.cfm

Huntsville, AL – AGI Corp., a manufacturer of wave solder and SMT assembly pallets, wave solder profiling tools and feeder storage carts, has received its 10,000^th order for PCB Assembly tooling. The milestone pallet was presented to Benchmark Electronics representatives on June 13.
 

ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Jabil Circuit sustained its first chink in the armor as the EMS firm announced plant closings and headcount reductions ahead.

On a quarterly conference call with analysts, Jabil said May quarter net income was $64.2 million, up 8.1% from compared to $59.4 million a year ago, on a 37% gain in revenue to $2.6 billion.

Read more ...

PALO ALTO, CA -- New analysis from Frost & Sullivan reveals that the worldwide SMT cleaning equipment market generated revenues of $34.3 million in 2005 and is likely to reach $55 million in 2012.
 
"Lead-free manufacturing has caused process changes in the SMT line that have placed more emphasis on cleaning," notes F&S industry manager Keith Robinson. "With more residue left on the assembly during lead- free manufacturing, industries that did not historically clean are likely to do so between 2006 and 2010, thus creating new market opportunities."
 
Pb-free manufacturing requires higher preheating and heating temperatures, causing changes in the flux that make it more difficult to clean. It also calls for an increased amount of flux, which leads to more residues on the assembly. Defects can occur in products if the assembly is not thoroughly cleaned, thus creating increased demand for SMT cleaning equipment.
 
Pb-free assemblies more difficult to clean, causing concerns among electronic assemblers about the feasibility of becoming Pb-free compliant in 2006. Moreover, cleaning Pb-free materials is highly demanding and places increased stress on the entire cleaning process.
 
"Some companies have been very proactive in educating customers on how to clean lead-free assemblies effectively," says Robinson. "SMT vendors will need to be very aggressive in addressing customers' needs in 2006, because this is a critical year for the SMT cleaning equipment market."
 

Taunton, MA – Following its acquisition last year by HumiSeal’s parent company Chase Corp., Concoat Ltd. has changed its name to HumiSeal Europe Ltd.
 
The UK conformal coatings supplier has been manufacturing HumiSeal products for the European marketplace for over 25 years.
 
David Greenman, managing director, noted in a press release: “By operating in the USA and Europe under the same name, we make it crystal clear that we can offer a seamless transition between our manufacturing, sales and technical support services, with products that are tested and certified independently to military and automotive standards throughout the world.”
 

GUADALAJARA -- Sanmina-SCI today announced the opening of a 347,000 sq. ft. foot enclosures facility here. The new factory brings the EMS company's enclosure manufacturing capacity to more than 500,000 sq. ft., the largest in North America.

Read more ...

ST. LOUIS -- LaBarge Inc. has received an initial $1.7 million contract to build assemblies for Northrop Grumman's Defensive Systems Division.

The assemblies will be used in Northrop's internally mounted radar countermeasures system, the AN/ALQ-135, for the F-15K fighter.

Production is expected to begin early this summer at LaBarge's Tulsa, OK, facility and is expected to continue through fall 2006. Additional orders are expected, LaBarge said in a statement.