Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

BEIJING -- China has issued its version of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive; the Chinese version was promulgated on Feb. 28 and takes effect March 1, 2007.

An copy of the law in English is available here.

LONDON -- A survey conducted by the SMART Group during its annual Lead-Free Seminar in February found the majority of respondents will either not be ready or are uncertain about meeting requirements by the compliance date. Also, a large number of companies believe they are exempt from the RoHS Directive. The top challenges to being noncompliant by July 1 were noted as: lack of availability of Pb-free components, compliance issues, cost of stock to support spares, reliability, moisture sensitive devices, rework and repair.

KEY LARGO, FL – William (Bill) Scheu, president of Automated Production Equipment (A.P.E.), died March 1 of a heart attack.

Scheu is survived by his wife, Barbara, sons Casey and Ian, and four grandchildren.

A memorial was held today in Key Largo.

Visitation will be held at Grubbs Funeral Home in Wytheville, VA, on March 9. Scheu will be buried March 10 at the Family Cemetery in Wytheville. Services will begin at 11 a.m. at the Galilee Christian Church.

In a statement Scheu’s colleague David Horvath said, “Bill meant much to many people, from the response we have seen only after a few hours … and to us he was a friend, leader, father, mentor all at the same time.

“Bill encouraged many friends throughout the world and was a support to many with sage advice and a helping hand. His askance humor, sharp intellect and piercing observation will be sadly missed.”

ATLANTA -- In his Web log today, Circuits Assembly editor Mike Buetow discusses "greenwashing" -- the practice of mischaracterizing something as environmentally friendly despite scientific evidence to the contrary -- and Wikipedia.

SALT LAKE CITY -- CirTran Corp., a small contract manufacturer, projected its first-ever annual profit for fiscal 2005 on revenues of about $13 million, a jump of 45%.

SAN JOSE – January sales of semiconductors rose 7% year-over-year to $19.7 billion globally, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. January sales were off 1.5% from December, bettering the historical seasonal drop of 2.2%.

“The new year got off to a good start for the global semiconductor industry with strong year-on-year growth in a historically weak month,” said SIA president George Scalise. “Retail sales, including consumer electronics products, were relatively strong in January and helped dampen the expected seasonal decline in sales.

"There are no excess inventories, end market demand remains strong and capacity utilization rates are very high," he said.

WASHINGTON -- New orders for manufactured durable goods in January fell 10.2% to $207.2 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced today. The decrease follows three consecutive monthly increases, including 2.5% in December.

Shipments also fell after three straight monthly increases, declining 1.3% to $219.7 billion.

January is typically a slower period as consumer spending eases following the holiday period.

KANSAS CITY, MO -- A study of more than 200 multinational companies across 15 industries found that intellectual capital and university collaboration -- and not just lower costs -- are primary attractions for companies to locate R&D activities in locations abroad.

Also noted: emerging countries such as China and India will continue to be major beneficiaries of R&D expansion over the next three years as companies seek new market opportunities, access to top scientists and engineers, and collaborative research relationships with leading universities. Companies studied were mostly headquartered in the U.S. and Western Europe.

Weymouth, UK – DEK has confirmed the line-up for its 21^st Century Line Technology Day, scheduled to take place March 29 – 30 at the company’s UK headquarters in Weymouth. Partners and presenters for the event include BTU, Assembleon, Henkel and Nutek.

Aimed at helping electronics manufacturers negotiate the challenges of Pb-free, the event will focus on the role of leading-edge technologies within this significant industry transition. Event content will include discussion of Pb-free products, latest generation components, reflow technologies, line flexibility and Pb-free developments. DEK will also highlight recent product innovations including Proflow and Grid-Lok.

In addition to presentations, the Technology Day will feature workshops and technical demonstrations.

Rome, NY -- The ESD Association has scheduled two program manager tutorials for March 28 in Texas, as well as an ESD educational program March 9-10 in the Philippines.

The program in the Philippines provides information on ESD fundamentals, ESD problems and causes, in-plant verification requirements, audit procedures, ESD measurement methods, methods for designing ESD control programs and methods for assessing ESD processes for conformance to ANSI/ESD S20.20.

Scheduled courses include S20.20 ESD Program Development and Assessment, ESD Auditing & Evaluation Measurements, Packaging Principles for the Program Manager, and Standards Basics for EPA. They are among the required courses for obtaining ESD Program Manager Certification.

Courses will be taught by Ron Gibson, Celestica International; John Kinnear, IBM Corp.; and Stephen A. Halperin, Stephen A. Halperin & Assoc./Prostat Corp.

The March 28 half-day tutorials will be held at the 3M Innovation Center in Austin, TX. The courses cover Cleanroom Considerations for the Program Manager and Air Ionization: Issues and Answers.

Topics covered in the cleanroom tutorial include: airborne particle classification standards, cleanroom compliance monitoring test methodologies, electrostatic attraction relation to airborne and surface contamination, ESD concerns, and cleanroom static charge generation challenges and control methodologies. The instructor is Christopher Long, a senior engineer at IBM Microelectronics.

The air ionization course will examine problems caused by static charges, review common methods for generation and control of static charge, illustrate the importance of ionizers in a static control program through demonstrations, explain the major types of ionizers and the varying environments, discuss electrical and performance test methods, demonstrate ionization measurements using the Ionization Standard, and present installation, safety, maintenance and contamination issues. The instructor is Arnold Steinman, CTO for Ion Systems Inc.

This seminar is co-sponsored by the Texas Chapter of the ESD Association and is a requirement for ESD Certified Professional-Device/Design certification.

For more information, visit: esda.org/upcomingcourses.html.

The conference and tutorial program for SMT/Hybrid/Packaging show are now online at smt-exhibition.com/conference. The show, which will focus on "Technologies for the 3rd Dimensionin the Production of PCBs,” will take place May 30-June 1 in Nuremberg, Germany.

In 24 half-day tutorials, topics will encompass the complete product chain of electronic component assembly from design and process technologies to quality assurance. The conversion to Pb-free will be a principal theme in nearly all tutorials.

Five tutorials will be given in English:

Tut 06: Advanced Thermal Management Materials

Tut 07: Lead-Free Design for Manufacture Assembly Tutorial

Tut 08: Manufacturing Reliable Lead-free Electronics with High Yield - What You Should Know - Part 1

Tut 15: Lead-Free Inspection, Process Control and Defect Elimination

Tut 16: Manufacturing Reliable Lead-free Electronics with High Yield - Part 2

For information on the adjacent exhibition with over 600 suppliers, visit: smt-exhibition.com/registration

San Clemente, CA – YESTech recently won the 2006 Service Excellence Award for Test & Inspection equipment. The awards, sponsored for the 14^th year by Circuits Assembly, were presented in February, during the Apex/Expo conference in Anaheim, CA.

The SEA program recognizes companies receiving the highest customer service ratings, as judged by their own customers.

"Winning this award means more to us at YESTech than any other industry award," said Don Miller, president and CEO. "Customer service and genuine concern for our customers has been the underlying foundation of our success, and has been a commitment by every YESTech employee from the beginning. We're very proud to receive this recognition from an industry leader of the caliber of Circuits Assembly, and are extremely grateful for the support of our customers. Our pledge is to continue this high standard of customer support as we continue to grow."