Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

Westford, MA and Munich, Germany – Zuken and Lockheed Martin have signed a long-term contract for PCB design/ECAD (electronic computer aided design) tools. Zuken was also recently selected as the Preferred Supplier for ECAD by the PCB Design Solutions Engineering Process Improvement (EPI) Program's Electrical Subcouncil, which represents all of Lockheed Martin's businesses.

Zuken's scalable enterprise-wide PCB design solution, CR-5000, is at the core of the contract, along with Signal Integrity design tool suite, CR-5000 Lightning.

BRUSSELS – Valor Computerized Systems has implemented its DFM software at Siemens Bocholt in Germany, the company said today.

In a press release, Siemens said it chose the Valor tool for its extensive DfM analysis and checking capabilities. “We also wanted to improve data management and bidirectional communication with our bare board manufacturer.” The tool has cut setup time and costs and improved handling of manufacturing change orders.

Valor’s DFM software is based on Enterprise 3000 and simulates production from design through manufacture to assembly. Designs are optimized using a physical design model of the PCB assembly to reduce revision spins.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The SMTA and Auburn University seek abstracts for the Harsh Environment Electronics Workshop a two-day program that will focus on assemblies, semiconductor technology, substrates, connectors and lead-free products for use in automotive, space, military and avionics.

Abstracts of 200-300 words should focus on the latest developments, state-of-the-art technology and trends. The deadline is March 22.

The event will be held July 19-20 in Indianapolis.

Contact: conference coordinator Melissa Serres at melissa@smta.org.

UTICA, NY -- Indium Corp. vice president of technology Dr. Ning-Cheng Lee will emphasize reliability in a presentation to be delivered at the Intel Lead-Free Symposium in Scottsdale, AZ, next week.

Dr. Lee’s presentation will depict a supplier’s perspective on the impact and challenges for next-generation flux and paste in drop-critical applications.

Dr. Lee will look at flux and paste formulation directions, expected challenges, assembly implications and challenges, and the shift to using Pb-free fluxes.

Dr. Lee is a renowned expert on soldering and frequent lecturer.

The symposium takes place March 15-16.

YAVNE, ISRAEL – Valor Computerized Systems announced full support and integration of its Trilogy 5000 assembly line automation software with the SIPlace Pro interface used in Siemens' placement systems.

The integration is important because Siemens has close to a 30% market share worldwide in the component placement market.

The integration enables users to optimize their assembly lines, Valor said.

In a statement, Valor executive vice president for marketing and product management Julian Coates said, “The seamless integration between Valor’s Trilogy 5000 advanced assembly line engineering solution and the powerful SIPlace Pro open interface delivers tremendous cost savings to Siemens customers by generating the fastest route from data load to optimized machine program generation. Siemens customers will enjoy reduced NPI cycle time, increased shop floor productivity, and quicker machine programming and set-up times.”

The Valor tool improves CAD/BoM loading, stencil optimization, rotation neutralization, first-rate machine/line optimization and balancing and NPI debug time, among other features, Valor said.

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.