Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

DES PLAINES, IL, June 6 — Kester will host its next lead-free seminar on June 21in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Kester Project 2005: Achieving Lead-Free RoHS Assembly was created to offer proven, practical information in reference to lead-free assembly and RoHS compliancy.

The seminar does not concentrate on specific consumer applications; it will present the various complexities of assemblies and what your company needs to do to comply with the WEEE and RoHS Directives.

The series will address lead-free assembly issues and give technical information to transition in a timely fashion while maintaining reliability and production yields. It addresses the new standards that will assist a company towards a smooth transition.

Presentation and discussion will cover the following topics: lead-free and RoHS directive overview; supply changes and procurement issues; board/component requirements; lead-free alloy selection for SMT, wave and rework; lead-free wave and SMT process optimization; impact of dual systems; BGA rework practices; hand soldering process changes; lead-free RoHS reliability; field rework and training; and training and documentation.

For more information, visit kester.com.

WOODSTOCK, GA -- Ron Daniels, former editor and publisher of Circuits Assembly, died Sunday at home. He was 56.

At the time of his death, he was editor of Circuitnet, an online news service, and principal consultant at ITM Consulting.

SALT LAKE CITY - -CirTran Corp., an contract electronics manufacturer, today announced the termination of a pair of finanical arrangements worth up to $25 million with Cornell Capital Partners.

CirTran cancelled a standby equity distribution agreement (SEDA) signed more than a year ago and worth $20 million. The EM company also cancelled a $5 million equity line of credit with Cornell.

Iehab J. Hawatmeh, CirTran's founder and president, said the termination of his company's relationship with Cornell came after CirTran negotiated and completed issuance of a $3.75 convertible debenture at "far more favorable rates" as the latest step in its strategic financial plan.

Hawatmeh said CirTran will withdraw the registration statement currently being reviewed by the SEC regarding shares to be issued to Cornell. In addition, he said that CirTran will receive more than 38 million of its shares currently held in escrow by Cornell in connection with the previously-outstanding notes, and that CirTran will not issue any additional shares of common stock to Cornell with relation to the equity line or SEDA.

WASHINGTON – At least 67 senators have signed on to a bill to hit China with tariffs of 27.5% on all imports at the end of this year unless China revalues its currency within the next six months.

The legislation, sponsored by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY), poses a harsh and controversial reply to China’s recent economic gains – many of which, critics say, have come at the expense of the U.S. manufacturers.

MINNEAPOLIS –The SMTA has once again organized the Contract Manufacturing Symposium to provide information to form profitable relationships for the contract manufacturer, customer and investor. Organized by Mike Buetow, editor in chief of Circuits Assembly, the symposium will take place Sept. 26, as part of the co-located SMTA Internation/ ATExpo Show in Rosemont, IL.

One session on Mid-Tier EMS Strategy will focus on the continuing demand for high service solutions in North America by looking at three different service providers and the competitive strategies they have used to meet the needs of their niche markets.

The second session, Models and Markets, will examine an exciting emerging sector known as JDM (joint design manufacturer), in which aerospace and defense OEMs collaborate on design with EMS providers, and also a methodical process to OEM supplier selection and emerging market opportunities will be discussed.

Papers will include:

- Creating a High Service EMS Environment Through Business Process Alignment;

- Optimizing Lean Manufacturing in EMS;

- Key Issues in Supporting Lead-free and Complex Prototypes in the EMS Environment;

- Design Collaboration in A&D Leads to Emergence of Joint Design Manufacturers;

- Capability Maturity Model for Outsourcing Improvement: A Case Study;

- Emerging Market Opportunities.

For details, visit smta.org/smtai.

BUFFALO, NY – A group of nanoscience experts recently delivered a briefing on nanomaterials to the U.S. Congressional Research and Development Caucus.

NanoDynamics Inc.'s CEO Keith Blakely, along with Mark Kryder of Seagate Corp. and Carl Koch of North Carolina State University, described the industrial technology of nanomaterials and identified the essential material research directions needed for commercialized development of the materials.

The May 12 briefing was part of the Materials Information luncheon program presented by the Federation of Materials Societies. The program aims to provide background on materials science and technology issues to Congressional members and their staffs who may be involved in legislation pertinent to the field.

Princeton, NJ – Rockwood Specialties Group will consolidate its 200 mm wafer reclaim operations over the next nine months to two high-volume centers.

The supplier of wafer reclaim services for the European and U.S. semiconductor markets will maintain centers in Gréasque, France, and Prescott, AZ.

Rockwood will close its Rockwood Electronic Materials Wafer Reclaim facility in Riddings, Derbyshire, UK and the Exsil facility in Providence, RI, both of which are predominantly focused on the declining 150 mm reclaim market.

The closure of the UK Wafer Reclaim business will not affect the Ultra Pure Chemicals business based at the same site. The company also said the 300 mm reclaim business, based in Germany, is not affected by these closures.

Irvine, CA -- The electronics group of Henkel and the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores Monterrey (Monterrey Technology Institute) will partner to conduct research on lead-free solders, provide local customer support and offer educational opportunities.

Henkel customers will have access to the latest materials research to help them prepare for the demands imposed by the changes in technology. Henkel and Tec de Monterrey technical teams will study and characterize the compatibility behavior of tin-lead and lead-free solder pastes with several component and PCB surface finishes. The results will be made available to Henkel customers.

The relationship enables Henkel to provide its Mexican customer base with local failure analysis, evaluation capabilities and the support of an application engineer who will reside on-site at Monterrey Tech.

Monterrey Tech will give the technical team from Henkel full access to the University’s advanced SMT assembly line, its failure and analsyis laboratories and support from the institution’s educators and graduate students.

Henkel will support the University with hands-on training, including lead-free technical workshops.

TEMPE, AZ -- EMS provider Three Five Systems' interim chief financial officer has resigned due to health reasons, the company said today.

James E. Jurgens will continue to serve as a consultant to the company on a reduced basis.

The company announced that it has retained the services of Bridge Associates to assist it in the restructuring of its operations. Carl H. Young, III, managing director and founding member of Bridge Associates, will act as chief restructuring officer.

MONTE CARLO -- Dell today made a series of announcements concerning its continuing environmental efforts. The company stated that it exceeded a 2004 product recovery goal and outlined aggressive environment goals for the current year. The company is also refreshing its corporate desktop line and making an advance toward the RoHS directive.

Dell exceeded product recovery goals set for its last fiscal year and announced expanded global environmental goals for recycling, environmental design and energy efficiency, including a 50% product recovery increase. The goals and progress on environment and social initiatives are available at www.dell.com/environment.

Last year, the company committed to increase product recovery from customers by 50% (as measured by weight recovered). Strong growth of ARS in the U.S. helped the company recover more than 24 million pounds of used product from customers, a 234% increase over fiscal year 2004 results. Worldwide, Dell recovered nearly 66 million pounds of product during the period. Dell remains committed to increasing product recovery rates, as reflected by its goal of another 50% product recovery increase during 2006.

The company’s OptiPlex GX520 and GX620 desktop systems introduced today also take steps toward compliance with the RoHS directive by featuring lead-free power supplies, motherboards and chassis.

The systems also give customers flexibility to deploy systems based on specific needs. Customers can choose from seven chassis between the two products, including mini-tower, desktop, small and ultra-small form factors that offer expandability options. The systems share a single software image across all chassis. The small form factor chassis can be installed behind an flat-panel monitor for an all-in-one, “zero-footprint” system.

In addition to the standard limited warrantythat accompanies each system, Custom Factory Integration (CFI), Deployment Services and Asset Recovery Services (ARS) help increase the value of the technology purchase.

As systems are being built, Dell’s build-to-order process enables customized image management to occur in the factory environment. Through CFI, Dell can load customer-defined images, software, asset information and integrate hardware components as part of manufacturing. Once set up, Dell can replicate the CFI process one system at a time or thousands at a time.

Customers can benefit from having a Dell technician install their new systems. Dell installation services range from simple system set-up to complex deployments that coordinate roll-outs to multiple sites and meet tight customer deadlines.

ARS take the hassle out of retiring old computer equipment. ARS will recycle the system responsibly or when feasible, recondition and offer its market value to the customer if resold.

MORTON, IL -- Preco Electronics Inc. has completed the sale of its manufacturing operation to Vansco Electronics, a Canadian EMS firm.

The Preco plant designs and manufactures electronics systems and components for heavy equipment.

The acquisiton gives Winnipeg, Canada-based Vansco a U.S. footprint, and the company is looking for more acquisitons of electronic controls makers.

ST. LOUIS -- LaBarge Inc. has been awarded a multi-year, $24 million contract by Raytheon Missile Systems to provide cables and harnesses for the Joint Standoff Weapon system.

The impact on 2005 revenues is expected to be $1.65 million, LaBarge said.

The contract has an estimated value of $24 million through 2012.

Work will be performed at LaBarge's Joplin, MO, facility. LaBarge is a contract electronics assembler.

The Navy uses JSOW in its fighter jets as a glide weapon. It uses GPS information to find its target.