News
Recognizing the challenges facing electronics assemblers as they convert to lead-free processes, Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials (Jersey City, NJ) is launching the CE Analytics Lead-Free Process Capability Validation Program.
The program consists of two elements: a test kit containing Cookson's laminates, pad finishes, stencils, lead-free solder paste and cored wire combined with boards, lead-free components and set up software from Practical Components. The second element is a lead-free process capability report based on CE Analytics' analytical evaluation and process capability validation services conducted on finished assemblies tested to IPC and J-STD requirements.
"We spoke with customers who were concerned about the time and cost associated with successfully transitioning to lead-free," said Tom Hunsinger, Cookson Electronics' product manager. "Their main concerns were reliably validating their lead-free process, and having a single source that offered all of the required materials and analytical services. They wanted to make one call to get the complete package."
The kit contains the consumable materials needed to set up and run a lead-free surface-mount process. The test boards are then built and sent to CE Analytics where lead-free process capability assessment services are conducted. The output is a detailed laboratory analysis report with recommendations for process optimization.
Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials, a Cookson Electronics company, manufactures materials used in electronic assembly processes. CE Analytics is Cookson's resource for diagnostics solutions, analytical services and applications expertise.
www.cooksonelectronics.com/no-lead
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Sanmina-SCI Corp. (San Jose, CA), a global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company, has entered into an agreement to acquire Pentex-Schweizer Circuits Ltd., a provider of printed circuit board fabrication. The acquisition includes operations in Wuxi, China and Singapore.
Under the agreement, Pentex-Schweizer shareholders will be entitled to elect to receive $0.2006 per share. The total transaction value, including consideration for shares and options, is approximately $78.8 million.
The transaction is subject to several conditions, including approval by Pentex-Schweizer shareholders and court approval of the transaction under Singapore law, and is expected to close in Sanmina-SCI's fiscal 2004 fourth quarter or in its first quarter of fiscal 2005.
In addition, Sanmina-SCI and Pentex-Schweizer Circuits Ltd. have entered into a transition manufacturing agreement under which Pentex-Schweizer will provide PCB fabrication services to Sanmina-SCI during the period prior to closing and under which the companies will undertake transition manufacturing activities.
The operations in Wuxi, China and Singapore comprise 470,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space, with additional expansion capabilities in China of 450,000 sq. ft. These two operations complement Sanmina-SCI's PCB facility in Malaysia.
Jure Sola, chairman and chief executive officer of Sanmina-SCI, said, "For quite some time, we have been carefully evaluating a number of expansion opportunities in China.
Pentex-Schweizer Circuits Ltd., an efficient, well-run operation with a group of talented employees, will provide us with a solid foundation to support our customers' requirements in this region. We expect to capitalize on the company's ability to manufacture high quality boards by leveraging our vertical integration strategy.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Early recognition of errors is becoming increasingly important when inspecting assemblies. In addition to proven 2-D evaluation for offset, completeness and smearing, Viscom (Norcross, GA) now presents 3-D paste inspection as an auxiliary option for the familiar S3054QS QuickScan Inspection System. The 3-D option can be used particularly for critical components such as ball grid arrays (BGAs) and flip chips.
The inspection system is distinguished by it short programming times and high-speed error recognition for flexible production. The simple programming allows set-up operations for different products to be accomplished within a short time.
Beginning immediately, 3-D inspection is available for checking paste printing. For this application, Viscom implemented a light section method using a dual-line laser illumination to allow image recording. With the aid of this new, modular 3-D height sensor, a height resolution of 10mm is possible.
In addition to the error characteristics of missing paste, smearing and short circuits, the height of the past print, the volume and the topography can be measured and evaluated.
The 3-D option fits in the company's existing automatic optical instpection environment and is compatible with all known tools and auxiliary tools.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
According to IPC (Northbrook, IL), the North American IMS/PCB Industry book-to-bill ratio for May 2004 remained steady at 1.11.
The ratio is calculated by averaging the index numbers for orders booked over the past three months and dividing by the average index numbers for sales billed during the same period. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which indicates probable near-term growth.
Shipments increased 41.3% from May 2003 and orders booked increased 62.4%. Compared to last year, shipments of printed circuit boards are up 36.3% year-to-date, with bookings up 50.3%.
The shipment index was up 5.5% sequentially to 138.7 and the booking index was 168.8, up 23.8%.
The indices are calculated by setting the base year (1992) equal to 100 and then multiplying the monthly growth rates of the actual shipments and bookings by the corresponding index number. A shipment index number of 117.0, for example, indicates that shipments are 17% higher than average monthly shipments in 1992.
Based on "same store" data -- a measure of those companies that reported last year and this year -- PCB shipments grew 43.8% in May over last year, and orders jumped 67% year-on-year.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
- To obtain sufficient information through inspection activities at vendor and licensee/applicant facilities to assure part authenticity.
- To ensure that vendors are complying with the applicable industry requirements.
- To inform industry/vendors of instances involving substandard, suspected counterfeit or fraudulently marketed vendor products and to gather and provide timely information to system users.
- To assure that counterfeit and fraudulently marketed products are traced to their source and that system users are informed and alerted of possible suspected parts.
- To inform private and federal agencies of appropriate matters involving substandard products.
- To assure that system users' programs and their subsidiaries, as applicable, have an effective system for reporting counterfeit and fraudulently marketed products.
- To provide technical assistance to system users for identifying counterfeit and fraudulently marketed products.
According to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune, business is looking up for maquiladora factories in Mexico. After surviving the loss of nearly 300,000 jobs nationwide, Mexico is reaping the benefits of U.S. economic recovery, with new and expanding manufacturing companies now seeking workers to fill 18,000 job openings.
The maquiladora program allows foreign manufacturers to ship components into Mexico duty-free for assembly and subsequent re-export. Industry established under the maquiladora program is Mexico's second largest source of foreign revenue (following oil exports).
According to the article, employers are increasing worker benefits and wages to fill the new demand for factory workers—with some companies even going door-to-door to find applicants.
Demand for engineers and technicians is especially high since many Mexican factories survived the economic downturn by turning to more sophisticated processes to manufacture advanced products in the electronics, automotive and medical industries.
The more sophisticated manufacturing activities mean higher salaries for qualified workers—with wages for engineers now reaching $20,000-$40,000 a year. Companies are struggling to find college graduates and other workers that they can educate for the newly available highly skilled positions.
While the electronics, automotive, aerospace and medical parts factories that seek the workers are unable to predict whether or how long the economic rebound will last, the companies understand the importance of recruiting and training workers now in the high-tech skills that are increasingly required.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The Ultra 2800 DispensLink system from EFD (East Providence, RI) uses positive displacement technology to produce consistent, volumetric shots of epoxies, adhesives and many other assembly fluids—regardless of changes in fluid volume, viscosity or temperature.
The mechanical benchtop system operates on electricity and does not require the use of compressed air. It is ideal for applications that require precise metering of assembly fluids with changing viscosities, or where specific flow rates are necessary.
The patented technology uses a stepper motor and hydraulic cable to advance and retract a piston inside the fluid reservoir in precise increments. This results in consistent volumetric fluid deposits, without the need to adjust settings to compensate for changes in fluid characteristics.
EFD Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nordson Corp., a producer of precision dispensing equipment. Nordson and EFD systems apply adhesives, sealants and other assembly fluids to a range of consumer and industrial products during manufacturing operations.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Integrated Ideas & Technologies Inc. (IIT, Coeur d'Alene, ID) has developed an in-house laser cutting system that requires minimal training. The system offers manufacturers the ability to duplicate exact performance between facilities, regardless of location, and provides complete in-house control. An automated download program also allows the staff at IIT to help companies eliminate rework issues.
Assembly defects are expensive and avoidable, although many manufacturers accept rework as an unavoidable upshot of doing business. Customizing or improving surface-mount lines can now be done site, precluding the delay time associated with the remanufacturing of corrected or re-designed stencils by off-site suppliers.
IIT can now provide a user-friendly laser cutting system, without requiring a trained laser technician, stencil manufacturing staff or manufacturing support equipment.
IIT manufactures stencils required for circuit board manufacturing and serves contract manufacturers and original equipment manufacturerss in virtually every high-tech industry.
For more information, call (208) 665-2166.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider Flextronics (Singapore) has signed an agreement with Nortel Networks (Brampton, Ontario, Canada) whereby Nortel will divest certain optical, wireless and enterprise manufacturing operations and optical design operations to Flextronics.
Subject to closing the four-year manufacturing agreement, Flextronics will assume most of Nortel Networks' systems integration activities, final assembly, testing and repair operations, along with the management of the related supply chain and suppliers. Over time, Flextronics expects to consolidate and internally source its vertically integrated supply chain solutions, which include the fabrication and assembly of printed circuit boards and enclosures, as well as logistics and repair services.
Through an optical design services agreement, Flextronics will acquire a group of engineers with expertise in end-to-end, carrier grade optical network products. The design and engineering skills to be transferred to Flextronics include hardware development, software development and project management.
"Flextronics will be acquiring a design group with broad experience in telecommunications and optical networks, with extensive knowledge of optical products and processes," said Michael Marks, chief executive officer of Flextronics. "There are no independent design companies in the world that have this degree of design expertise, so we are thrilled to have expanded the scope of our engagement with Nortel Networks to include these services...We believe hardware design, software design and manufacturing are converging, which makes the addition of the Nortel Networks design group an excellent fit with our long-term strategy."
Mike McNamara, chief operating officer of Flextronics, said, "The significant increase in complex, multi-technology telecom and network solutions, including carrier grade products, further diversifies our product mix and reduces seasonality. The expertise acquired from the Nortel Networks' operations will enhance the capabilities in our Industrial Parks in China, Poland, Mexico and Brazil."
As part of the transaction, approximately 2,500 employees would transfer to Flextronics. The business transfer to Flextronics is expected to begin in November 2004 and will take approximately six months to complete. During this time, Flextronics' revenues from Nortel will increase each quarter and should reach an annual revenue rate of approximately $2.5 billion.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Sanmina-SCI Corp. (San Jose, CA), an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company, and Teradiant Networks (San Jose, CA), a developer of networking semiconductors, have announced an alliance to accelerate the development of a family of application platforms based on the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture (ATCA) standard.
The platforms' architecture makes it possible for network equipment companies to build systems that scale easily from 20 to 120 Gbps. The platforms are architected around the first ATCA-based traffic management and switching (TMS) card, providing functional integration while reducing power. With industry-standard hardware and a suite of pre-integrated, pre-validate application programming interfaces (APIs), original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can minimize development time and cost. The API suite also enables OEMs to build proprietary applications that ensure differentiation in their product offerings.
With the rollout of scalable platforms in late 2004, Sanmina-SCI and Teradiant will catch the growing wave of interest in ATCA. According to Crystal Cube Consulting, demand for ATCA is expected to produce up to $20 billion per year in networking system sales by the year 2007. ATCA provides a common set of physical and electrical interfaces for telecom and networking equipment, and ATCA-based systems are designed for ease of component reuse and ease of product differentiation.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Agilent Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, CA) has introduced its Versatest series Model V5400 to deliver a low cost of test across a full spectrum of memory devices. According to the company, the model's algorithmic pattern generator (APG) and patented tester-per-site (TPS) architecture provide configuration flexibility and up to four times improvement over existing systems in throughput for wafer sort and final memory testing.
Compatible with Agilent's model V4400, the newer version overcomes the challenge of testing standard and stacked memory modules such as flash, DRAM and SRAM while offering up to 4,608 channels and 144 independent test sites. The increased performance and lower system costs helps reduce the overall cost of test for semiconductor contract manufacturers, fabless design houses and memory integrated device manufacturers.
The growing consumer demand for digital devices with added functionality and smaller footprints at lower prices has given rise to new test challenges. The devices require higher frequency test systems and the flexibility to test multiple types of memory such as flash and DRAM concurrently, while continuing to require a lower cost of test. Agilent's single, scalable platform architecture will allow users to test standard memories, reduced pin-count devices, BIST-enabled devices and stacked memories.
Agilent's TPS architecture makes it possible for each device under test (DUT) to receive its own set of tester resources. The APG on the test site module has the ability to maximize tester resources based on the needs of the DUT. Dynamic APG can independently test up to four low-pin-count DUTs per site module. For complex tests or high pin count devices, APG can reallocate all site module resources toward testing a single DUT. Configurable solely through software, the APG enables the model to test devices without a change in tester hardware.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
LPKF Laser & Electronics (Wilsonville, OR) has announced the new MicroCut II, a high-performance stencil laser with a high-resolution scanner. The laser is capable of cutting any shape, including square apertures with rounded corners, at up to 50,000 apertures per hour. This translates to a cutting speed of 11 openings per second.
The high cutting speed is accomplished by a specially-developed system that reduces mechanical movement by moving the laser beam completely independent from the x/y table.
The stencil laser has an aperture resolution of 12.5 nm. It can cut apertures as small as 30 µm and its effective material focus diameter of 20 µm produces sharp contours.
The stencil laser features proprietary PulseShape technology, which eliminates the heat effect that causes coining or warpage of high-density and thin stencils. As a result, no external coolant is required. The system also incorporates new technology that avoids burrs at exiting edges, so no post-treatment is necessary.
System software for laser is optimized for stencil production, processing 500,000 pads in a few minutes.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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