News
Cognex Corp. (Natick, MA), a supplier of machine vision systems and vision sensors, will host a new series of free machine vision seminars in major North American cities this fall. The Understanding and Applying Machine Vision Sensors half-day events show how vision sensors can perform automated inspection tasks in the automotive, medical, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, consumer products and electronics industries.
Designed as an introduction for factory automation professionals responsible for production efficiency and product quality, each seminar combines a machine vision basics tutorial with live demonstrations of the new industrial grade In-Sight 5000 Series vision sensors and ID readers. The tutorial covers how vision sensors work in manufacturing applications to accurately gauge, guide, identify and inspect products to reduce scrap costs and inventory problems and achieve a high level of product quality.
In addition to walking away with an understanding of the fundamentals of implementing a successful vision solution, participants will receive free In-Sight Explorer trial software on a CD, which provides hands-on experience developing vision applications from start to finish. The CD also includes application examples, preliminary design considerations, a multi-media tutorial on building vision applications, lighting and optics videos and a utility package that helps determine the field of view and resolution requirements of vision applications.
The seminars will run from August through December in major cities across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Register online at www.cognex.com/seminar or call (800) 677-2646.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Eleven Cookson Electronics employees representing offices around the globe have been awarded the Presidents Award for their work in 2003. The awards were officially presented at a ceremony at the Castle Hill Inn and Resort, Newport, RI, in May, with 65 employees and guests in attendance.
Doreen Agnew, Robert Wallace, Gary Klimala, Robert Cahill, Wim van Ravenswaay, Rich Caron, Rick Correia, Stephen Whitehead, John Tremblay, Mark Foster and Axel Fuhrmann were presented awards for specific achievements that have gone above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities with direct impact on the business.
"This is a very prestigious honor that recognizes the highest level of performance within our organization," said Allan MacDonald, vice president of human resources. "These employees should be very proud of their accomplishments."
The ceremony included an opening video and introductions of each recipient, along with a description of his or her accomplishment by the individuals who nominated them for the recognition award.
Cookson Electronics is a supplier of assembly materials, semiconductor packaging and specialty chemicals and coatings used in the electronics assembly and surface finishing industries.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials (Jersey City, NJ) will implement a tin surcharge covering the dramatic increase in the cost of tin on all invoices for ALPHA solder paste when the London Metal Exchange price exceeds $9,500/metric ton. The surcharge calculation is based on official LME pricing (www.lme.co.uk) which confirmed that tin prices more than doubled in the last six months over the previous two-year average.
In May, the price of tin broached the $10,000/per metric ton psychological level. Adding to the upward price pressure on tin, some analysts and research groups suggest that the production of tin for 2004 will be approximately 6% less than the demand. Prices for other metals over the same period have also risen sharply with copper up 91%, lead up 128%, nickel up 146% and silver up 95%. The surcharge does not address the cost increases for these metals.
"This year-long run up in the cost of tin has hit us particularly hard," said David Zerfoss, president of Cookson EAM. "An example of its impact is that 63% of 90% of the solder paste we ship worldwide is tin...Given this severe cost increase situation and the importance of tin in the assembly process, we are forced to ask our customers to share the burden with us. As soon as tin prices drop below $9,500/metric ton, I will rescind the surcharge."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
FEINFOCUS (Stamford, CT), a supplier of x-ray inspection systems and tube technology, announces two new additions to the application engineering staff: Dr. Guido Rademaker and Thomas Pukall. With the addition of Dr. Rademaker and Pukall, the company has substantially increased its applications staff.
Under the leadership of newly appointed director of technology development, Dr. Udo E. Frank, the application staff is responsible for identifying future market demands in the global electronics industry and tailoring an x-ray solution to fit each requirement.
The company also announced that Dr. Frank will be the keynote speaker for FEINFOCUS' global technical seminar series on x-ray inspection technology. The company is sponsoring this program in an effort to educate customers on the most recent advances in x-ray inspection technology.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The new Universal Instruments (Binghamton, NY) AdVantis AFC-42 placement machine is designed to reduce the cost of entry for manufacturers needing high mix capability, increased speed and greater accuracy. The machine leverages Universal's platform concept to deliver a low priced but scalable solution ideal for low-margin assembly applications. The machine also has a smaller footprint to occupy less shop floor space.
Like its predecessor, the new machine features a single-beam positioning system. However, it employs dual-drive lead screws as well as 1um linear encoders for accuracy close to that of the GSMxs linear motor based platform.
"All of the capability and functionality of high-end assembly has been transferred to the AFC-42, including high magnification cameras, flip chip algorithms, low force capability, heated spindles, fluxing, several feeder types and dispensing," said Richard Boulanger, vice president of the advanced semiconductor assembly division.
The company believes the placer will be attractive to high-mix and high-volume manufacturers whose markets demand the utmost cost-per-placement efficiency in order to sustain narrow margins.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The National Physical Laboratory (www.npl.co.uk) has announced the launch of a new report, "Susceptibility of Glass-Reinforced Epoxy Laminate to Conductive Anodic Filamentation," written by Alan Brewin, Ling Zou and Christopher Hunt.
Conductive anodic filamentation (CAF) is a subsurface failure mode for woven glass-reinforced laminate (FR4) materials, in which a copper salt filament grows and results in a consequential electrical short between plated through hole walls or adjacent copper planes. In the study, FR4 laminates in the form of high PTH density multi-layer test circuits were exposed to different manufacturing conditions and studied for resistance to CAF initiation and growth.
CAF performance was assessed using high temperature and humidity conditions to promote failures, with a voltage applied across adjacent vias. By applying a range of voltages and via geometries, the basis for a performance map for laminates was obtained for use in materials comparison. The changes due to exposure of laminates to lead-free temperatures and other processing steps were then examined using the technique and a number of important recommendations were made to minimize the possibility of CAF initiation and growth.
All reports released by the Electronics Group at NPL can be searched and downloaded free from: www.npl.co.uk/ei/publications.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Sanmina-SCI Corp. (San Jose, CA), a global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company, and Agilent Technologies Inc. (Palo Alto, CA), have announced a new technique for rapidly generating high-resolution, sub-surface 3-D scans of complex multilayer backplane and printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs).
Using Agilent's 5DX Series 5000 automated x-ray system, the new method verifies how well press-fit connectors with compliant pins are positioned within plated-through-hole (PTH) conduits.
Featuring multilayer construction that can exceed 48 layers, Sanmina-SCI's backplanes deploy high-density, press-fit connectors into PTH conduits with diameters that often measure 0.022 in. and smaller.
Kent Dinkel, Agilent's Imaging marketing manager, Automated Test Group, said, "Our 5DX system was designed to be a powerful x-ray tester always looking for new problems to solve. We salute Sanmina-SCI for galvanizing an application that has enabled the industry's first sub-surface 3-D scans of complex backplanes in production environments."
Dinkel also noted that press-fit connectors having compliant pins are becoming more widely used in a number of PCBA markets.
Sanmina-SCI noted that when multiple component types, including surface-mount devices, populate a backplane or PCBA, the new inspection method can scan the entire backplane—both surface and sub-surface simultaneously—to check solder contacts of components as well as press-fit connector contact integrity.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved
GE Commercial Finance, Global Electronic Solutions (GES, San Diego, CA), an equipment lifecycle management supplier, has appointed Roger Innes as president and CEO. In this position, Innes will be responsible for overseeing and directing all of GES on a global basis and ensuring continued GES growth. Under his leadership, GES will continue to add staff worldwide and develop new products and services.
Previously, Innes was managing director of capital markets and business expansion for GES. Building upon his experience in the technology equipment leasing and finance industries, Innes will continue to promote GES' platform—equipment acquisition, optimization and disposition—to customers worldwide.
"Roger's 20+ years of technological experience in the equipment leasing and finance industries, coupled with being one of the founders of creating the platform for managing the lifecycle of semiconductor equipment, truly makes him the most appropriate person to continue growing GES on a global scale," said Paul Bossidy, CEO of GE Commercial Finance, Commercial Equipment Financing.
Innes was cofounder and president of Comdisco Electronics, whose portfolio was acquired by GE in April 2002. Prior to joining GES, Innes served in various leadership positions in both sales and general management with Comdisco, GE Capital and Equitable Life Leasing companies.
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.
Press Releases
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- Viasion Technology Expands Global Reach as a Trusted PCB Manufacturer and EMS Provider in China
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- Nordson Test & Inspection Expands Partnership with Distributor smartTec Nordic A/S