Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Soldering Pioneer Raby Passes Away

HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Jim Raby, a legend in electronics soldering, passed away this morning.

In a statement, the company said, "It is with deepest regret that we inform you that Jim Raby passed away this morning, June 16 at approximately 6:30 AM. Although Jim’s passing will leave a huge void in each of our lives, his legacy will live on. His love for family, friends, colleagues and country will remain in our hearts and memories for years to come."

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Raby, who was born in 1934, spent his entire career in electronics manufacturing. Starting with the Saturn/Apollo Program, Raby became synonymous with soldering and high reliability printed circuit assemblies. He is credited for developing the NASA and Navy (the famous China Lake) soldering schools, and was instrumental in developing the IPC soldering certification curriculum, used by the vast majority of the industry today. He initiated the Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility (now known as the American Competitiveness Institute). All in all, he trained tens of thousands of engineers and operators.

He was issued patents for wave soldering and embedded components, and initiated the Zero Defect Program for wave soldering. He also was the driver of the Lights Out Factory concept that revolutionized the modern electronics manufacturing facility. Rabyweb

For more than 40 years, Raby worked on industry standards, including DOD-STD-2000, MIL-STD-2000, J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610. He also helped write and implement standards for wire harnesses. He has been involved in the research for lead-free solder processes and materials. His seminal paper, "Standardization of Military Specifications," was the roadmap for reducing some 219 specifications into a single four-document set known as MIL-STD-2000, the precursor to J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610. He has worked on more than a dozen standards and training programs, and chaired or vice-chaired committees on soldering, rework and repair, component mounting, and product assurance. He wrote the curriculum and conducted beta testing for IPC training programs for J-STD-001, IPC-A-610D, IPC/WHMA-A-620, and IPC-7711/7721A, and received the IPC Presidents Award in 1984.

In 2009, CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY named its electronics assembly Hall of Fame for Raby.