News

An Open Letter of Thanks

One year ago Speedline disclosed to the industry a new concept in printing a PCB called the Accela. That date also marked the end of a period that called for a substantial demonstration of integrity on behalf of a host of personnel in our industry. This letter describes that unusual statement, the timing of this note consistent with legal disclosures for patent rules.

Going back just over four years to the end of 2001, Speedline first met under non-disclosure agreement with a key competitor's customer to discuss a concept for a printer. They were interested because the machine promised to help them meet what was outlined in their roadmaps, and their interest was high enough to sustain 12 design review meetings between the two companies over the ensuing years, all held under NDA.

As the project grew to more than just baseline conversations, Speedline opened dialogue with customers at 47 locations around the globe, again all under NDA, to ensure that the requirements for the machine would meet the needs in the market. This took place throughout 2002 and into early 2003, and roughly 180 people knew enough about the printer to require NDA coverage that early. As suppliers were engaged and we progressed through development into beta-site testing, even more NDAs were executed, bringing the total to just over 1000 people who knew enough details to have critical information.

I started this letter with the word "integrity." Over the past year, since we made our first public disclosure of the new system, I have had the opportunity to discuss the surprise element of the launch of this system with customers, suppliers and even some competitors (especially with a couple we hired). Over 1000 people knew details about this product during its development for periods from six months to four years, and as far as I can tell there were absolutely no leaks, other than the project name itself.

Personal integrity is alive and well in our industry. This is a note of thanks to those who kept their word over such a long period of time. A couple have mentioned that it is to be expected when NDAs are executed, yet on such a grand scale as this it is heartwarming to know that the people we work with on a day-to-day basis hold themselves to such a high standard. To all who knew: thank you.

Bob Boyes
Speedline Technologies

Tomorrow Is Here

Interesting piece [Caveat Lector, March 2006]. In the last paragraph you mentioned "tomorrow it might be stricter environmental laws that will choke our business."

Tomorrow is here and you document it every issue on the cover. Lead-free is the most costly and useless thing I have ever seen (global warming notwithstanding). The potential for disaster from tin whiskers is more of a threat than any terrorist. We can only hope this boondoggle burns itself out before many people are killed.

Andy Pecota
San Jose

CEMS: It's All About Soldering

In response to Phil Zarrow's column on reflow profiling ["Reflow Profiling: Do it Right," February 2006], Amen! As a product engineer, I am the interface between design engineers and our contract manufacturers. I can't understand the reluctance of anyone who builds electronics to not have good, solid reflow profiles for each of their products.

I have had manufacturing engineers tell me, with smiles on their faces, that they have worked out a universal reflow (in this case, vapor phase) profile and it works for everything. Yet they can't explain the cold, grainy intermittent solder joints on my boards, except it's not due to their process.

And there are the folks who profile bare boards (thinking they are actually accomplishing something) but again, have no explanation for poor solder joints.

We manufacture outdoor-rated industrial computers ; our devices perform in an outdoor environment and are expected to operate for a minimum of 25 years. I have my hands full with CEMs and ensuring that the product is made to survive harsh environments for such a long time. Most of their focus and experience is in making products that do not have the life expectancies that we need, so I have to teach them the manufacturing and quality tricks and techniques that they need for our product requirements. The biggest problem area I encounter outside of product-specific requirements? Soldering. Profiling is near the top of the list, as it's a daunting challenge to convince manufacturing engineers that they can't just wing it by eyeballing an assembly, changing a few settings and hoping for the best. The better they solder, the better their bottom line: scrap and rework come out of their profits.

CEMs have one main operation: soldering. Everything they do hinges around their ability to solder. If they can't do it, it's time to turn out the lights and go home because it throws into question their ability to produce a product that will work in our application. My sentiment has been conveyed to CEMs on occasion to drive the point home that we are not pleased with their soldering quality.

Thank you for the column. It's nice to see that I'm not alone in this.

Name withheld by request

Send your thoughts to Editor, Circuits Assembly, email: mbuetow@upmediagroup.com. Letters must include the writer's name, address and company affiliation and may be edited for length and clarity.