News
AIM has announce an international series of seminars entitled "Finally! Practical Guidelines for Achieving Successful Lead-Free Assembly." The series will kick off in the Pacific Northwest later this month and continue throughout 2004. The seminars will be led by AIM and guest speakers from multinational original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers such as Intel and RadiSys.
With the WEEE/RoHS Directives outlawing lead from electronics in the EU by July 2006 and foreign competition driving the implementation of lead-free electronics assembly around the world, manufacturers need to fully understand the steps to take to successfully transition to lead-free assembly.
To successfully achieve lead-free electronics assembly, each participant in the manufacturing process, from purchasing to engineering to maintenance to quality, must have a solid understanding of the changes required of them.
While there are many theoretical workshops on lead-free assembly, this seminar focuses on the practical considerations for achieving successful lead-free assembly at your factory. Each step of the manufacturing cycle is addressed, from purchasing parts to inspecting assembled boards. Solid advice, real world examples and helpful images of the means to overcome the many challenges of lead-free assembly are presented.
Upcoming seminar dates are: March 30 in Spokane, WA; March 31 in Seattle, WA; April 1 in Portland, OR; April 7 in St. Louis, MO.
To participate, contact David Suraski of AIM: (401) 463-5605; email: info@aimsolder.com.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Digi-Key Corp. announced that they have signed an agreement with Analog Devices Inc. (ADI, Norwood, MA) that allows Digi-Key to distribute ADI products in the Americas. The relationship will give ADI customers increased access to product, as well as provide them uninterrupted services and support systems through Digi-Key's distribution channel and real-time online service capabilities.
Digi-Key now stocks a full line of ADI's product offerings, including analog integrated circuits (ICs), digital signal processors (DSPs) and micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) products. These products are in stock and available for immediate shipment to customers in North, Central and South America.
"By combining ADI's strong brand name and product presence with Digi-Key's ability to reach our growing customer base, this relationship is mutually beneficial to both companies and respective customers," said Richard Begen, director of worldwide distribution, Analog Devices. "Digi-Key provides a choice for customers interested in purchasing ADI products through the catalog distribution channel, thus providing ADI greater reach in servicing its large customer base."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Cognex Corp. (Natick, MA), a supplier of machine vision systems, announced that Palomar Technologies (Vista, CA), a manufacturer of automated, high-precision assembly systems for the electronics, automotive, aerospace and medical industries, has integrated Cognex's MVS-8000(R) machine vision system into its new Model 8000 thermosonic wire bonder.
Wirebonders are automated, high-speed machines used during the manufacture of semiconductor chips to attach semiconductor die to lead frames and other substrates. The Cognex vision systems will be used to guide and monitor the bonding process by automatically determining where the connections between the die and lead frame are to be made. Using Cognex machine vision, the Palomar bonder is able to place eight tightly spaced wires per second, with a repeatability of better than five microns.
"Palomar has relied on Cognex as our primary vision supplier for the past 15 years," said Bruce Hueners, vice president of marketing for Palomar Technologies. "We consider the engineering staff at Cognex to be an extension of our own and we capitalize on their name recognition and position in the industry to help promote our products. Cognex machine vision has been one of the important features that differentiates our product, and it provides our customers with a strategic competitive advantage."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Kester (Des Plaines, IL) and Metcal (Menlo Park, CA) will present a three-part lead-free assembly seminar at the Advanced Manufacturing Expo at The International Center in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on March 24 and 25, 2004. Kester and Metcal will both be featured in the Innovations Stage, located on the show floor and in a seminar room adjacent to the show floor as part of the Flex Forum.
Lead-free Assembly - Part 1 is designed to assist electronics assembly manufacturers with a reliable and cost effective implementation of lead-free assembly operations. The seminar covers the main issues with lead-free soldering in surface-mount technology, wave soldering and its rework operations. It also offers technical and practical information on preventing process issues usually associated with lead-free soldering. Successful case studies are also discussed, showing solutions to issues typically encountered with lead-free assembly. The seminar will have speakers who will address specific issues such as rework, profiling and inspection. This part of the seminar is designed for process engineers who are or will be implementing lead-free assembly and its rework operations. It will be beneficial to line supervisors, group leaders and line operators wishing to understand these processes as to offer immediate and effective process solutions.
Lead-free Assembly - Part 2 is also designed to assist electronics assembly manufacturers with a reliable and cost effective implementation of lead-free assembly operations. Additionally, it covers the main issues with lead-free soldering in surface-mount technology, wave soldering and its rework operations. Hands-on demonstrations of the following will be available to attendees:
• thermal requirements for lead-free rework operations
• flux selection for lead-free hand assembly and rework
• maintaining production yields and reliability with lead-free rework.
Lead-free Assembly - Part 3 is part of the Flex Forum and will be presented in Seminar Room. The final part of the seminar details the "8 Steps to Lead-Free Assembly," in the implementation of a lead-free process. This seminar will be beneficial for those seeking to be in a position to implement lead-free soldering or in the process of drafting an implementation plan. For those who have or who are currently implementing a lead-free process, this seminar will help greatly in developing a solid understanding of the process variables. Monitoring of these variables will maintain excellent production yields and product reliability with lead-free operation. Topics covered include:
• lead-free alloy selection
• component and board finishes for reliable lead free
• selecting the flux chemistry for lead-free operations
• Optimizing lead-free surface-mount technology, wave and rework operations
• prevent soldering defects with lead free.
Assembly Canada is Canada's only tradeshow dedicated to the function of assembling discrete parts into finished products. Canadian High Technology Show (CHTS) is a forum for industry professionals to assess and compare the latest products and services for electronics manufacturing. These two events form the basis of Advanced Manufacturing Expo.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Foresite Inc. (Kokomo, IN)has recently earned ISO 9001:2000 certification, which assures its customers that the highest and most current quality standards are used. The certification is based on an audit by third party agency Quality Systems Registrars Inc (QSR) and indicates that Foresite has successfully revised its quality management systems to meet the updated criteria of ISO 9001:2000 Quality Management System standards.
The assessment by QSR certifies Foresite as a provider of laboratory testing and consulting services for its Kokomo facility. The facility services the electronics manufacturing industry.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world's largest developer of standards. The non-governmental organization acts as a bridge to meet the needs of global businesses and societies. ISO's network includes 148 countries with a Central Secretariat in Switzerland that oversees the system. QSR is an international certification organization established in 1991, and located in Sterling, VA.
Foresite (formerly CSL Inc.) is a process consulting house and analytical laboratory dedicated to solving reliability issues for electronic assemblies. The company specializes in failure analysis, process qualification and investigative analysis.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
DEK (Flemington, NJ), a high accuracy, mass imaging solutions provider, has announced a new representative structure in support of its Canadian customer base. The expansion of DEK's Canadian presence aligns customers with DEK representatives who have specific expertise in capital equipment sales and consumables sales.
Representing DEK's line of capital equipment offerings will be Mektronix Systems Corp., a 15-year veteran in the electronics capital equipment market in Canada. With a specific focus on the equipment market, Mektronix can deliver superior customer service and technical knowledge to DEK equipment customers throughout Canada.
Mektronix will represent DEK's capital equipment line throughout Canada and can be reached via phone: (905) 791-9977 or email: sales@mektronix.com.
Focusing specifically on DEK's line of process support products, which includes tooling, stencils and consumables, will be Arbell International Corp.
"Arbell has done a great job representing DEK over the last 9 years," said Craig Brown, DEK vice-president and general manager. "They have tremendous expertise in the consumables market and we are confident that our customers will benefit greatly from their technical knowledge in this area."
Arbell will represent DEK Process Support Products in all of Canada. They can be contacted at (905) 332-7755.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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