Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - White Papers

News

Earnings reports are coming out this week for the mid-size EMS companies and the early results range from good to excellent.

View Mike Buetow's comments at http://circuitsassembly.com/blog/.

Teddington, UK -- David Hillman and Doug Pauls will present a class on “Crafting a Lead-Free Solder Process” at the National Physical Laboratory on June 21. The course covers the necessary elements to develop a robust, high-reliability, Pb-free manufacturing process.

Hillman is a metallurgical engineer in the Advanced Operations Engineering Department of Rockwell Collins. Pauls is a principal materials and process engineer, working on troubleshooting current manufacturing process and development of new materials and processes.

Topics will include: the metallurgy of Pb-free; finish on boards and components; effects on organic materials from higher reflow temperatures – laminates, solder masks, adhesives, fluxes, process aids; assembly equipment considerations; cleaning of Pb-free residues; testing for residues; reliability testing and case studies; process characterization and qualification; environmental waste stream considerations.

To sign up for the course, contact Roger Hughes, Roger.Hughes@npl.co.uk.

TORONTO -- A top executive at Celestica Inc. on Monday suggested to an investor conference that a large acquisition is possible in the company's future.

Celestica treasurer Paul Nicoletti said the EMS firm sees "pretty sizable" opportunities, telling the audience, "I would say right now the opportunities, call it organic-slash-acquisition, are as high now as they've been over the last couple of years."

ATLANTA -- In his blog today, Dr. Brian Toleno of Henkel reminds users to profile adhesives and underfills as they would solder pastes.

Click here to read: http://circuitsassembly.com/blog/?p=16

Westford, MA and Munich, Germany – Zuken and Lockheed Martin have signed a long-term contract for PCB design/ECAD (electronic computer aided design) tools. Zuken was also recently selected as the Preferred Supplier for ECAD by the PCB Design Solutions Engineering Process Improvement (EPI) Program's Electrical Subcouncil, which represents all of Lockheed Martin's businesses.

Zuken's scalable enterprise-wide PCB design solution, CR-5000, is at the core of the contract, along with Signal Integrity design tool suite, CR-5000 Lightning.

BRUSSELS – Valor Computerized Systems has implemented its DFM software at Siemens Bocholt in Germany, the company said today.

In a press release, Siemens said it chose the Valor tool for its extensive DfM analysis and checking capabilities. “We also wanted to improve data management and bidirectional communication with our bare board manufacturer.” The tool has cut setup time and costs and improved handling of manufacturing change orders.

Valor’s DFM software is based on Enterprise 3000 and simulates production from design through manufacture to assembly. Designs are optimized using a physical design model of the PCB assembly to reduce revision spins.