News
FCI (Etters, PA), a manufacturer of connectors and interconnect systems, has won a substantial victory in its patent infringement suit involving FCI's ball grid array (BGA) connector technology brought in the U.S. against Hon Hai Precision Industries (Foxconn, Tucheng, Taiwain).
On Feb. 13, after a two-week trial in San Francisco, CA, a jury returned a verdict finding Hon Hai liable for infringement of two FCI patents relating to its BGA connector technology.
The jury also found the infringement to be willful and that Hon Hai is liable for multi-million dollar damages as a result of its infringement of FCI's patents.
The infringing sockets are used in computer notebooks, desktops and servers that use BGA socket technology.
Jean Lucien Lamy, FCI chairman and chief executive officer, said, "We will continue, in this instance and in any other cases that should arise, to pursue all legal means to protect our intellectual property."
BGA patented technology from FCI is currently licensed worldwide to Tyco and Molex for socket applications.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Valor Computerized Systems (Yvane, Israel), a provider of productivity increasing engineering software solutions to the electronics design and manufacturing industry, has reached an agreement with Jabil Circuit Inc. (St. Petersburg, FL), a top-tier electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider. Trilogy 5000 will be implemented at a majority of Jabil's manufacturing and service facilities located in Asia, Europe and the Americas to increase efficiencies in new product introduction (NPI), design for manufacturability (DFM) and assembly process optimization. The deal marks the largest software deployment in Valor's corporate history.
The engineering system selected by Jabil covers the full scope of the assembly engineering solution for an integrated, efficient and productive CAD to DFM to assembly process.
Chris Singleton, global director for manufacturing engineering at Jabil said, "We will be able to accommodate customer ECN's easier and faster as well as provide a higher level of DFM service for customers. Jabil expects Trilogy tools to reduce the engineering process time for new jobs. This is particularly important to our growing high-mix business and will enable us to accelerate new product introductions."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Assembleon (Eindhoven, The Netherlands, a designer and manufacturer of surface-mount pick-and-place equipment for the global electronics industry, and Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (Herzlia, Israel), a provider of manufacturing process management (MPM), have announced an agreement to offer a replacement to the CIMbridge software tool with eM-Assembly Expert, from Tecnomatix Unicam, for all Assembleon customers.
Under the terms of the agreement, the software tool—a key component of the printed circuit board (PCB) assembly and test solution suite from Tecnomatix Unicam—will replace the platform currently being used by Assembleon customers. Since acquiring the CIMbridge business unit from Genrad in October 2002, Tecnomatix has been committed to a transition plan to upgrade CIMbridge users to a more advanced, integrated programming platform.
Assembleon customers will also benefit from eM-Document Expert, a subset of the software that automates the creation of method sheets and other documentation for electronic assembly operations.
The programming front-end will interface with Assembleon optimizers and line balancers for all Assembleon machines. Expansion of the platform to other MPM solutions is available directly from Tecnomatix.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Visiprise Inc. (Atlanta, GA), a provider of manufacturing execution systems for electronics, automotive, aerospace and defense industries, has been selected by Actia Group (Toulouse, France) to provide quality and production management control for its manufacturing plants in Tunis, Tunisia and Colomiers, France. Operating in 13 countries, Actia Group is a manufacturer of vehicle electronics and diagnostics for major automotive and aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
Visiprise Manufacturing, the manufacturing execution software, links OEMs and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) suppliers and provides visibility during the manufacturing process, thereby accelerating new products to market and reducing overall manufacturing costs.
"Actia Group chose Visiprise Manufacturing to handle complex control, tracking and traceability requirements during the manufacturing process," said Robert Consoli, vice president of worldwide sales, Visiprise. "As a supplier to major automotive and aerospace OEMs, Visiprise provides Actia Group with the tools needed to control and to gain visibility of critical routing, repair loop and non-conformance information during the manufacturing process."
Visiprise is a provider of software solutions for real-time visibility and control of manufacturing operations for discrete manufacturers. Its flagship solution is a Web-based, collaborative manufacturing execution system (MES) that helps manage and track the entire production process. It is the industry's only independent platform technology for manufacturing execution.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
DEK (San Jose, CA), a high accuracy mass imaging solutions provider, has taken electroform stencils to the next level by incorporating an exclusive, sophisticated aperture height control method to their production of Eform stencils.
The stencils incorporate provide superior performance and ensure seal contact to the pad, pad paste deposit and a greater percentage volume of paste on pad. The reactive force created by the stencils provides for an even distribution of paste and allows for a more clean release of paste from the aperture. This technology also delivers ultimate control over stencil thickness and uniformity, ensuring paste volume consistency for fine pitch applications. The stencils also improve solder paste release for some of the more challenging lead-free solder paste formulations.
When the stencil process is combined with the new variable aperture height technology (VAHT), it becomes even more powerful.
Richard Tang, DEK global Eform manager, said, "Board co-planarity issues are a prevalent problem. The uneven resist layer causes a poor seal between the board and the stencil, which can result in printing problems. DEK has that problem solved. Our VAHT, an inherent characteristic of DEK's Eform stencils, adjusts for the variances in resist layer heights and provides a uniform seal across the entire board."
DEK's Eform process and inherent VAHT produce stencils that will enable technology for next-generation fine-pitch surface-mount and semiconductor packaging technologies. As the lines between complex surface-mount assembly and semiconductor packaging processes continue to blur, the need for advanced stencil technology becomes even more apparent.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The International Microelectronics And Packaging Society (IMAPS, Washington, D.C.) has announced that Colonel Danny McKnight, whose heroic exploits as Commander of the 75th Ranger Regiment assigned to Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia, were chronicled in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down," will deliver the keynote address at an upcoming IMAPS Advanced Technology Workshop (ATW). The Military, Aerospace, Space and Homeland Security ATW will be held at the Renaissance Harbor Place Hotel, Baltimore, MD on March 28-30.
Col. McKnight recently retired after a distinguished and highly decorated career as a U.S. Army Ranger. His experience represents a lifetime of dedication to the defense of America.
In addition to his expertise in military matters, highlights of his management career include: providing direct financial management, guidance,and oversight of an annual operational budget of approximately $50 million; developing a strategic planning concept and a measurable results program to track its successful implementation for the integration of active and reserve component soldiers as part of the Army's training strategy for the year 2000 and beyond; and directing a staff of more than 300 to provide support for a field force of 10,000 people, who had to meet the training requirements for approximately 250,000 reserve component soldiers.
Col. McKnight's awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit with Two Oak Leaf Clusters; Bronze Star for Valor; Purple Heart; Meritorious Service Medal with Five Oak Leaf Clusters; Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster; Army Achievement Medal; National Defense Service Medal with Bronze Star; Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal with Arrowhead and Bronze Star; Combat Infantryman's Badge; Ranger Tab; Master Parachutist Badge with Bronze Star; and Pathfinder Badge.
Greg Caswell, General Chair of the Workshop, said, "We are extremely proud and honored that one of our country's most distinguished military heroes has agreed to take the time to come and speak at our Workshop."
For more information on the workshop, visit http://www.imaps.org/registration/military2004.htm.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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