SMT Issue 5

The Importance of Stencil Tension to High Yield SMT Printing Soldering Challenges Faced by the Automotive Industry red carpet

Who’s doing what, where?

inside

nepcon south china 26th - 28th aug 2014

meet the CEos Page 6 Anthony Ambrose, Data I/O (cover) Kyle Doyel of Kyzen Rod Howell of Libra Industries Brian D’Amico of MIRTEC Corp.

Mario Sciberras of Saline Lectronics John Perrotta of Europlacer Americas

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

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inside this issue...

NEPCON South China 2014 Take a look into some of the featured products

12

Technology Today

Industry experts share their knowledge

PROMATION’S ‘Quality in Design’

10

The Value in Growth Strategies with Long-Term Trusted Suppliers

14

Soldering Challenges Faced

12

18 20

22

44 Solder Wetting Basics

4

6

Meet the CEOs

New Products

Norcott Technologies Expands with Europlacer

The Importance of Stencil Tension to High-Yield SMT Printing The Solution to FPCBs Depaneling

26 Nortech Systems Counts on the ezLOAD Board Support System to Reduce Changeover and Increase Revenues 33

It Starts with Design

44

Solder Wetting Basics

40

48

30

PROMATION’S ‘Quality in Design’ Outshines the Competition

54

Lean NPI Application from an EMS Perspective Emerging Electronics Event 2014 Increasing Quality of Life One Solution at a Time

Industry Interviews Interviews with industry experts 7

Anthony Ambrose, CEO, Data I/O Corporation

24

Ernst Eggelar, MD, Microtronic

28 34 52 57

John Mitchell, President, IPC Senta Wong, CEO, WKK

Tom Wittmer, President & CEO, WittcoSales

Mark Stansfield, MD, SolderStar Ltd

New Products

4 NEPCON South China 2014

Exciting new industry innovations

Industry News

30

What’s happening in the world of electronics

Red Carpet

38 50

Photo gallery of industry personalities and events

Page 3

NEPCON

South China 2014 Shenzhen Convention & Exhibition Centre 26th - 28th august

Kyzen

Metcal

PRODUCT AQUANOX A8820 booth #A-1P35

PRODUCT MX-500 Soldering and Rework System booth #A-1K25

AQUANOX® A8820 effectively removes common solder pastes and fluxes, and demonstrates a favorable compatibility profile with stencil cleaning systems. It works well with spray-in-air and select ultrasonic cleaning machines, and is also effective on uncured adhesives. Additionally, the no-foaming property of A8820 is compatible with all materials commonly used in electronic assembly manufacturing and cleaning processes.

Metcal’s updated MX-500 Soldering and Rework System builds on the features that make it an icon in the industry while adding features and updating its appearance with an exciting new look.

The system utilizes SmartHeat® Technology wherein each cartridge is equipped with a self-regulating heater that ‘senses’ its own temperature and closely maintains its pre-set idle temperature for the life of the heater-tip. The MX-500 retains dual port, switchable 40W operation in a new housing, while introducing numerous new features including: integrated power indication meter, user programmable PowerSave mode, ground fault interrupt, universal power supply and compatibility with existing MX-5200 products.

This stencil cleaning product was designed from the ground up to meet the tough challenges of cleaning no-clean, lead-free residue from small, 01005 apertures while being compatible with modern nano-coatings as well as with all the modern offline cleaning equipment currently used in the industry. Providing increased performance adds real value with better prints and modern, green technology that is better for the environment. In addition to rinsing great, this cleaner saves money and provides excellent cost of ownership.

AQUANOX® A8820 is available in 3.8, 18.9, and 208.2 litre containers.

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Metcal’s HCT2-120 Hot Air Pencil is a new addition to its offering of convection rework tools. The hot air pencil, a handheld convection tool, is ideally suited for applications that use smaller components and integrated circuits. As component miniaturization continues, the ergonomics of a pencil allow a user more freedom to access and rework components on the board, without affecting adjacent parts.

The HCT2-120 features a 120 watt ceramic heater and dual stage air pump, digital airflow and temperature controls, fast response and performance, standby mode and universal power supply.

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NEPCON South China is one of the biggest, longest standing trade and sourcing platforms for South China’s electronics manufacturing industry.

This year, the exhibition will display the application of state-of-the-art technologies and products in electronics manufacturing – from SMT to EMA. Solutions for the industry will be comprehensively showcased.

Scheduled to take place between the 26th and 28th August 2014 in Shenzhen, the show is a comprehensive showcase for South China’s entire electronics manufacturing chain.

To get the most from the show and to stay updated on the newest trends and developments, we have gathered a sampling of the products and systems that will be available at the exhibition. From SMT equipment to components and services, read on to find out how these technologies can help your company advance to the top of its competition.

Techcon

VJ Electronix

PRODUCT TS9200D Jet Tech booth #A-1K25

PRODUCT Summit II booth #A-1J45

The TS9200D Jet Tech is a non-contact dispense valve capable of jetting fluid viscosities to 400,000 Cps. Jet Tech offers a fast jetting action producing hundreds of precise droplets in less than one second. The main feature of the valve is a single, easily replaceable diaphragm to eliminate dynamic fluid seals found in other jet valves.

No longer is it necessary to disassemble, clean and replace worn seals, which translates into saving time and money. The diaphragm also allows fast cycle rates because of its very small mass. There is no large sliding valve stem that slows down the process. With this novel diaphragm design, the energy needed to eject a drop can be adjusted providing a wider process window.

Summit II combines the latest in controls and ergonomics from the Micra with the throughput, accuracy and reliability of the renowned Summit 1800. Summit II features a smaller footprint, yet larger board capacity with easy to adjust board support fixtures. Enhanced SierraMate software takes the popular user-friendly operation to the next level with a simple icon driven GUI and unmatched flexibility through easily customized operation sequences.

The Summit II is designed for years of continuous use. Improved lighting and optics make alignment of difficult components, even 01005s, easier than ever. Incorporation of the Micra digital flow control provides optimized reflow profiles for everything from micro passive devices and PoP components through the largest DIMM connectors and CPU sockets. The enhanced side-view camera allows the operator to watch the rework process up close.

Winner of the 2013 NPI Award, the Vertex II incorporates the latest advances in X-ray imaging components with off-axis viewing, all in a smaller footprint. The system offers VJ’s proven production readiness, superior uptime and unmatched value. The Vertex II can be configured with a variety of X-ray sources and detectors, and tailored to your specific application needs.

meet the CEOs the people who make it happen Our industry is driven by a global network of CEOs with the energy and vision that brings new technology and innovation down the line. Every edition, we will introduce you to the faces behind the companies.

Kyzen

Kyle Doyel is the President & CEO of Kyzen, a specialist in precision cleaning chemistries for electronics, advanced packaging, metal finishing and aerospace applications. Doyel’s and the rest of the company’s industry expertise and dedicated customer support combine to provide integrated cleaning process solutions that meet any cleaning challenge. Just as important as the experience are the tools used to help customers solve their cleaning problems. The company’s multi-million dollar investment in its Analytical and Demonstration Laboratories are a unique tool available to customers. Kyzen continuously adds cutting-edge analytical equipment and versatile cleaning machines to ensure it is ahead of the latest technology. Founded in 1990, Kyzen is the leading provider of environmentally responsible, RoHS compliant cleaning chemistries to industries worldwide.

Libra Industries

Rod Howell is CEO of Libra Industries, a leading provider of integrated Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) serving OEMs with complex or technologically sophisticated manufacturing requirements in a broad range of industries including industrial automation, medical, military and aerospace, instrumentation and communications. Two world-class manufacturing facilities allow Libra Industries to provide customers with manufacturing flexibility including complete system build, module and sub-assembly production, as well as simple to complex PC board assembly. With an ongoing commitment to investment in people, quality systems, and the latest manufacturing equipment and processes, Howell and the rest of the team are committed to managing clients’ products from initial design and prototype to full production; assisting their clients in their efforts to improve time to market, reduce total systems cost and increase quality.

MIRTEC Corp.

Brian D’Amico is the President of MIRTEC Corp. MIRTEC Corp. has earned a solid reputation with leading OEM and EMS companies throughout the world for their technologically advanced inspection systems. MIRTEC products have been successful in high-volume markets including cell phone and MP3 player manufacturing, as well as low-volume, high-mix markets such as medical, automotive, aerospace and defense. The company invests heavily in R&D, persistently focused on using stateof-the-art optics, lighting and laser technology in the development of its inspection solutions. Despite current economic conditions, MIRTEC has recorded near triple digit growth in global revenue, which is testimony to the company’s exceptional product offering, strong global sales network and outstanding customer support.

Saline Lectronics

Mario Sciberras is the President of Saline Lectronics, Inc., a circuit board and electro-mechanical box build assembly house located in Saline, Michigan. The company specializes in low- to mid-volume, high-mix electronic PCB assemblies. In addition to

its extensive knowledge of circuit board assembly manufacturing, other strengths include electromechanical design, DFM, and project engineering. From management to its customer service and production teams, the company’s goal is consistent: Deliver the highest quality circuit board assemblies, on time, within budget, and providing the best customer service possible. Sciberras and his staff ensure this happens on a continuous basis. Saline Lectronics is known for its superior service, available inventory and versatility in responding to even the most challenging requirements. The company’s 110,000 sq. ft. facility hosts world-class equipment used by world-class technicians.

Europlacer Americas

John Perrotta is the President of Europlacer Americas. The company designs and manufactures a comprehensive range of highly flexible SMT pick-and-place systems for the global electronics industry. Europlacer became a division of Parable Trust Ltd. in

2013. Europlacer has been developing machines for SMT electronics assembly since the 1970s and invented the intelligent feeder concept in the 1980s. After acquisition by Blakell Europlacer in 1991, the company moved away from split-axis to the inherently more capable X-Y architecture that underpins the company’s pick-and-place machines today. Europlacer’s policy has been to ensure wherever possible that technology purchased many years ago, especially feeders, remain compatible with the latest pickand-place equipment.

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| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

director

spotlight

an interview with Anthony Ambrose, CEO, Data I/O Corporation Data I/O Corporation is the leading global provider of manual and automated programming solutions for Flash, Microcontroller and Logic devices. Since 1972 Data I/O has developed innovative solutions to enable the design and manufacture of electronic products for automotive, medical, wireless, consumer electronics, industrial controls and military/aerospace markets.

Data I/O’s programming systems and value added software enable customers to streamline the programming process with production processes, meet demanding quality requirements and ensure devices are programmed at maximum speed with the highest quality for the lowest total cost of programming.

Q. You joined Data I/O 18 months ago.

At the time you started, the economy was in a downturn and Data I/O had not released a significant new product for a number of years. What is it like to become CEO of a public company in a turnaround situation?

A.

It is challenging and exciting at the same time. What you learn is first you must quickly decide what the problems are and create a plan to get back to long term profitability and growth. We had many of the ingredients: a strong

cash position, great customers and long term relationships. It was clear we had not maintained a leading edge product strategy and we were trying to do too many things. We were losing money and the market had turned downward for capital spending. We had also lost market share in Asia due to pricing and intense competition. We started with the more straightforward decisions. We stopped development on ‘Azido’ which was an acquired technology that was going to cost far too much to productize and we simply could not afford it. We took a $3M write-off and moved on.

We then had to decide whether to cut spending dramatically and wait for the cycle to turn positive or cut less and maintain focus on new product development to be prepared with the best products when business picked up. During my 23 years at

Intel, we always believed that you came out of recessions with new products. In almost a decade in telecom, I saw what happened to great companies that stalled product development after the 2001 bust; they lost their market share to upstarts when the business turned and became irrelevant.

The conclusions were clear to me: it is not simply a case of cutting spending to regain profitability; we must create new and exciting products to lead us back. Standing still and waiting was not an option.

We refocused on our ‘core’ business of device programming. We had to balance the need to invest heavily in new products and getting back to profitability. As we cut costs over $1.5M/year, we maintained our core R/D and approved the development of the PSV7000 within the first several weeks. We also told the team they have priority on all of the resources, they had to

director

spotlight

develop a quality product on time and on budget. They were very successful.

Q. The PSV7000 is the first of your new

products from this new focus. How is the system doing in the market?

A.

The PSV7000 is doing extremely well.

It has been well received by customers, channels partners and industry experts.

We recently won two more global industry awards, including APEX best of show in Las Vegas in March and EM Asia at Shanghai NEPCON in April. This brings our total to 4 awards.

Sales momentum has been great and is well above forecast. We have now won PSV7000 system orders on 4 continents.

We are winning business in competitive situations vs. our traditional competition in Automotive, Programming Centers, Industrial and Consumer customers worldwide. We won several orders earlier this year with the PSV7000 in highly competitive situations where the customer valued the significantly better overall performance and small parts handling capability of our system, as well as Data I/O service, and global support.

Our traditional customers like the system, as it is faster, more precise and less expensive than previous automated handlers from Data I/O. It also has all of the benefits and proven reliability of our FLASHCORE III programming engine and associated software. Existing customers are able to leverage their installed base of Data I/O consumables when they upgrade to the PSV7000. This lowers any upgrade costs and eases their transition quite a bit.

I am especially pleased, however, with the reaction from new customers. Over 50% of the PSV7000 opportunities we are working are from new automated customers or customers that have not purchased equipment from us in 5 years or more. They especially like the small parts handling capability and reduced total cost of ownership versus competition.

We had two customers come to us after a competitor failed to meet some promises. Clearly, they see something in the PSV7000 that they have not seen from Data I/O before and this gives us an opportunity to grow the company.

Q.

Now that you have successfully launched your first product with Data I/O, what is next?

A.

We plan to continue to drive down the total cost of programming. Our next step will be to introduce lower cost products, targeted for the Asian markets.

We determined that there is a $10M opportunity that we are missing as we do not offer the right mix of price and performance. We are very excited about this new product and you will see it debut later this year.

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Q.

Are you afraid that lower cost product will cannibalize your higher priced products?

A. Not really. We see different requirements

in some of our markets and customers.

The PSV7000 provides capabilities no other system in the world has, and that will always be attractive to the automotive, medical, markets and certain customers.

There are markets where the primary driver is cost, and we will be able to participate in those for the first time.

Q.

You mention products quite a bit, what about the people?

A.

The people at Data I/O are very focused on winning in the market and developing the industry’s best products. In our transition, we not only had to develop a strategy, but we also had to change out some people. This is the tougher part of the job. We also found some hidden leaders inside the company; people who have the right mindset, but were not in the correct roles or could do more. These people were given additional responsibility and encouragement.

The new Data I/O has people that want to succeed and are expecting their co-workers and themselves to deliver results. I am excited about our team and their passion.

Q. With your team in place and the product line coming into focus, what are the prospects for Data I/O and the industry? Tell us where you see growth, both near term and longer term.

A. Today we participate in growth markets

including automotive electronics and consumer devices, including smartphones, tablets and entertainment systems. Our PSV7000 has already lowered the cost of programming by 30-50% for our customers and we plan to continue this trend with new lower cost systems to be introduced later this year. This gives us an opportunity to gain share from substitute methods of programming. Several customers have come back to Data I/O from alternative methods of programming, such as In Systems Programming (ISP), as their code sizes continue to increase and our cost to program continues to decrease faster than other methods.

As production labor costs increase worldwide, we also see more customers looking to automate production, even in markets that have been considered ‘low cost’. Today, we see the crossover point at about 100k units/year for automated programming to be less expensive than manual programming in mature markets and a little bit more in emerging markets.

We see another 30-50% reduction in the cost of programming based upon new product introductions in the next 12 months, and this will further accelerate the trend to automated Data I/O programming.

Q. What is the “Total Cost of Programming” and why do you talk about this?

A. The Total Cost of Programming (TCOP) is something Data I/O originated as a way to help customers compare apples and oranges. When a customer is looking to make a decision on programming technology, they often have incomplete information and find it difficult to determine which of several methods is lower cost. They look at raw speed, programming times, upfront costs but, until now, did not have a way to evaluate competing technologies and whether a manual or automated system is most appropriate. This varies greatly by the type of customer we have. OEMs with their own factories can do this analysis over a multiyear horizon and EMS companies may have a shorter horizon. We allow them to look at capital costs, labor costs, consumables, any ongoing costs, and equipment utilization to develop a model and get to the lowest total cost for their application. We typically find that for OEM customers with very small volumes, they can outsource their programming cost effectively. Once volumes become greater than 50,000 per year, we generally find that an in-house solution is preferable. Above 100,000 to 200,000 parts per year, we find an in-house automated solution is the best choice. These are guidelines and we have the tools to work each individual case with the customer and our sales channel. We are also in a better position to advise customers on whether offline automated programming is lower cost than ISP or other methods.

Our TCOP models allow for a very open discussion with customers that help them make the right choices.

Q. What about the ‘Internet of Things’?

Is there a play there for Data I/O?

A. We are seeing a lot of press about the ‘internet of things’. This refers to an increasing amount of intelligence and connectivity in devices that were previously standalone. Examples include smart home automation, wearables, smart grid, sensor networks, and the like. All of these devices need to be programmed, and the Total Available Market is expected to move from 10B to 50B units/year over the next 5-7 years according to The Economist magazine. We are looking at this now, and planning for how best to participate in this explosive growth. Our customers will not only be choosing between Data I/O and our traditional competitors, but between us and substitute methods for programming.

Our recent advances in reducing the total cost of programming, as well as our broad portfolio of value added SW for security, manageability and factory integration help us here. We have the technology to program the internet of things, and we need to make this technology attractive by making it the most secure, managed, and cost effective way to program these new devices and applications.

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The Value in growth strategies with Long-Term Trusted Suppliers

by SMT Today’s Staff Editor

attended by more than 100 people, there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by a tour of the new state-of-the-art facility and a champagne toast. Industry leaders along with high-ranking officials such as Nevada and Clark County economic affair leaders attended and found the VadaTech facility to be designed for growth and the company itself to be a model of business evolution in Clark County.

VadaTech Continues Growth Strategy through Its Partnership with LongTerm Trusted Supplier Kurtz Ersa North America.

With global headquarters in Henderson, NV and a new manufacturing facility in Las Vegas, VadaTech, Inc. is a leading edge board-level design and manufacturing company focused on quick-turn designs for the embedded market. The company has a strong global reputation for generating innovative product solutions to its customers’ business problems; whether those relate to technical challenges, timeto-market issues, or the need to completely outsource platform production. The company’s flexibility, technical strength and ability to quickly engage both engineering and commercial functions help customers to generate and seize new opportunities.

“At VadaTech, we differentiate ourselves from other embedded computer manufacturing companies by incorporating our customers’ vision into the product specification and development process, all the way through to deployment,” said Saeed Karamooz, President and CEO of VadaTech, Inc. “Our partnership philosophy with our customers expands their engineering resources, increasing their value.”

The core of VadaTech’s business is fulfilling the needs of its customers – from design and service to delivery and support. The company continues this commitment by expanding its capabilities worldwide and bringing in top talent to serve its customers.

Along this vein, VadaTech recently opened a new state-of-the art facility in Las Vegas.

To celebrate the grand opening of the Las Vegas facility, VadaTech hosted a tour and reception on Friday, March 21, 2014. Well-

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The new facility comprises nearly $25 million in construction and new electronic manufacturing and test equipment. Due to growth and several successful leadingedge solutions in the embedded market, VadaTech continues to expand. It also operates out of a 35,000 sq ft facility in Henderson, NV and this facility will continue to run its two assembly lines while the new facility expands the total lines to six.

As part of this aggressive expansion project, VadaTech again has turned to Kurtz Ersa North America, a leading supplier of electronics production equipment and the market leader in selective soldering, to provide the most updated solutions for today and into tomorrow.

VadaTech purchased Ersa’s HOTFLOW 3/20 reflow systems with intelligent control system and low consumption of consumables as well as ECOSELECT 1 selective soldering systems, which are suitable for processing prototypes or small batch sizes. Equipped with the same components as the VERSAFLOW systems, programs written for ECOSELECT 1 can be transferred to other Ersa selective soldering units.

Jawaid Motiwala, VadaTech’s Director of Operations, said that the company has used Ersa for many years now and has come to realize that their products are the most reliable in the marketplace. He continued on to say that VadaTech has used Ersa products since its inception in 2004 and has never had any issues with their systems or technologies. He also feels that the company’s customer service is superior and designed to provide the help and training that he needs – when he needs it.

“In our opinion, Ersa makes the highest quality products in the marketplace.

With our newest acquisitions, we have numerous pieces of Ersa’s equipment and

consider these to be key equipment in the set-up of our lines,” added Motiwala.

With a focus on MicroTCA and AdvancedTCA solutions, VadaTech offers unmatched product selection and expertise in the full xTCA ecosystem. The company reviews customers’ computing requirements and provides creative, advanced solutions for specific applications. Although its platforms of choice of MicroTCA and Advanced TCA, it can design to any architecture. With its unique combination of electrical, mechanical, software, and system-level expertise, VadaTech provides customized commercial or rugged computing solutions to meet the most complex customer requirements.

Regardless of the architectures, VadaTech’s design teams are experts at transferring technology from one form factor to another.

Its expertise ranges from processors, A/D & D/A, infrastructure, chassis and applicationready platforms to carriers, digital I/O, Ethernet and networking, graphics and video mixing, storage, test and development, and more. Alex Acosta, VadaTech’s SMT Line Manager, said that like Kurtz Ersa, the company also has a global reach with involvement in numerous industries including mil/aero, communications/cloud, networking, industrial control, high-energy physics/ research, medical, transportation, energy, and test and measurement. Part of VadaTech’s success in reaching these industries on a global basis comes from partnering with companies like Ersa that strive to provide the most technologically advanced products and technologies that help place VadaTech at the top of the industry.

Throughout each project, VadaTech’s team works closely with its clients to ensure that a high level of support and communication is provided from development through to successful deployment. Its collaborative approach to product development enables it to share “the power of vision” with customers.

VadaTech also works closely with its long-term and trusted partner Ersa. “We consider Ersa a top vendor and a trusted supplier, and we always go there first for our equipment needs,” concluded Motiwala. “As we look back on our growth over the years, we consider Ersa to be a part of our success since we have partnered with them since our company was founded 10 years ago.”

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

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PROMATION’s “Quality In Design” Outshines the Competition

by Michael Goldberg, Customer Support/Robotics Technician, PROMATION Inc.

Reynoldsburg, Ohio, PROMATION was able to conduct a comprehensive review of systems that had originally been installed more than nine years ago. “This visit has been both educational and informative,” said Gary Goldberg, President and CEO of PROMATION. “By understanding and analyzing the life spans of equipment currently undergoing real-life scenarios, we gain important insights as to our excellence and our areas allowing for improvement.

As a manufacturer of premium solutions, it is vital that we understand how our equipment performs in the field and that we continually offer outstanding support, ensuring that our customers remain at the highest level of satisfaction.” ____________________________________ PROMATION ESV-700

There is no question that PROMATION is a key player in the world of printed circuit board (PCB) handling solutions offered in today’s marketplace. But what differentiates PROMATION from companies claiming to offer a premium solution? Many times when a customer is making a decision to automate a process in order to decrease cycle time or increase product throughput, they can be bombarded with proposals by many companies claiming to offer “the best” solution.

This upcoming fall will be PROMATION’s 15th anniversary and the company is proud to have provided customers with outstanding solutions and products that fit or surpass expectations. Hence, there must be a reason why PROMATION has been fortunate enough to have survived through a turmoil economy and, to this day, continues to provide PCB handling solutions to the electronics industry. The answer may be rather simple. However, the road to achieving world-class status — which is where PROMATION now stands — is, in fact, more complex. Over the years, PROMATION has continually reviewed applications, processes, customer feedback and product offerings to remain competitive and to offer continual improvement to product designs.

On a recent visit with contract manufacturer Dynalab, whose facility is located in

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by understanding and analyzing the life spans of equipment currently undergoing reallife scenarios, we gain important insights as to our excellence and our areas allowing for improvement

____________________________________ Because Dynalab is continuously presented with unique manufacturing opportunities, its capabilities have stayed diverse and vertically integrated. Dynalab provides a wide range of technologies, including-through hole and surface mount PCB assembly, wire harness and cable assembly, insert molding, and electromechanical assembly.

Craig Reiselt, Director of Manufacturing for Dynalab, reported running PROMATION’s equipment virtually incident-free over the past nine years. “We have achieved great faith in PROMATION’s products,” says Craig Reiselt, “By incorporating handling systems that perform well in a high output environment we allow ourselves more time

dedicated towards our products; while eliminating time spent troubleshooting the production line.” Dynalab is a high-volume shop that runs three shifts, often seven days a week and has rigorously worked the equipment.

PROMATION’s technical review noted that the equipment was still in excellent condition (considering the workload) and would continue to perform for many more years with regular upkeep.

So what is the key to PROMATION’s success?

The company believes that an honest and well-designed product is the key element.

By introducing products that require less maintenance and troubleshooting while increasing flexibility on the production floor, it has succeeded in retaining a strong foundation as one of the world’s leading manufacturers of premium automated solutions. While most of PROMATION’s designs remain proprietary, it believes that the “quality in design” is truly the most important aspect to its success.

It is well known that not much has changed in the conveying industry with regards to the simple transport of PCBs from one process to the next. However, PROMATION has managed to offer customers long-lasting custom solutions that best fit their needs without over complication. Some of these outstanding solutions include: traceability solutions (tracking of a PCB from initial birth until final assembly), intelligent routing systems, large platform handling solutions, automatic label placement and much more.

As PROMATION looks toward celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, it surely has many things to be thankful for. “Without our customers’ trust and loyalty, PROMATION simply would not exist,” concludes Gary Goldberg. “We are now entering a new golden era of electronics manufacturing, and we are proud to have served so many excellent customers with a truly premium solution.

We are excited about the advancements in technology unfolding within our industry and look forward to celebrating another 15 years of excellence.”

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

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Soldering Challenges Faced by the Automotive Industry

by Yusaku Kono, Marketing Director, JAPAN UNIX Co Ltd

In the automotive world of electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid vehicles, green diesel, and ever-advancing computerization, what lies at the leading edge of soldering technology to support automotive electronics? What soldering technology is demanded by automotive electronics and on-board components?

Electronics technology is essential for advancing automotive performance and functionality today. Beginning with hybrid cars’ use of the motor as an actuator, a large number of objects, previously operated by mechanics, have begun moving into the realm of electronics.

Advancements in computerization have increased the presence of soldering technology in this industry. The specialists at JAPAN UNIX, based in Tokyo, reported the latest soldering case in automotive electronics.

Figure 2. Electronics in automobiles continue to increase

Actuators: Due to the use of motors as actuators, there has been an increase in motors and motor drivers. Additionally, a higher number of ECU (engine control units) and DC-DC converters are added in hybrid cars.

Fuel efficiency: With the change to hybrid vehicles, parts that previously were driven by the engine are now electric.

For example, where the air conditioning compressor was previously spun by the rotation of the engine, current electric models use electricity from the battery to generate spin. Furthermore, the water pump used to circulate engine coolant fluid has switched to an electric pump, which is a significant change.

Figure 1. The importance of soldering technology is directly related to the advancing computerization of automobiles

The number of electronic components in automobiles has been rapidly increasing, due to the appearance of hybrid and electric vehicles. Sensors and other electronic components are essential to the increasing performance of modern automobiles.

On-board Electronics on the Rise The already-dramatic increase in on-board electronics due to the computerization of automobiles will continue to rise. There has been an increase in electronics within automobiles, in practice, the parts that have changed are mostly in the fields of actuators, fuel efficiency, safety features, comfort and amenity.

Page 14

Figure 4. Modern GPS navigation system

Comfort and amenity-related parts: Here, we can find GPS navigation systems, keyless entry, reverse monitors and seat position adjustment mechanisms, among others. While they do not affect the automobile’s primary purpose as a mode of transportation, they make transportation more fun and comfortable. ____________________________________

‘‘

ABS and airbags are characteristic examples of the realization of electronic controls, which activate in an instant and can be implemented only with electronics

____________________________________ All of the aforementioned items are mounted by way of soldering, making it clear that this technology plays a vital role in the increasingly-high efficiency and functionality of automobiles.

Mechatronic Integration

Figure 3. Safety

Safety features: When a sensor detects an abnormality, an electric signal is sent, and the relevant function is invoked. ABS and airbags are characteristic examples of the realization of electronic controls, which activate in an instant and can be implemented only with electronics.

The collision avoidance and prevention systems also have electronic controls at their foundation.

Automotive soldering demands high quality and reliability.

Mechatronic integration requires better technology.

The powerful technology behind automobiles can, with a single misstep, significantly impact human life. With the increase in electronically controlled parts and functionality, the solder used in on-board electronics is held to much higher quality and reliability standards than in regular electronics. For example, the temperature when soldering is fixed for a given joint

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feature continued... strength. In the automotive industry, it is imperative that the soldering process is managed in such a way that it is carried out at the required and exact temperature.

Furthermore, while in the past soldering was done in order to mount electronic components to a substrate, there has been a recent increase in “mechatronic integration.” For automobile manufacturers, these modules offer several benefits in cost, space requirements and weights. However, for those who manufacture the modules, they must cope with maintaining the previous quality of the product, while coping with a complicated facility and taking into account soldering and conveyance methods. As a result, there is a demand for new levels in high technology to deal with these issues. ____________________________________

Until now, the process of most electronic component mounting took place in the following four stages: • A laborer places components into the substrate • The substrate is placed into a speciallymade jig • The substrate is rotated • The components are soldered.

This process was carried out by several laborers. In contrast, the flow with the UNIVERSE S is as follows: An articulated robot inserts the components into the substrate from below and holds them in place, while from above the substrate a SCARA robot does the soldering.

Thus, the process has been reduced successfully to a single, unified step.

‘‘

A new product, the Universe S adopts laser technology, which is an ideal soldering robot for automotive manufacturing with lead-free, less solder and less labor

‘‘

Picking and grappling occur at the same time as the soldering — automatically.

Introducing the cutting-edge soldering robot, SOLDER MEISTER UNIVERSE Series, no jig is needed.

Since all path lengths are handled fully automatically, the cycle time is cut to a third of the previous time. Additionally, the footprint of the equipment itself has been greatly reduced, thereby reducing labor costs and improving product quality percentages.

Page 16

Furthermore, since the soldering process is performed by laser, the iron tip’s dissipation and related replacements are no longer an issue.

This leads to huge cost cuts, such as consumption spending dropping to 1/50, and maintenance-related labor costs reducing to 1/6. Needless to say, maintenance time has never been needed. Thus, the factory has achieved full automation and has been able to run for 24 hours. ____________________________________

the factory’s previous soldering product quality percentage was 95% but due to the uniformity introduced by the robot, it improved its quality percentage to nearly 100%, which resulted from a vision sensor function

____________________________________

A new product, the Universe S adopts laser technology, which is an ideal soldering robot for automotive manufacturing with lead-free, less solder and less labor. It unites electronic components picking, substrate insertion, and soldering into one sequence.

It uses a SCARA robot above the substrate and an articulated robot below the substrate to handle insertions. It takes advantage of a feeding unit, which provides solder on demand, thus, significantly reducing a large amount of solder.

seconds, cutting the time to almost a third of the original number. The space required for the manufacturing machines was also reduced to a third of the previous area. Additionally, the factory’s previous soldering product quality percentage was 95% but due to the uniformity introduced by the robot, it improved its quality percentage to nearly 100%, which resulted from a vision sensor function. The robot identifies defective pieces before insertion and throws them aside.

____________________________________

Figure 5. SOLDER MEISTER UNIVERSE S

In one factory where the UNIVERSE S was installed, it had previously taken one laborer 150 seconds to soldermount one component. However, after the installation of the UNIVERSE S, that time dropped to approximately 55

The UNIVERSE S was developed from our customers’ requests to reduce manufacturing costs. The company’s strength lies in our ability to meet customers’ needs and overcome their challenges through production lines.

The future as a dedicated soldering company will see us continuing to develop new technologies that will solve customers’ manufacturing problems throughout the world.

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

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Norcott Technologies Expands with Europlacer

by Russ Magee, Managing Director, Norcott Technologies

Over the ensuing years the business model proved successful and volumes increased accordingly. Norcott invested in further SMT equipment more aimed at this higher volume section of the market with the purchase of Siemens and JUKI equipment while increasing their capabilities with the addition of AOI and X-ray systems.

Norcott’s design and manufacturing centre resided in the picturesque area of Tarporley in a quite literally green field area with beautiful gardens and views of the surrounding Cheshire countryside, and while the location was quite idyllic in the early days, the amount of floor space available was becoming a challenge.

Norcott Technologies, a Cheshire-based contract electronics manufacturer, was funded in 1997 by the management team of Mosaic Technology with the aim to provide electronic design services to OEM manufacturers.

The longer term goal was to provide a full service, combining the design capabilities with the ability to also manufacture the products for the end user. So, in September 1999, a medium-capacity SMT line was installed, the heart of which was the Europlacer EP400 system, which even then offered the facility to place a range of devices from fine pitch QFP to microBGA devices. ____________________________________

‘‘

Even back in 1999 we were utilising the full flexibility and intelligence of the Europlacer platform

____________________________________ Managing Director Russ Magee comments, “Even back in 1999 we were utilising the full flexibility and intelligence of the Europlacer platform, which allowed us to assemble a wide range of PCBs. The machine was capable of a maximum of 4,000 cph, so we were not aiming at the higher volume business at that stage.”

Page 18

“We realised that we needed to relocate some time ago, but finding the right location which was right for the business, customers and for our employees was tough,” said Russ. “After some time, we decided to move the business to its new location in Widnes. We were fortunate to find a large enough facility that had housed another high-tech business, and so a lot of the infrastructure was already in place.”

A decision was made to make an investment in a new manufacturing line, which would be installed in the Widnes building from day one. While searching for the new building, Norcott began investigations into potential suppliers to provide this new line and Russ tasked his Technical Manager, Martin Baker, and Senior Engineer, Paul Copeland, with the job of evaluating the SMT market and to select which equipment manufacturer would be suitable.

systems (Europlacer) and stencil printers (Speedprint) through to other SMT products such as PCB handling, AOI systems, reflow machines and more. So after some further evaluations on Blakell Europlacers general equipment offering, Norcott selected a full line comprising the Speedprint SP710AVi, Europlacer iineo I, TSM reflow oven and PCB handling. ____________________________________

‘‘

With three equipment types already in use, we had to look at what best suited our business model

____________________________________ ”We also attended a Speedprint technology day at the MTC facility in Coventry, where Blakell Europlacer showed us the Speedprint SP710AVi machine and demonstrated the Europlacer iineo in greater detail. We were convinced following that day, that the Speedprint and Europlacer route was the way to go,” added Martin.

The new line was installed earlier this year and is now bedded in and in production.

Russ concludes, “We are delighted to have partnered with Blakell Europlacer, are already seeing the benefits of the new line and looking forward to offering our extended capabilities to our existing and potential clients.”

Martin commented, “With three equipment types already in use, we had to look at what best suited our business model.

We re-evaluated all of these suppliers and, based upon needing a high feeder count, quick setup and changeover and being able to build the high-technology products that we assemble, we came to the conclusion that Europlacer was our preferred route.”

Blakell Europlacer Distribution are able to provide complete line solutions, from their own manufactured pick-and-place

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The Importance of Stencil Tension to High-Yield SMT Printing

by Laszlo Gyalog, Global Applied Process Engineer at DEK

With approximately 60-70 percent of all defects in electronics assembly originating from the printing process and the trend towards smaller and more complex electronic devices continuing unabated, it is critical that printing processes and technologies be refined to deliver more accurate printing.

In this article, Laszlo Gyalog, Global Applied Process Engineer at DEK, shares the findings of new research that demonstrate how the use of advanced stencil technologies, such as DEK’s VectorGuard™ High Tension system, play a critical role in enabling superb transfer efficiency for miniaturized geometries.

Those working in the SMT industry will be only too familiar with one of the main manufacturing challenges today: an increasing demand for smaller, higher-functioning electronic devices.

This challenge means further research is needed to identify processes and innovative technologies that can deliver more accurate and efficient methods of printing en mass. ____________________________________

‘‘

an increasing demand for smaller, higher-functioning electronic devices

____________________________________ The SMT printing process relies on robust material transfer from the stencil to the PCB, and this transfer of material involves two phases: the filling stage and the release stage. Material transfer challenges arise as the stencil gets worn and foil tension decreases. The reduction in tension, often referred to as “sag”, results in less reliable and controlled material release.

To address this challenge, DEK commissioned research to investigate the extent of foil tension and wear on the overall printing process, comparing the use of advanced VectorGuard High Tension stencil technology with standard VectorGuard using the industry’s most commonly used stencils.

Page 20

The Findings In an effort to minimize cost, many mesh mounted stencils incorporate extruded aluminum frames with a very thin wall thickness. DEK’s research revealed that these frames cannot be stretched to high mesh tensions because the sides of the frames will bow inward, reducing tension and adversely affecting print quality.

Based on these findings, DEK engineers were driven to design a stencil that would address the shortcomings of mesh mounted stencil tension, while also delivering a user-friendly, versatile stencil system. Leveraging the advantage of its existing VectorGuard stencil technology, DEK developed VectorGuard High Tension, which expands on VectorGuard’s inherent benefits with a system that provides tension that is 45 percent greater than previous-generation products. With this technology, tension is transferred evenly on all four sides of the stencil, increasing printing accuracy; the glue bonds don’t fail, ensuring reliability; and there is consistent tension for the life of the stencil, reducing repair and maintenance costs. VectorGuard High Tension also ensures a more uniform stencil release from the substrate, yielding better-defined solder paste deposits and minimal peaking.

In this latest research, a VectorGuard High Tension frame with a newlymanufactured foil resulted in fewer deposits below the range of 70% material volume (which decreases the risk of insufficient solder joints after the reflow process) as compared to the foil with the VectorGuard standard frame; in each case, the worn foil (cycled for 10,000 prints) with a VectorGuard High Tension frame achieved better printing results than the VectorGuard with standard

frame. Additionally, each evaluation revealed that when the foil tension was reduced, the results deteriorated. The data suggests that consistent foil tension across the entire stencil plays a critical role in ensuring good transfer efficiency and print definition, particularly for today’s highly miniaturized devices.

Another interesting finding from this work was the impact of foil metal composition - comparing stainless steel and nickel - on solder paste deposit volumes. Whereas the harder nickel stencil does not coin (coining is when a hard squeegee can leave an impression of the board outline in the stencil foil), deformation and coining appeared on the stainless steel foil consistent with the printing direction. This deformation generates harmful effects - such as non-optimized paste volume transfer when cleaning or printing, and indicates that the printing challenges with new versus worn stencils are more significant with stainless steel than with nickel foils. Both nickel and stainless steel foils are options for the VectorGuard High Tension system. Overall, the research confirmed the detrimental impact that tension loss can have on print quality, contributing to greater deflection; inconsistent alignment; and non-uniform separation of the stencil from the board, which can cause poor transfer efficiency peaking and inferior print definition. The study also highlighted the printing improvements that were realized when VectorGuard High Tension was employed.

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The Solution to FPCBs Depaneling

by Giuliano Gallizio, Sales Manager, OSAI Automation Systems

costing a lot of money and negative publicity for the manufacturer. Or it may be said that this is a design-related issue and should be laid at the door of the Design Authority. Depaneling can also cause delamination of the FPCB, creating weak points in the board. This is unacceptable for markets such as medical, aerospace and defense, where quality is an absolute priority.

A study by UCLA in 2013, relating to the USA market, reports that:

“The global flexible electronics market is expected to grow at a projected CAGR of 39% to reach $17.6B in 2018 from $1.76B in 2011. The flex circuit market is primarily driven by the demand for smaller and lighter products, especially in the consumer electronics segment with the projected introduction of flexible tablets in 2014-2015.

In North America, key applications for flex circuits are consumer electronics, military, healthcare and energy.”

There are many factors that are critical to the production of FPCBs, one of which is the mechanical separation (depaneling) of the assembled boards from the frame at the end of the assembly line. This operation is always needed and there are different ways to achieve it - manually by an operator, mechanically using a mold or punch or by laser.

Manual separation is used when the number of the boards is very low and there is no need for high accuracy. The operator has to take care of the quality of the boards and with all the related problems that can occur.

Mechanical separation is probably the most common way to separate FPCBs but there are many risks linked to this way of depanelisation including accuracy

Page 22

of the cut, cracks, component damage, dust and contamination.

The mechanical depaneling of flex circuits is normally made by punching, using presses and dedicated molds.

This technology cannot compensate for the dimensional tolerances always present in FPCBs, due to the material manufacturing tolerances, resulting in poor cutting accuracy and potential rejects. Another problem related to punching is the possibility to cause cracks in the components near to the edge of the board; these cracks may not be so evident as to be detected in the final tests but they can create functional problems during the lifetime of the device. If this problem often occurs, a replacement of product in the field can be requested by the customer,

The global market trend, related to this kind of product, is to have high mix/ low volumes; mechanical punching can be extremely expensive because of the cost of production and the maintenance of the molds. So it does not fit well with this changing market. Also the time needed from project conception of a FPCB to its realization can also be adversely affected using punching because of the need for complicated molds, normally outsourced by the FPCBs producers. A “just in time” delivery is required more and more as to wait weeks before receiving a prototype is no longer practical or affordable in today’s industry, as fast tracking these parts is very expensive, if it is possible.

The UCLA study goes on to state: “Traditional depaneling methods introduce stress onto the board, which can damage both the board as well as the surface mounted components, such as semiconducting chips. See Figure 3 below for a photo of a cracked chip from stresses on a board. Interviews with industry experts discovered that laser depaneling is ideal for PCBs less than ~1-1.6mm thick, especially flexible PCBs, due to the stress from mechanical depaneling methods.”

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

(galvo head). The combination of this laser and this head permits cuts using multiple passes, without moving either the parts or the laser.

A good laser router with this source can offer the following benefits: 1 Clean process avoiding powders, burs and contamination 2

High cutting accuracy

3 30 to 70 µm of cutting width, permitting safe component placement close to the edge of the board It’s becoming more common to use laser depaneling, thanks to the benefits that this technology can offer in terms of cycle time, quality of the cut edges, dimensional accuracy of the cutting and the high flexibility that a laser cut can offer. ____________________________________

‘‘

Traditional depaneling methods introduce stress onto the board, which can damage both the board as well as the surface mounted components, such as semiconducting chips

____________________________________ The final considerations of UCLA study reports that: “Miniaturization refers to the growing trend to produce smaller, more compact electronics. Consider the difference in design of a board made to fit into a server main frame versus the board made to fit into an iPod Mini. This focus on making items smaller has resulted in the growth of flexible circuit boards to adjust to tight spaces, hinges, or the need for curves in product configurations. It has also resulted in tighter tolerances and smaller spacing to cut the board after component placement.

The resulting increase in flexible circuit boards and requirement for tighter tolerances thus presents an opportunity for greater demand in laser depaneling machines, which are capable of handling these delicate boards and making very precise cuts.”

The best laser source for FPCBs depaneling is the UV (355nm wavelength), in combination with a processing head equipped with galvanometric mirrors

4 Few microns of HAZ (Heat Affected Zone) 5 Zero mechanical stress (contactless depaneling) 6 Zero carbonization 7 Zero delamination 8 The recipes can be easily created starting from a dxf file, or directly on the machine using a camera 9 The time needed to create a new recipe is less than half an hour 10 The laser parameters can be automatically adjusted to always have the best cutting quality and speed 11 The interface with the testing machine can allow cutting of only good parts, avoiding processing panels that would ultimately be scrapped 12 The machine can recognize bad PCBs (red label) and skip them avoiding the issue above 13 ID matrix reader should be included in the base machine, for traceability 14 Depending on the laser power, it’s possible to cut even FR4, with a thickness up to 1mm, opening up the rigid market to this technology A CO2 laser is sometimes used for cutting FPCBs, due to the lower cost of this technology compared to a UV laser.

In this case the processing head is not a galvo but a cutting one; the parts (or the laser) have to be moved and the cut is performed in a single pass. This technique generates more heat on

the parts producing high carbonization, dust, powders and a large HAZ (Heat Affected Zone). ____________________________________

A CO laser is ‘‘ sometimes used 2

for cutting FPCBs, due to the lower cost of this technology compared to a UV laser

____________________________________ The conclusion is that UV Laser depaneling will become more and more common in FPCBs industry, due to all the benefits that this technology can offer compared to the alternatives.

technology today interview

an interview with Ernst Eggelar, MD, Microtronic GmbH by smt today staff editor A leading sales specialist of microelectronics, Microtronic GmbH was founded in 1981 by Joop A. Eggelar and is based near Munich, Germany.

With more than 30 years of experience, the company serves its customer base by finding real solutions and offers a wide range of products and services to the micro-electronics industries. It runs regular training courses on various topics through in-house training or can arrange for specific employee training courses on request to suit your needs. Here we catch up with Managing Director, Ernst Eggelar, to find out about solderability testing as well as how the company is faring in 2014.

Q. Who are your customers?

A.

Our customers are companies that require added solderability test, ultrasonic microscopes, circuit board repair systems, welding systems, solders and solder pastes. We offer centralized pricing to our customers with the added benefit of unparalleled delivery times from our centralized European warehouses.

Q.

We understand that Microtronic offers an extensive range of products, including leading-edge systems for the quality control, research, repair and manufacturing industries. Of these, what is your most popular product?

A. I would say that currently it is the LBT-210 automatic and PC-controlled solderability tester. This is a revolutionary system that meets today’s current industry challenges. It can test in the two classical ways with a solder bath or a molten globule of solder. More important for production improvement is our new method using solder paste and a temperature profile. A component is placed on printed solder paste and heated through the same temperature profile that is used in production. All parameters and values during the heating cycle are monitored and analyzed. This is the only known existing method of simulating and qualifying the solder profile

Page 24

of an in-line production solder furnace in conjunction with different solder pastes and components. It is much more cost effective than to optimize the soldering parameters on the production line.

tells the operator if the test is a PASS or a FAIL, and if so, why. The test should be performed with approximately 10 sample components from the same component lot to provide a mean value.

Q. What is solderability testing and why

Microtronic’s LBT-210 solderability tester has software that offers statistical information such as mean value, standard deviation, etc. A camera option offers video of the test cycle and storage in memory with the appropriate test measurements and data. Additionally, it has the feature to test under nitrogen.

This function can be switched on in the software. An enclosure that is flooded with nitrogen lowers and rises with the device under test. Of course, we also included a scraper to clean the molten solder bath of any oxides before every test with the solder bath.

is it important?

A.

A solderability tester – or wetting balance – is a reliable method for checking components, boards, lead frames or any other part/surface that should be soldered. These systems test for solderability, preferably during incoming inspection. If the results are good, the components are passed on to the production area. When the results are unacceptable, the entire lot can be returned to the manufacturer or distributor for replacement. Alternatively, the company can order from another, more reliable source before a lack of components disturbs production. If no action is taken to test the wettability of the components, the risk is that product will not pass functional test at the end of the production cycle because of bad solder joints. The defective units need expensive repairs or they cannot be reworked. Rejects and field failures can easily exceed the investment cost of a solderability tester.

Q. How does it work?

A. The solderability test is performed easily with modern PC-controlled measurement equipment. First, all component-relevant data and test parameters are placed into a screenmask.

Next, the component is clamped in a holder and fluxed. The holder is placed into the tester. The test begins and the system’s software takes all test data, showing the test curve together with the data of the standard norm chosen to determine solderability. So the software looks at different criteria of the data and

Q. In addition to your own products, you provide other brands. Is that correct?

A. Yes, we specialize in providing advanced solutions to our customers that manufacture any type of electronics.

Some of the brands we offer include SONIX, Akrometrix, AIM specialty solders, APE, AVIO, AIT, IMI, Earthtronics, SEIT and many more. Customers everywhere particularly value our service of assisting in the development of new products. We focus on reducing potential problems during production and making testing as simple and easy as possible.

Q. How is 2014 progressing for your company, especially as compared to 2013?

A. Right now it looks very promising. The economy is good and we managed to take on two very good new product lines.

System sales are up compared to last year. At the moment we are expanding our sales force to cover the growing demand and are also hiring in production.

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

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Nortech Systems Counts on the ezLOAD Board Support System to Reduce Changeover and Increase Revenues

by Staff at Nortech Systems

Based in Wayzata, MN, Nortech Systems Inc. is a full-service electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider of wire and cable assemblies, printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA) and higherlevel complete box build assemblies for a wide range of industries. Markets served include industrial equipment, aerospace/defense and medical. The company’s expertise includes medical device, industrial equipment, military/ aerospace, machine vision, EMS contract manufacturing, wire and cable assembly solutions. Additionally, the company has a wide range of specialized, high-tech facilities used for the customized design, manufacture, testing and repair of its contract manufacturing solutions and cable assembly operations.

Over the years, the company has realized that circuit board designs have continued to become smaller and more densely populated. These designs use many finepitch components on both sides of the circuit. With these changes have come challenges in achieving adequate solder transfer during the screen printing process.

After analyzing the process, Nortech Systems discovered that one of the biggest difficulties was providing adequate support for double-sided boards.

“We began to notice a growing failure trend related to the printing process.

Solder bridging, solder voiding and inconsistent printing causing line stoppages prompted us to start looking at our options for achieving consistent and efficient printing,” said Michael Fritz, Maintenance Technician at Nortech Systems. “Several of the options that were tested came with new challenges, including increased setup times and rubber tooling tips that would wear out and cause component damage. We also tried reducing array sizes to reduce the need for boards; however, this option can increase board costs and reduce throughput.”

To combat these issues, the company looked to Count On Tools for its ezLOAD universal board supports.

Page 26

Fritz confided that he was fairly skeptical that the flexible fingers would be adequate when printing double-sided boards. As a result, Nortech Systems requested a demo and tested it out in the following applications: • 150-piece production run of a 14-up assembly array (7 x 2) with 10 mil BGA apertures. This test resulted in zero defects on the BGA. This was great news and the customer was pleased with the increased quality of its product.

• 100-piece production run of a 6-up assembly array (6 x 1) with extensive routing and S0-8 package components located at the edges of the circuit that were known to produce solder bridging.

The test run was completed with zero defects on the S0-8 components.

Not only did the company reduce or even eliminate defects, it also decreased the amount of changeover time with the ease that the ezLOAD printed circuit board (PCB) support system provides.

Nortech Systems has now tested the board support system on four different assemblies known to have solder voids and solder bridging and has achieved great results each time.

Count On Tools’ ezLOAD PCB support system not only reduces changeover times, but improves product build quality, increases revenues by providing significant cost savings, and can eliminate component damage during the assembly process.

testing in the most hazardous conditions.

Additionally, the ezLOAD base is precision machined from aircraft grade aluminum alloys to provide a strong and reliable support for boards. The magnetic locking base enables a quick, easy installation in the user’s machine. Other base designs are available for machines that feature non-magnetic tables.

Most importantly, the ezLOAD PCB Support System is affordable compared to competitive products on the market. Each component can be replaced or upgraded based on the customer’s specific product, equipment or application.

The ezLOAD PCB Support System is simple to use: Simply place the unit on the equipment’s board support table and align as required. Multiple units can be arranged in rows (X & Y) for more support on larger boards.

The ezLOAD PCB Support System is compatible with any SMT equipment, from pick-and-place to chipshooters, screen printers, dispensers, AOI and more. The ezLOAD system can be customized depending on machine requirements, specialized components or specific design application requirements.

“With the ezLOAD system, we continue to notice a significant reduction in defects on component issues including micro BGAs, fine-pitch ICs and leadless components,” added Fritz.

The ezLOAD system features a modular universal design with only two parts: the support pad and the base. There are no mechanical functions to fail and it requires no air, electronics or communication from the user. The support pads feature ESDsafe active grip technology to securely hold boards during the assembly process. The support pads are capable of supporting densely populated, double-sided boards.

The ezLOAD support pads are extremely durable because of the soft, flexible design, and are proven to be reliable after

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

technology today interview

an interview with IPC’s President, John Mitchell by smt today staff editor We take a look at IPC’s focus for 2014, delve into their thoughts on the bipartisan TSCA reform and much more...

Since 1957, IPC has been guiding the electronic interconnection industry through dramatic changes. IPC is the only trade association that brings together all of the players in this industry: designers, board manufacturers, assembly companies, suppliers, and original equipment manufacturers. SMT Today’s Editor had the pleasure of recently interviewing their President and CEO, John Mitchell.

Q.

Early this year, you pinpointed several areas of focus for IPC in 2014, including Member Success, and a brand new program, Validation Services. How has IPC done in making headway in these arenas?

A. IPC staff and volunteers are making great headway in these areas. New membership packages have been introduced at the site and enterprise levels which offer not only greater value for a member’s investment, but also targeted services that address members’ particular needs. In a similar vein, IPC packaged three events into one with the premiere this October of IPC TechSummit in Raleigh, N.C. In response to member requests for more quality education but with less travelling involved, IPC TechSummit introduces a multi-day event that incorporates the 8th International Symposium on Tin Whiskers, the Electronic System Technologies Conference and executive management sessions. Focusing on innovation, reliability and leadership, IPC TechSummit will be a world-class educational event for engineers, technologists and executives.

On the standards development front, we are stronger than ever, gaining more participation around the world, and covering more areas. We’re especially pleased with the progress that we’ve made with our Validation Services (VS) Program.

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The VS program launched in 2013 in response to industry’s need to mitigate risk in the supply chain. And the response from industry has been exciting. The list of QML and QPL certifications has been growing and more companies are evaluating and preparing for audits. Initially, we were planning to introduce the program in the U.S. and slowly expand it into other regions, but demand from Asia has spurred a quicker roll-out; in fact, the first QML certification in China was recorded in June.

IPC is certifying manufacturing sites (QML) and products (QPL) to existing IPC-A-610 and IPC J-STD-001.

Additional IPC standards will be added soon — delivering even more value to mitigate risk and increase reliability throughout the supply chain. Certified companies and products are listed on our Website, www.ipcvalidation.org. ____________________________________

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The VS program launched in 2013 in response to industry’s need to mitigate risk in the supply chain

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Q. You recently posted on Twitter in support of bipartisan TSCA reform, which is an area that is in need of modernized laws. How will new TSCA legislation affect the electronics and manufacturing industries, and why is this something IPC has chosen to focus on?

A.

Chemicals are used in the manufacture of electronic products. IPC members are committed to taking the necessary steps to

ensure the utmost environmental and human health protection. It is imperative that a national chemicals legislation instills confidence in the safety of chemicals while promoting the necessary technological innovation to keep the electronics industry current.

IPC supports current bipartisan efforts in Congress to modernize TSCA. TSCA reform legislation should have strong preemption provisions to avoid a patchwork of state laws. IPC members manufacture products for a global market and therefore rely on one set of standards to meet. IPC also believes that chemicals in articles should only be regulated if regulation of the chemicals alone does not adequately protect human health and the environment.

IPC is pleased that the April 2014 House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and the Economy discussion draft of TSCA reform legislation — the Chemicals in Commerce Act – contains legislative language that highlights the need to exempt byproducts sent for recycling, which IPC lobbied for.

Currently, the EPA’s TSCA Chemical Data Reporting (CDR) rule explicitly states that byproducts sent for recycling are “new chemicals” subject to TSCA CDR reporting because they are considered feedstock to the recycler. This applies to several byproducts produced during the manufacture of printed boards, including copper hydroxide (WWT sludge), copper sulfate (spent baths), cupric chloride (spent etchant), and tetraamine copper dichloride (spent ammoniacal etchant). Needless to say, this short-sighted interpretation actually discourages recycling by making it more cost effective to landfill materials rather than send them for recycling.

IPC not only submitted extensive comments expressing its dissatisfaction

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with the EPA’s interpretation that byproducts sent for recycling are new chemicals but also met with many congressional representatives to secure their visible support of a DSW rule that eases regulatory burdens on the beneficial reuse of valuable byproducts. IPC advocates for science-based environmental regulations through bipartisan reform of TSCA and a DSW rule that encourages recycling of byproducts rich in metals and other secondary materials.

Q. When it comes to sustainability and green practices in the global electronics industry, do you feel that there is one area in particular that is more important than others at this time (such as low halogen vs. rare earth elements vs. RoHS)? ____________________________________

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IPC supports science-based, cost-effective environmental regulations

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A.

In addressing sustainability and protection of the environment, it can often be difficult to identify what is truly a green practice. For example, I would say that none of the three areas you have identified — low halogen, rare earth elements, RoHS — are green issues, and only one of them, rare earth, could qualify as a sustainability issue. The document, IPC White Paper and Technical Report on the Use of Halogenated Flame Retardants in Printed Circuit Boards and Assemblies identifies halogen-free as a marketing term with no environmental justification. Similarly, studies, including one by the U.S. EPA, indicate that the ban of lead in electronics under the RoHS Directive, had a negligible, if not harmful effect on the environment. As far as rare earth elements, this has mainly been a trade and market forces issue. To be honest, while our members are always looking for opportunities to improve their environmental performance, an awful lot of their time, and our staff’s time, is spent dealing with well-intentioned regulations that don’t really improve green practices.

IPC supports science-based, cost-effective environmental regulations. Our government relations and environmental policy staff are constantly monitoring proposed legislation, regulations and rules by governments and agencies around the world and they are working with local IPC groups to address those. So whether we are submitting comments on RoHS stakeholder

consultation for reviewing additional substances for restriction, or we are meeting with the Chinese government to educate them on the technical requirements of the gold plating application process in order to stave off a cyanide-gold plating ban, IPC is actively engaging with regulatory agencies on behalf of its members to protect the interests of its members and advocate for science-based regulations.

Q.

Last year, IPC implemented a five year strategic plan to focus on member success. How has this plan unfolded, and how does IPC define the success of its members?

A.

As part of our five year plan, IPC has adopted the mantras of enhancing the membership experience and adding value for the membership dollar. Executing the former requires every engagement between IPC and its members to be handled in a technically competent, supportive and collaborative way. Executing the latter requires developing new programs and new packages of services that provide more value for the investment and eliminating services that no longer hold value. ____________________________________

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IPC’s mission is to further members’ competitive excellence and financial success by serving as a hub of knowledge

____________________________________ Each member company has its own criteria and definition of “success.” That being said, IPC’s mission is to further members’ competitive excellence and financial success by serving as a hub of knowledge in the electronics industry and providing resources member-companies need to achieve their goals. All of the activities, programs, events and services that IPC offers are designed to help IPC members be more successful in their business, create

better quality products, enhance the skills and knowledge of their employees, reduce costs and waste, comply with regulations and prepare for the future.

Q.

It’s apparent that you’re motivated to invest in IPC’s international operations and global reach. You’ve been quoted as saying that your goal is to ‘speed IPC on the path to becoming the global resource for connecting electronics industries.’ Why do you feel global competition is important to the future of the electronics industry?

A. I don’t think it’s a secret that global competition fosters innovation, productivity and growth — three goals that are critical to our industry. But key to our industry as well are two other “c” words, cooperation and consensus.

Fundamental and germane to the business and progress of electronics is standards development.

Through industry-consensus standards, we [industry] can more effectively negotiate business, whether that is down the street or on the other side of the world.

Providing clarity in communication and understanding expectations, both internally with employees and externally with customers and suppliers (down the street or around the world), is critically important in the quality of your product or service, to productivity, and ultimately to the success of your company.

One of IPC’s core competencies for more than 50 years has been standards development. In addition to the standards development activities that have been leading in the U.S. for more than 50 years, IPC standards activities are now taking place throughout China, and in Europe and India, as well as in cooperation with organizations such as JPCA, WHMA, EIA and JEDEC to name a few.

As IPC volunteers around the world work diligently on the standards critical to our industry, IPC will continue to diligently promote these standards and guidelines to strengthen global communications and ensure progress in the electronics industry.

new products exciting new industry innovation Keeping you informed of the latest developments in technology and innovation within our global electronics industry.

Ersa Offers New Truly Flexible Soldering System Kurtz Ersa North America, a leading supplier of electronics production equipment, recently developed and released the new Mini VARIO Wave, a game changing option for its selective solder systems. The Mini Wave feature offers users the ability to combine a selective solder machine with a wave soldering process in one soldering system.

FastFlow – The New HighSpeed Handling for Viscom AOI

Kurtz Ersa’s patented VARIO Wave, when combined with its world-class selective soldering equipment, offers a stable, reproducible wave soldering process.

Designed for all applications and throughput requirements, the Mini VARIO Wave offers outstanding wettability performance up to 75mm. With Ersa’s renowned controlled movement of speed and wave pressure, the patent pending VARIO technology offers precise pressure and distribution.

Additionally, the Mini VARIO Wave has improved flow characteristics and offers solder snap-off technology.

‘In modern electronics manufacturing, short cycle times with no quality loss plays a critical role in increasing productivity.

The new FastFlow concept from Viscom takes this demand into account. The highspeed transport optimizes throughput and shortens cycle time Currently, this new transport is available for the S3088 family of inspection systems (e. g. S3088 SPI, S3088 flex, S3088 ultra). Due to synchronous input/output of electronic assemblies, the high-speed transport facilitates trouble-free and extremely fast changeovers in as little as two seconds. Even extreme cycle time requirements can be fulfilled effortlessly.

As an additional benefit, the XM 3D sensor module provides cycle times at extremely high inspection depths, giving results previously unattainable for many.

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Bentek and SMA Partner to Begin Shipments of Bentek PV Commercial PowerRacks and PowerSkids with SMA Sunny Tripower Inverters “Bentek is pleased to begin shipping our new three-phase commercial Inverter

PowerRacks and PowerSkids,” said John H. Buckley, Executive Sales and Marketing for Bentek. “The PowerRack is an innovative racking solution for threephase commercial decentralized inverters, such as the SMA Sunny Tripower. Bentek Inverter PowerRacks can be shipped directly to any commercial jobsite where three-phase inverters can be integrated and installed on commercial rooftops.

Bentek can also integrate commercial three-phase inverters and Bentek AC disconnects in its ISO 9001:2008 factory and ship the Bentek Inverter PowerSkid directly to the commercial jobsite. Bentek PowerSkids, when installed within 10 feet of the PV array, allow for NEC 2014 section 690.12 Rapid Shutdown code compliance while saving the customer time and money in simplifying the installation.”

“The Bentek Commercial Inverter PowerSkid with integrated SMA Sunny Tripower inverter is a powerful combination for commercial PV projects,” said Henry Dziuba, President and General Manager of SMA America and President of SMA Canada. “We are pleased to partner with Bentek on this innovative solution, which leads to greater efficiency and reduced installation time and costs for business owners.”

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World Class Folks!

General Microcircuits (GMI) is a customer focused, global advanced electronics company that manufactures circuit boards and integrated assemblies to support its customers from NPI through end of life. Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Mooresville, NC, GMI works in a diverse set of market sectors, including industrial, commercial, medical, energy, defense, telecommunications and emerging markets. GMI uses Juki solder paste printers and SMT placement systems in its NC and Costa Rica facilities.

“From the very first line of equipment that we purchased from Juki, they have made us feel like we are the most important customer they have. The thing I love about Juki is their Solid – Capable – Reliable equipment, combined with their worldclass folks. There are others that do it right on the equipment side, but no one is in the same league on the folks side.”

Nick Harris Co-Founder/CTO – General Microcircuits, Inc. www.gmimfg.com

Call Juki today to learn more about our outstanding reliability, service and support.

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new products continued...

Engineered Material Systems Debuts DF-4017 Hydrophobic Dry Film Negative Photoresist DF-4017 film was developed to produce extremely hydrophobic (>90° contact angle) film surfaces. The cured chemistry can withstand harsh environments including resistance to extreme moisture conditions and corrosive chemicals. The DF-4017film is tougher (less brittle) than most negative photoresists in the market with a glass transition temperature of 145°C (by DMA Tan Delta) and a moderate modulus of 4.5 GPa at 25°C. The cured chemistry is hydrophobic in nature, providing excellent chemical and moisture resistance.

DF-4017 film is compatible with and can be used in contact with the EMS line of spin coating photoresist. DF-4017 dry-film photoresist is the latest addition to EMS’ full line of film and liquid negative photo resists formulated for making microfluidic channels and permanent features on MEMS devices and integrated circuits. ____________________________________

ACI Technologies and Essemtec Strengthen Partnership Essemtec, the Swiss manufacturer of production systems for electronic assembly and packaging, announces that it has renewed its partnership with ACI Technologies, Inc. (ACI). Under the agreement, Essemtec has provided ACI with a complete SMT line. In return, Essemtec uses ACI’s world-class facility for demos, seminars, training, etc.

The Essemtec line at ACI’s facility now includes a solder jet printer. Jetting of solder paste instead of printing saves costs for stencils, eliminates printing errors and enhances production flexibility especially for lower to midsize volumes. Until now,

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separate machines had to be bought to fulfil these requirements. Essemtec has merged its dispensing and pick-and-place knowhow from the Scorpion and Paraquda machines into a SMT production centre. ____________________________________

JUKI Introduces Large Reel Version of the ISM2000 Fortress JUKI Automation Systems (JAS), Inc., a world-leading provider of automated assembly products and systems and part of JUKI Automation Systems Corporation, announces that the ISM2000 Fortress can now support both 32 and 44 mm size reels.

The Fortress is the newest and largest of the ISM family that guarantees to keep components safe while providing easy and intelligent management of component inventory.

Additionally, all ISM2000 Fortress models will be bundled to include ESD package certification and humidity control as standard features of this system.

simultaneous extraction and insertion of up to 27 reels at a time. The outlet system also supports the extraction of a single reel in quick fashion.

The Fortress supports a humidity control module that makes it possible to control and monitor humidity, and maintain an internal environment with humidity of less than five percent. This makes it possible to store all sensitive components safely, and the life of each component can be monitored in terms of humidity using the software interface. The Fortress will trace all movements of the component and automatically calculate the exposure time beyond the set limits while notifying the operator and blocking the component if the maximum limit has been exceeded.

Designed for the optimal management of larger dimension reels, the Fortress offers the flexibility to support a combination of 7” reels from 8-16 mm in height, 13”/15” reels up to 44 mm in height as well as JEDEC trays. The Fortress uses a patented multiple outlet system that allows for the

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It Starts with Design

by Keith Bryant, SMT Today’s Technology Editor

I am sure many of you who read my last article were surprised to learn that small changes in design can have a dramatic effect on panelisation and therefore lead to a huge saving if done properly or a waste of money if done badly. In this article I will look deeper into the design process and offer more ways to save costs.

So let’s start by looking at the basic design rules which most designers have set on their CAD stations.

First, a tale of years gone by. When I started in this industry I was selling bare printed circuit boards, one of my first sales calls was to an existing customer.

Whilst there he took me to meet their new designer and we sat and had a coffee together. This guy asked me what the minimum track and gap we could obtain was, the smallest possible via hole and other manufacturing tolerances. Eager to impress I gave honest answers to these questions and stated the limits of our manufacturing capability. Three weeks later I was called into the Pre-Production Office where the manager showed me the latest design from this customer and asked me who on earth told the guy that we could build stuff like this. The new designer had taken the limits of our capability and used them as his standard manufacturing guidelines so we received a board with 10 thou tracking gap all over two ounce base copper and very small holes on a board that was 6.4mm thick.

This was not possible to manufacture as to achieve small track and gap we needed ½ ounce copper and for the very small holes 1.6mm thick substrate.

I learnt a hard lesson that day and since then have qualified every statement I made in relation to manufacturing capability.

Unfortunately since that time and even today there are many cases of designs which are very hard or, in some cases, impossible to manufacture or assemble.

There will be instances where fine tracks, small gaps and small holes are needed, when real estate is at a premium then these limits will be pushed. However, I still see many situations where track, gap and hole

size could be increased without detriment.

The savings here are quite simple, when holes are drilled in PCBs they are stacked on machines and there are aspect ratio guidelines between the hole diameter and the thickness of the stack. Therefore, boards with very small holes are probably drilled singly and if the holes were larger the stack would be two or perhaps even three so the cost of this operation reduces dramatically as the stack increases.

Obviously as you push the boundaries of track and gap then the manufacturing fail rate is higher, manufacturers take this into consideration and the board price is increased accordingly.

and high pressure three times and there are more complex designs than this, which would require even more repeated processing. I have seen very few designs where blind vias could not simply be put through all of the internal layers with clearances being left where connection was not required. This would involve only two stage processing and again there may also be an argument for increasing layer count and getting rid of the buried vias.

With today’s manufacturing technology blind vias on outer layers are not so much of an issue but again the very small diameter ones can cause problems during the plating process.

In the last article I talked about issues related to solid areas of copper and these problems are dramatically reduced by cross hatching and obviously it makes sense to put ground planes as inner layers especially if they contain partial tracking. If you are producing multi-layer boards often adding two more layers and increasing the track and gap will give you a lower cost than pushing the manufacturing boundaries.

To end this, I want to mention one of my pet peeves, both as a process guy and an X-ray technologist. The practice that I refer to is the one commonly known as ‘mirroring BGAs’. This occurs when two or more BGAs with the same ball size and count are used in a design. To save a few minutes, once one BGA has been laid out, the designer simply mirrors the pattern onto the other side of the board.

So effectively you have two BGAs in the same position, one on the top and one on the bottom. This saves the designer a few minutes but produces a product where one BGA has to go through two reflow cycles the second of which it is hanging off the bottom of the board. There are a host of reasons why this is not good practice.

It also makes the product hard to X-ray inspect as you have balls directly on top of each other so the challenge is close to a package on package.

In recent years blind and buried vias have become standard within manufacturing, again often increasing layers will reduce the need for these expensive technologies.

When I see a 10 layer board with buried vias across different internal layers and also from layers 2 to 9 I despair a little because the processing of this board is hugely expensive. To look at it in detail, let us assume we have buried vias between layers 2 and 4, between layers 5 and 9 and also between layers 2 and 9 and blind vias internally between layers 4 and 3. The manufacturing process would be like this: Layers 2 to 4 would be made as a board going almost completely through the manufacturing process including drilling and plating the blind vias on Layer 4. Layers 5 to 9 would go through the same processing minus the blind via drilling and plating. Layers 2 to 9 would then be bonded together as a board and processed once more. Then, layers 1 and 10 would be added and the whole thing processed once more. Apart from the huge expense, some of those layers have been exposed to high temperature

So, in conclusion, we have to get designers talking to and working in harmony with bare board manufacturers and PCB assemblers. Interestingly a friend of mine recently reminded me that in the 80’s some of us produced a slightly ‘tongue in cheek’ booklet called the ‘Enlightenment of Albert’ which mapped the journey of a designer learning “good practice”. Having read the guide last week it is as relevant now as it was then and we should think about re-issuing it through the ICT. As soon as this happens I will publish the link for you all to download it, so you can send it to all those people who would benefit.

technology today interview

“Words to the Wise” from WKK’s Chairman and CEO, Senta Wong by smt today staff editor

Since 1975, Wong’s Kong King (WKK) has been distributing PCB manufacturing equipment and materials in Asia and is regarded as the oldest distributor in the industry. The company added an electronics assembly equipment arm to its offerings and WKK grew to become one of Asia’s most successful distributors.

In 2012, the company entered a new phase in its history and began manufacturing capital equipment for its partner, Yamaha. WKK also expanded its operation in Dongguan to accommodate its consistent growth. SMT Today met with WKK Founder, Chairman and CEO Senta Wong this April during NEPCON China in Shanghai to discuss the company’s growth as well as the secret of its success.

Considered a founding father of the Asia PCB industry by many, Senta Wong began his career in the PCB manufacturing industry in the early 1960s working for Wong Circuits Company Ltd, a small family-owned factory in Hong Kong that manufactured transistor radios. In 1967, the business moved to Japan to work with Panasonic and two years later it expanded into Taiwan. In 1965, he joined the family’s International (Holdings) Limited group. The company grew significantly and split into different arms: EMS and Distribution.

By 1980, WKK was manufacturing the Atari Video game and the initial small PBC computers. In 1989, WKK became its own business entity and Mr. Wong split with his family, who went on to develop Wong International Holdings. In 1990, he became the Chairman and CEO as well as the Executive Director of WKK. Mr. Wong is responsible for its overall ... management and formulation of its corporate strategies.

For Mr. Wong, the two key business principles to follow are understanding the customer’s culture, and never hiding anything from the customer. Mr. Wong also stated that while technology has changed greatly over the years, his manufacturing strategy has been much

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the same since the 1980s, all WKK suppliers are within two hours of Hong Kong. Additionally, WKK’s products meet very high quality standards. His customers have 100 percent confidence in WKK’s products. “So we have a mutual trust and co-operation based on our high quality, short delivery time and service. Most of our customers have had relationships with us for more than 20 years.”

WKK has a workforce of 6,000 employees — with low employee turnover. When asked how he retains his employees so successfully, Mr. Wong responded that it is very simple: he constantly invests in employee benefits to provide them with a good working and living environment.

The benefits have been worth the cost because having established employees means Mr. Wong does not have to worry about decreases in workforce. He also knows his employees produce quality products and consistently achieve ontime delivery. “Because I have a stable, skilled set of employees, production runs like a well-oiled machine.”

Additionally, Mr. Wong is a great supporter of infrastructure investment and how this causes “the first unit to be produced, the second to be produced, the third, etc.”

He believes that advances in our world are all related: we must have a good infrastructure in place to successfully grow and expand.

Recently Mr. Wong was the feature of the Chinese version of “60 Minutes” (consisting of four interviews over two days) in which he opined that “the market is still here in China, I do not want to go anywhere else.” Years ago, he said, China’s advantage was cheaper labour. But looking at the world market today, most products, ranging from high technology to low technology, all bear the “Made in China” label. Even though the world economy may not be exceptional, China still gets more orders from all over the world. He added that when we look at the infrastructure, the supply chain, the employee reserves and the technology, there is no country in the world that can

compete with China’s manufacturing.

Another very important characteristic of the Chinese people is their diligence. In WKK’s factory, Mr. Wong said that people ask to work longer for higher salaries. If you do not have enough jobs for them, they will switch to another factory. He does not think workers in other cheaper regions, e.g., Thailand or Cambodia, can make better products than those made in China. He continued to say that even though their wages are lower the cost of labour in a $500 product is a very small part of the total cost in the manufacturing process. He believes that labour costs are very small in the overall scheme of things and technology, skills, quality and attitude have a much larger bearing on success So he believes the future for Chinese electronics industry is very bright. “My suggestion is that while we expand our business, we should think about improving the benefits of our employees, and making our production more environment-friendly.”

Mr. Wong understands that there is more to life than simply working. He knows there must be a work-life balance in order for people to feel successful and content in their lives. This is part of the reason that he invests so much time and money into employee benefits and ensures that his facilities meet his employees’ needs. In 1972, Mr. Wong followed his own advice and took some time off to volunteer as a hospital employee and later as a fundraiser for Chinese hospitals.

When asked the secret of his success, Mr. Wong replied, “I trust and respect my people,” and it is very significant that no one in WKK’s top management positions has left the company to join the competition. It is also interesting to note that many of WKK’s key employees began their careers with the company in entry-level positions. Moreover, while Mr. Wong indicated that the family name is very important, he believes that this and money are secondary in his continued success to “the skills and commitment of the people who work for me.”

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GKG takes the screen printer market by storm From the leading supplier of fully automatic vision printers comes the popular GL Series of printers. GKG Asia Pte Ltd’s GL printer is designed for PCBs with a maximum size of 510 x 510 mm and proven 01005 printing.

The GL Series comes standard with many advanced features: • Stencil Position Memory • Combination of top/side PCB clamping function • Bottom-side PCB support pins locating guidance system • Auto squeegee pressure check

• Auto PCB thickness adjustment • Core cycle time of less than 8.5 seconds • Intuitive operation for quick and easy model changeover • Best in class for price performace

For more information and to find out how to get a GL printer into your facility, contact us today!

GKG Asia Pte Ltd • 52 Ubi Avenue 3, #02-38 Frontier • Singapore 408867 Tel: +65 65478065 • Fax: +65 65475451 • www.gkgasia.com Distributed by

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1/14/14 12:38 P

Industry News Keep up to date with what’s new With each issue we’ll keep you up-to-date with the latest industry news from around the globe.

A New Look with New Capabilities - SolderLab has a New Website New additions to the site include a more user friendly navigation, downloads for a rework cost calculator, data sheets, vendor sheets, product brochures, an events page, industry news, and even the ability to rate products or services.

With the new Secure Customer Portal, past quotes can be viewed and past purchase orders can be paid via credit card. Coming soon, customers will have the capability to upload data files to SolderLab.com.

An additional new item is the “Urgent” feature.

Simply call SolderLab at 858-255-8626, send the solder sample(s) by noon Pacific Time for same-day results, and the certificate will be emailed to you within two hours. ____________________________________

MatriX Technologies Celebrates 10th Company Anniversary This year, MatriX Technologies, celebrates the company’s 10 year anniversary. Since its founding in 2004, the company has grown

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to become a global player and leading supplier of industrial X-ray inspection solutions serving a worldwide customer base of tier 1 electronics manufacturers and automotive suppliers.

Eckhard Sperschneider, CEO and founder of MatriX, speaking at the celebration event in Munich’s Allianz Arena attended by many of MatriX’ clients, business partners and staff, said “This is a significant milestone for our company and we can proudly look back on this dynamic development that would never have been possible without the outstanding commitment and motivation of our staff.” ____________________________________

PRETTL Electronics Hungary Kft and ETEK – Eastern Europe At the beginning of the year, PRETTL in Hungary purchased two JUKI machines from ETEK Europe – a 2070 Pick and Place High Speed Chip Shooter and a GL System.

PRETTL Electronics in Hungary was founded in November 2008 and manufactures products in medium quantities for the general and automotive industries.

Left to Right – the picture shows Gheorghe Rebegel, ETEK Europe and Zsolt Szendrey, PRETTL Electronics.

The main products include THT assemblies, SMT assemblies in medium numbers with low complexity and the installation of electronic assemblies, including final testing.

The PRETTL Electronics Group is a leading German system supplier for Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS).

They develop, produce and integrate electronic assemblies and complete systems at eight locations in Germany, Eastern Europe, Mexico, USA and India. Their products are used in the field of medical technology, a broad spectrum of industry, automotive and telecommunications applications.

ETEK Europe are the official JUKI distributors in Hungary and Romania.

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serving the local SMT market. We share similar values and I am looking forward to working together.”

Aqueous Technologies Announces Sales Partner for Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma Aqueous Technologies, North America’s largest manufacturer of fully automated cleaning/defluxing machines and cleanliness testing equipment, introduces its newest sales partner in Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma – FHP Reps.

FHP is a manufacturers’ representative and distributor organization that provides best-in-class equipment, consumables and services to the electronics manufacturing industry. Unlike many rep firms, FHP specializes in solutions as well as equipment and supplies. FHP Reps are a strong force in the Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma electronic assembly industry. With direct multi-year experience in cleaning and cleaning systems, FHP Reps brings a unique value to Aqueous Technologies’ customers in the region. ____________________________________

The Balver Zinn Group Introduces Mobile Web Site The Balver Zinn Group has launched a new mobile Web site for smartphone users as part of its continued commitment to providing a convenient, hassle-free experience. The mobile site features versions for Android, BlackBerry and iOS, and is available in English and German.

“The mobile site’s strongest feature is simplicity of navigation,” said Josef Jost, President of Balver Zinn. “It is a valuable quick reference resource.”

Customers can learn about and stay upto-date with The Balver Zinn Group and its products by visiting www.balverzinn.com or www.cobar.com from their mobile phones or tablets. The Balver Zinn Group’s latest news, events, product overviews and analysis are now easily accessible from the mobile site.

Existing customers can login to the site from the mobile website to request a product analysis from anywhere and at any time!

“Our promise is to deliver to our customers the manufacturing systems that provide agility at the lowest total cost of ownership,” stated Robert Jones, President of LEAN STREAM. “Speedprint provides a comprehensive solution for any type of print application. Furthermore, adding dispense functionality of the SP710 can enhance the platform’s flexibility providing stencil-less operation for quick-turn prototyping all with tremendous ease of use.” ____________________________________

Striving For Soldering Excellence

ISVI Corp. Announces Distribution Partnership with Virtech Labs for the Hungarian Machine Vision Market

As a global industrial partner PartnerTech offers customized solutions throughout the product lifecycle - from product development to manufacturing and aftermarket services.

ISVI Corp. signed a distribution agreement with Virtech Labs Bt. to promote and sell its high-speed, highresolution cameras to the Hungarian machine vision market.

Through its facility in Sieradz, Poland, PartnerTech organizes a hand soldering competition for its employees. The winner of this internal competition, Jacek Majchrzak, represented PartnerTech Sieradz at the International Hand Soldering Competition at Productronica 2013 in Munich, Germany. Competing against 43 participants, Jacek went on to become the European champion by completing the soldering challenge, set in line with the IPC-A-610E standards, in 39 minutes - 6 minutes faster than the time limit allocated.

“The Hungarian machine vision market is a growing market and we welcome the opportunity to work with Virtech Labs to expand that market at a more rapid pace”, said Gerard White, Vice President of International Operations at ISVI. “Virtech Labs, as part of the very successful Dolphio Technologies group of companies, is the vision component distribution arm of this leading R&D group. This puts Virtech Labs in a unique position to put our high-end cameras at the forefront of cutting-edge machine vision development projects in Hungary.”

“We mostly use high-end components in our R&D projects, and we gladly recommend the best ones to our partners. Products of ISVI Corp. are a great choice for several upcoming Hungarian machine vision development projects.” said Janos Rovnyai, CEO of Dolphio Technologies.

____________________________________

Speedprint Teams with LEAN STREAM in Northern California Speedprint Technology announces the appointment of LEAN STREAM LLC as its manufacturers’ representative in Northern California. The LEAN STREAM team will represent Speedprint’s leading-edge stencil print technology.

Mark Brawley, Vice President, Americas’ at Speedprint Technology, commented, “Robert Jones, Jim Donner and Jon Gruett have many years of experience successfully

In March 2014, Jacek represented Europe and PartnerTech in a hand soldering competition at the global IPC APEX EXPO event in Las Vegas. IPC Master Instructors judged assemblies on soldering in accordance with IPC-A-610E, overall electrical functionality of assembly and the speed upon which the assembly was produced. The time limit for soldering was 60 minutes and Jacek did it in 42 minutes.

Unfortunately this wasn’t quite fast enough to take the winning prize of $1,000 which went to a competitor from the USA.

industry news continued...

Blendtec Doubles Blender Output with PROMATIONDesigned Production Line

Libra Industries Promotes Bruce McKee to Program Manager Libra Industries, a privately held electronics manufacturing services provider, announces the promotion of Bruce McKee from Master Scheduler to Program Manager. McKee celebrated his 20th anniversary with Libra Industries in September and earned a trip for two to Hawaii as part of the company’s service award program.

Over the years, McKee has held several positions at Libra Industries. In his new role, he will be responsible for business development and customer satisfaction as the primary point of contact for all company/client information exchange. As a member of the Program Management staff, McKee will now report to the Director of Program Management.

As his clients’ “Champion,” McKee is responsible for management, performance and understanding of the program needs and perceptions of the client. He will lead, coordinate and facilitate activities throughout Libra Industries to satisfy client expectations.

McKee holds an Associate’s degree in Business Management from Lakeland Community College. He has completed four APICS Classes and holds various Lean Manufacturing Certificates.

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Blendtec today announced a major upgrade to its 270,000 sq. ft. plant in Orem, UT, that has doubled its circuit board manufacturing capacity without enlarging the facility. The upgrade – including a custom elevator system with additional custom machinery and workflow designed

by PROMATION – is part of a $10 million plant investment to support Blendtec’s rapid growth.

“We nearly tripled the size of our plant in 2011, but with 10 new models being introduced this year and rapidly expanding distribution that includes major retailers such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Macy’s and Dillard’s, we needed a way to build more blenders without building a new facility,” said Blendtec founder Tom Dickson. “PROMATION came up with a creative solution that is allowing us to utilize our existing manufacturing space more effectively.”

The circuit board assembly process affected by the upgrade is the most critical and time-intensive operation in the manufacturing of Blendtec’s blenders.

The boards drive all of Blendtec’s advanced features, ranging from preprogrammed blend cycles to exclusive new features such as a 100-speed touch-screen slider introduced this year that changes motor and pulse speed with the swipe of a finger. These electronicsbased innovations have played a key role in Blendtec’s growth, along with patented blade, jar and control panel engineering that produces safer, faster and easier-toclean machines.

Previously, Blendtec ran each circuit board through the same assembly line twice to populate both sides. To increase capacity, PROMATION developed a second PCB production line that is connected to the first with an elevator, overhead conveyor and feeder units. The elevator delivers one-sided PCBs completed on the original line to the overhead conveyor, where they are flipped and lowered to the new line for second-side assembly. The process provides continuous, 100 percent handsfree production flow that saves time and labor as well as doubling PCB throughput. ____________________________________

Microtronic and AIM Solder Announce Expanded Agreement in Germany Microtronic GmbH, a leading sales specialist of microelectronics, announces that it has executed a contract with AIM Solder as a distributor in Germany. Microtronic has represented AIM’s speciality solders for seven years and will now carry the company’s full line of assembly materials for the electronics industry.

“We have been working with AIM for many years representing their speciality solders and I am thrilled to expand this partnership to represent all of their advanced solder products in Germany,” commented Ernst Eggelar, President of Microtronic.

Microtronic has a strong footprint in Germany. With the new AIM Europe Production facility in Poland, the company provides even better service to its European customers, with shorter lead times and faster shipping.

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Lean NPI Application from an EMS Perspective

by Michael Ford, Senior Marketing Development Manager, Mentor Graphics Corporation

New product introduction (NPI) for printed circuit board (PCB) products has undergone a revolution with the introduction of the Lean NPI flow, a modern best-practice approach that spans PCB design all the way to manufacturing, reducing the time to market and eliminating data reconstruction at manufacturing. ____________________________________

‘‘

companies have already taken control of getting their new products into the market faster and more costeffectively than their competitors

____________________________________ Countless examples have shown how vertically integrated original equipment manufacturers (OEM) companies have already taken control of getting their new products into the market faster and more cost-effectively than their competitors.

What is less well known, as yet, is how this methodology can be applied very effectively in virtually any design and manufacturing relationship, such as with an EMS company, whether based in design, manufacturing, or a mix of both, on the cutting edge of technology.

various tools, materials, and suppliers.

They ensure that customer PCB designs and respective applications meet manufacturing goals, no matter where in the design process the customer wishes to hand-off their product to Optimum. ____________________________________

‘‘

The Lean NPI flow is not an ideal that serves only a few

____________________________________ The Lean NPI flow starts with the concept of “left shifting” of design for manufacturing analysis, giving the layout designer the opportunity that, with a few clicks of a mouse, issues can be resolved that otherwise would challenge production operations, such as quality issues and unexpected production problems, each with unnecessary spiraling costs and delays. With the latest design software, true manufacturing rules-based analysis is integrated in such a way that the layout

designer can easily see the resultant feedback and can avoid manufacturing issues early on. There is no need for the designer to be distracted by needing any manufacturing process knowledge or having to leave his design tool environment.

The designer is then able to send a single ODB++ file that contains the whole qualified manufacturing product model directly to manufacturing.

For PCB fabrication, a tool such as InCAM® from Frontline can be used to immediately set up the necessary fabrication processes based directly on the ODB++ data. For assembly, a tool such as Valor Process Preparation allows all of the manufacturing processes for SMT programming, test data generation, inspection data and operator documentation to be set up directly, without the need for design data reconstruction or manually managing and co-ordinating different formats and libraries of data across machines of different types and from different vendors.

Optimum Design Associates is a company that has fully embraced Lean NPI to help differentiate their business. Based in California, the company is a global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider that targets mid-market OEM customers who are looking for service levels that tier-one companies such as Apple or Cisco would command from their manufacturing partners, in terms of quality, responsiveness, cost-effectiveness and global sourcing ability. Optimum Design Associates works with a full range of electronic design companies, across many industry segments that each use

Page 40

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

The Valor NPI tool is tightly integrated with Xpedition PCB Layout, which allows easy and quick feedback of DFM results.

The Lean NPI flow is not an ideal that serves only a few. It comprises key principles and tools for a common best practice that allows companies to eliminate mistakes, waste, and errors when bringing a new product to market so that the end goal is reached much faster and more reliably, while significantly reducing cost and improving quality. Optimum Design Associates, working with Mentor Graphics, is able to offer its customers this automated and streamlined approach. ____________________________________

‘‘

any design format or flow from any tool that the customer presents to Optimum Designs can be supported for full DFM analysis

____________________________________ Implementing a Lean NPI Methodology The company’s engineers implemented the Lean NPI methodology, using both the Mentor Graphics Xpedition PCB Layout and PADS tools, while using the Valor NPI tool centrally for DFM, together with the single file ODB++ product model. The integration between Xpedition PCB and Valor NPI provides the quick and easy feedback of DFM results to the designer. For customers bringing designs based in PADS, bidirectional graphics cross-probing and the import of DFM hazards, from Valor NPI to PADS, are used to efficiently correct any detected layout issues.

Where designs were presented using nonMentor Graphics design tools, they use the Scorecard and Sharelist features of Valor NPI to audit the design and deliver similar reporting functionality and provide the DFM feedback loop. Altogether, any design format or flow from any tool that the customer presents to Optimum Designs can be supported for full DFM analysis.

Some business process changes were identified to fully facilitate Lean NPI. Optimum engineers were able to automate many of the steps in their process flow using Valor NPI. Starting from the beginning of the PCB layout process, the BOM was validated using Valor NPI and the Valor Parts Library (VPL). This ensures all material shapes and packages to be used are known. If new materials have been introduced and require new VPL shapes, they are generated before the component position is decided in the PCB layout, which can then be subject to initial assembly analysis. If DFM problems are detected, they are resolved before continuing with any complex routing. ____________________________________

‘‘

Once components have been located, the routing of critical nets is performed, followed immediately by an initial fabrication analysis ____________________________________

Once components have been located, the routing of critical nets is performed, followed immediately by an initial fabrication analysis, which highlights any DFM problems associated with the critical nets. These can then be corrected before continuing with general routing.

Managing critical nets at this earlier stage provides greater flexibility for performance optimization; whereas if done later, it may be difficult to make changes while retaining signal integrity.

The remainder of the routing, copper areas, power and ground planes, and silkscreen legend (if applicable) are then completed. A complete DFM analysis is performed for fabrication, assembly and test that captures any DFM problems with the completed layout.

Once the DFM analysis and associated corrections have been made, the individual layout image is ready for manufacturing.

As part of the manufacturing processes, however, the individual image is not the whole story. Multiple instances of the layout are often created, at first a multi-layout panel for assembly, and then subsequently a multiple layout of that for the PCB fabrication process. Tools are available to specify the panelization up-front, which allows Optimum to use DFM to further analyze and improve the panel as a whole, as it will physically exist from both the fabricator and assembler’s perspectives.

The customer-approval stage is moved to after the final fabrication and assembly DFM analysis step. This ensures that the data model used for customer review and approval is not only the final design of the PCB layout, but also includes as much of the post-design product preparation as possible. Otherwise, changes would need to be made during the final preparation stage that the customer may not have been aware of, which could influence the performance for the product. This change to the process flow enables the customer to check and approve the final manufacturing product model as fully contained in the single ODB++ file.

Throughout each analysis stage, product modeling attributes were used and stored as part of the ODB++ data that enabled the comprehensive DFM checks to be executed. The ODB++ comprises complete secure product model data for manufacturing, defining exactly what is to be manufactured, including such

feature continued... features as layer stack-up, copper weights, solder mask color, etc. The ODB++ file contains enough information that it can also be regarded as “virtual documentation”. The ability to use data from the OCB++ file directly to create graphical forms removes the need for many drawings and documents that were traditionally used. ____________________________________

‘‘

Engineers at Optimum monitor key aspects of the design flow and manufacturing activities to give meaningful statistics to test whether adopting a Lean NPI methodology was effective

____________________________________ The final step for Optimum is to ensure that the ODB++ data format is used exclusively throughout the design to manufacturing process preparation, enabling a more efficient data hand-off to both Optimum’s external fabrication partners and internal assembly and test lines.

Measuring the Success of Lean NPI As with any significant changes in design methods or business processes, there needs to be metrics in place to measure performance improvements and show the effect of those changes on the performance of the business. Engineers at Optimum monitor key aspects of the design flow and manufacturing activities to give meaningful statistics to test whether adopting a Lean NPI methodology was effective. These measurements are ongoing, though already a very positive result is expected.

During the PCB layout process, designs being monitored are subject to assembly analysis. This highlights problems

Page 42

with placement as well as component footprints. The integrity of the footprint library is being checked using Valor NPI, together with VPL. The number of library-related DFM problems per design is recorded. The expectation is that the number of issues are reducing dramatically as Lean NPI is in continuous use. They have also subjected the shapes library itself to DFM analysis to catch any inconsistencies so they too could be corrected at source. This is expected to improve assembly times and efficiency because common footprint-related problems are avoided. ____________________________________

‘‘

Optimum engineers differentiate themselves based on proven performance and the excellence with which they complete designs, precisely tailored for low-risk, lowcost, high-quality manufacturing

____________________________________ Using ODB++ as the only data transfer format, rather than Gerber and other legacy file types, makes a notable difference to the manufacturing handoff. The time it took to load, check, and prepare the data in manufacturing already shows considerable reduction as well as the incidence of errors. Using ODB++, the data is loaded directly into manufacturing process preparation tools resulting in significant time, effort and quality improvement.

Often, there had been customer callbacks from the fabrication vendors.

These were either related to DFM problems or questions related to the interpretation of data and design intent.

In these situations, the job could have been put on hold until the questions were resolved. With the Lean NPI flow and use of the integrated ODB++ product model

delivered to the fabrication vendor, the number of call-backs is expected to be significantly reduced.

Using Valor NPI Scorecard, a DFM audit report from each design is made. The list includes, for example, the top 10 common DFM problems found within designs. Once DFM was introduced, the trend of issues from each new design shows a significant reduction in DFM problems. This should happen as Optimum’s designers changed the way they thought about designing, applying DFM concurrently during the design flow.

Optimum Design Associates There continues to be great innovations in product design outside of the toptier companies. The key to successfully realizing the product in a timely way, with the quality demanded by today’s market, and at a cost that promotes competitiveness, can lie with the services that a design and manufacturing partner such as Optimum Design Associates can provide.

Optimum engineers differentiate themselves based on proven performance and the excellence with which they complete designs, precisely tailored for low-risk, low-cost, high-quality manufacturing. The Lean NPI flow works equally well for companies like Optimum, bringing greater market opportunity, as well as for OEM companies. One solution for all. Whatever the final results of the implementation are, the signs are already very positive.

about the author Michael Ford is Senior Marketing Development Manager with the Valor division of Mentor Graphics Corporation. He joined Valor in 2008. He focuses on delivering solutions based on the lean thinking methodology. Before joining Valor, Michael spent a number of years managing lean manufacturing solutions for Sony. He graduated with a degree in electronics from the University of Wales.

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Solder Wetting Basics

by Ray Cirimele, Master Instructor, STI Electronics, Inc

Many of us have heard the statement “the most important characteristic of a reliable solder connection is good wetting.”

IPC J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 include criteria for the degree of wetting or the percentage of area wetted. IPC J-STD-001 even includes one clause (4.18) that explains what constitutes acceptable wetting; however, it never explains what the mechanisms of wetting are or what is needed to achieve acceptable wetting. ____________________________________

The goal of ‘‘ this article is to explain what good wetting is and how to achieve it

____________________________________ The goal of this article is to explain what good wetting is and how to achieve it.

We will provide examples of poor wetting and explain why it poses a risk to longterm reliability. To make this goal easier to achieve, we are going to explain the terms solderability, wetting and intermetallics, and why they are important to us as we strive to achieve the highest quality solder connections for our customers.

SOLDERABILITY We start by discussing the term solderability. The solderability of a material is a measure of how easy or difficult it is to form a solder connection to that material.

When trying to form a solder connection with wooden toothpicks

(Figure 1), is an example of poor solderability. Forming a solder connection with freshly tinned copper leads (Figure 2) is an example of good solderability.

What this means is if you start with parts that have poor solderability, it will be very difficult to achieve acceptable wetting even if you have a great process.

This also means that if you start with parts that have good solderability, it will make it much easier to achieve good wetting; however, a bad process can sabotage the good solderability and still result in poor wetting. In other words, poor solderability almost always results in poor wetting, but good solderability does not always lead to good wetting.

Now that we know what solderability is, we need a way to measure the solderability.

There are both quantitative (objective properties) and qualitative (subjective properties) tests for solderability. ____________________________________

‘‘

if you start with parts that have poor solderability, it will be very difficult to achieve acceptable wetting

____________________________________ The most common qualitative test is what is known in the industry as the “dip and look” test. This test has been in use for decades. It was available in MIL-STD-202, Method 208, and then later as IPC J-STD-002, Test A. Although the “dip and look” test has very detailed procedures in an effort to improve consistency, the post-test evaluation is where it has opportunity for subjectivity.

As a simplified example of the test, a component lead would be dipped in a solder bath and when removed it would be examined for the percentage of solder coverage. Solder coverage of 95 percent or greater in what would be the critical area would be considered passing.

A very common quantitative solderability test is the wetting balance test (per IPC-JSTD002, 4.3) (Figure 3). The advantage

Page 44

of this test is that it provides objective, measureable values that can be used for comparison. The only important disadvantage is it is difficult to establish a universal pass/fail value because of the amount of variables involved in the manufacturing process. ____________________________________

The most common ‘‘ qualitative test is what is known in the industry as the “dip and look” test

____________________________________ A part that might have great solderability for one manufacturer might exhibit poor solderability for another manufacturer as a result of their process differences.

This test measures wetting force as a function of time. As the component lead is lowered to the surface of the solder

bath, it encounters some initial resistance from the surface tension of the solder.

Once wetting occurs, the initial resisting force is eliminated and a pulling force is exerted on the component lead. This is displayed as a two-axis curve (Figure 4) with force measured in the Y axis and time measured in the X axis. As long as

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

the lead geometries are the same, it is possible to test multiple components from different vendors and determine which one has the best solderability. ____________________________________

the solder ‘‘ connection wetting angle shall not exceed 90°

____________________________________

In Figure 7, there is a very low angle of approximately 7°. Low contact angles indicate the surface was easier to wet.

It is important to keep in mind that there are a lot of variables (solder alloy used, flux type, flux volume, ambient or inert atmosphere) in the soldering process. These variables will affect the minimum level of solderability that is necessary to achieve acceptable connections. If you have a forgiving process with a large process window, even marginal solderability may work.

WETTING Now that we have discussed solderability, we move on to wetting. The IPC J-STD-001 document states that “the solder connection wetting angle shall not exceed 90°.” So what is this wetting angle that is also known as a dihedral angle?

In Figure 8, we measure the contact angle at 45°. This surface was not as easy to wet as the previous example.

In Figure 9, we have an angle of approximately 90°. This is the maximum acceptable angle and indicates that it was more difficult to get the solder to wet this surface.

The contact angle is measured where the solder fillet shape makes contact with the other metal, usually copper. We will look at this as the intersection of two planes (Figure 5). Do not confuse the fillet shape with the contact angle. You can have a concave fillet with good wetting, and a convex fillet with good wetting (Figure 6).

Figure 10 has an angle of 148°. The solder is behaving as if the copper is a nonwettable surface, taking on a spherical shape. This far exceeds the 90° maximum.

Now that we know how to measure solder contact wetting angles, it is time to learn why contact angles that exceed 90° are not acceptable.

feature continued...

Once the finished electronic assemblies are put into service they are subjected to thermal and mechanical stresses.

stresses in the same way a cable with a tight bend radius does (Figure 14).

metals. Finally we need flux to provide us with clean surfaces. Heat can be delivered by a soldering iron, a reflow oven, and other methods and equipment. Generally, metals compatibility is out of our control because it is determined by engineering.

Solderable terminations may be copper with a plated finish. Flux is used to remove oxidation from the surfaces to be soldered.

This allows the solder to make intimate contact with the plated finish.

INTERMETALLICS We have discussed solderability and wetting.

Now it is time to see how wetting occurs. ____________________________________

To understand ‘‘ wetting we need

to understand the metals used in the soldering process

____________________________________

____________________________________ This is why we have bend radius requirements for leads, wires and cables. If a bend is too sharp (Figure 11) it tends to focus thermal and mechanical stresses in that location, which can reduce long-term reliability. Bends with a large bend radius (Figure 12) can distribute those stresses over a much larger area, which can improve longterm reliability.

One of the biggest concerns is fractures and cracks that may occur in the solder connection (Figure 13). It is unusual to see a fracture formed anywhere except at some type of boundary or seam. Fractures are always looking for the path of least resistance and they need a starting point.

When a solder contact angle exceeds 90° it forms an interface that tends to focus

Page 46

‘‘

We need three things for a good solder connection.

Heat is required to melt the solder.

We also need compatible metals.

Finally we need flux to provide us with clean surfaces

____________________________________ We need three things for a good solder connection (Figure 15). Heat is required to melt the solder. We also need compatible

To understand wetting we need to understand the metals used in the soldering process. The metal of particular importance is Tin. Tin is used in both Sn63 solder and in the most common leadfree solders. Tin is a critical element of the soldering process because it loves to dissolve other metals and form molecular bonds that we call intermetallics. When the conditions are met, some of the tin will dissolve from the solder and together with the copper will form copper/tin molecules

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

that are the intermetallics (Figure 16). As more solder is fed into the connection and the conditions are good, the solder will continue to wet over the intermetallic layer. ____________________________________

This is because no intermetallic formation would occur.

Tin is a critical ‘‘ element of the

soldering process because it loves to dissolve other metals and form molecular bonds that we call intermetallics

To conclude we would like to make a quick comment about the love/hate relationship with intermetallics. Obviously, we need intermetallics or the solder would not adhere to the surface (just like our glass example). We do not want a lot of intermetallics because it has a coarse grain structure when compared to the copper or the solder. This coarse grain structure is the weakest part of the solder connection and when fractures occur they usually occur in or near the intermetallic layer (Figure 18).

____________________________________ If we remove any of the three conditions we will have little to no wetting. If, for example, we have heat and a clean glass surface instead of a compatible metal, the solder can be removed easily (Figure 17).

SUMMARY Now you should have a good grasp of what is acceptable wetting and what is not acceptable. Keep in mind that the J-STD-001 does specify what constitutes good wetting (contact angle not greater than 90°), but it usually does not require complete wetting of the entire connection area except for specific connection types.

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Emerging Electronics Event 2014

by Bob Pitchford, Sales & Marketing Director, SMS Electronics

Organised by SMS Electronics, the Emerging Electronics Event showcases the UK’s leading engineering and manufacturing firms.

Taking place this year at SMS Electronics’ Head Office in Beeston, Nottingham, the two-day workshop-based conference in June provided electronic companies with the opportunity to network with industry peers, meet leading suppliers and discover advances in technology to be launched over the coming years.

The UK’s only technology ‘classroom’ for innovative electronics production, closed its doors after two days having posted a substantial rise in the number of visitors compared with the previous event in 2012.

This proves that the industry has greatly recovered in the last two years.

Bob Pitchford, Sales and Marketing Director at SMS Electronics, said “Emerging Electronics has once again confirmed its leading position as the UK’s premier educational event for the electronic production industry. The cooperation with our commercial and industrial partners is now bearing fruit - the highlighted themes of Advanced Packaging Trends, Best Practices for Cleaning Printed Circuit Assemblies and Considerations During X-ray Inspections, were magnets for both new and returning visitors.”

Page 48

Mark Goldby, Managing Director at SMS Electronics, added “We have just renewed our lease on the Beeston site for the next 10 years and confirmed a million pound upgrade to the existing buildings. It is our hope that this, together with the owners of the site planning to develop more commercial and residential facilities, will lead to more high-tech companies arriving and creating improved synergies between us all.” He added, “The clustering effect has benefits where you have connected experience in one sector and discipline which were clearly seen at our Emerging Electronics Events.”

Ken Henderson, Managing Director of C-Mac Automotive Limited, added “In 2012 the SMS Emerging Electronics Event proved to be the main platform for providing a further boost to the information-sharing needs of the European manufacturing base. The seminars are regarded as the marketplace for the electronics production industry and anyone who regards this as important must be present here. The expertise of visitors is outstanding – a large number of specific inquiries were discussed during the event”.

The event was officially opened on the first day by Richard Bullock – Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire. Richard spoke on the importance of British Industry and the significance of those businesses who had been awarded the Queens Award for Enterprise for their endeavours, like SMS Electronics.

On the second day, David Ralph, Chief Executive of D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership, opened the proceedings and stressed the need for local investment and regional growth, highlighting the funding available within the East Midlands area.

He added “We have a 10 year plan to solve this and companies such as SMS are at the centre of that growth. We want hightech manufacturing and engineering.”

The keynote presentation on both days was given by Steve Kummerl who is a member of the technical staff supporting R&D within Texas Instruments. The remainder of the two days was filled with leading edge presentations given

by Allen Duck (GeTech Systems), Brian Kiep (Panaseas International), Bruce Seaton (Speedline Technologies), Claus Zabel (ASSCON Systemtechnik), Dr David Bernard (Nordson DAGE), Gabor Homolya (VJ Electronix), Hubert Egger (ASM Assembly Systems, Ken Henderson (C-Mac Automotive) and Dr Mike Bixenman (Kyzen).

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red carpet out & about in the industry In this feature we follow our industry movers and shakers throughout the world.

Time to take a bow...

Page 50

DEK Gemini Platform Announcement at SMT Hybrid, Nuremberg – picture shows Steven Techtau and Rob Raine.

Bill Yager Joins Cobar Solder Products as Director of Business Development.

Essemtec Appoints Wong’s Kong King (Singapore) PTE LTD (“WKK”) as Distributor for Southeast Asia. Hamel El-Abd (Executive director, WKK) handshaking with Frank Bose (CEO, Essemtec).

PARMI Appoints Southwest Systems Technology.

Dee Claybrook, Southwest Systems.

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

what’s happening in your business? send your event pictures to red@smttoday.com

SMS Electronics - Emerging Electronics Event 2014 – Opened by Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, Richard Bullock, seen here with SMS Electronics’ Managing Director, Mark Goldby.

Jacek Majchrzak, represented PartnerTech Sieradz at the International Hand Soldering Competition at Productronica 2013 in Munich, Germany.

Etek Europe Ltd., is proud to announce the expansion of their Technical Support Group by welcoming Nicky Orr as their Technical Trainer.

technology today interview

an interview with Tom Wittmer, President and CEO, WittcoSales by smt today staff editor

Serving the electronics industry since 1988, WittcoSales offers a full range of state-of-the-art capital equipment and electronic consumables used in SMT and microelectronics processes. For more than 20 years, the company has provided expert service and the most advanced electronic solutions, from single machines to full lines. The company provides representation in the Southern California, Southern Nevada, Tijuana, Mexicali and Baja California areas. Our editor recently spoke with Tom Wittmer, President and CEO, to find out how WittcoSales differentiates itself in an industry full of sales representative companies. ____________________________________

‘‘

WittcoSales started simply because I wanted to be in control of my own future and success ____________________________________

Q.

We understand that WittcoSales has been a force in the industry for more than 25 Years. As founder of this successful company, what made you decide to start your own company?

Did you have previous experience in the electronics industry?

A.

Great question and also fond memories. WittcoSales started simply because I wanted to be in control of my own future and success. Prior to going out on my own in 1988, I had achieved a level of corporate success and satisfaction that allowed me to feel very confident in my ability and experience. There was also a definite need to further my career and set ambitious goals, allowing me to be a trusted and valued name in our electronics community.

Previous experience semiconductor industry

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in the included

selling bonding wire to Fortune 500 companies including Texas Instruments, Rockwell Collins, Hughes, National Semiconductor and AMD. I also sold high-temperature uninsulated wire to companies in the defense, medical, appliance and down-hole wire industries including IBM, Rockwell and Schlumberger. ____________________________________

‘‘

In my opinion, and there are a hundred correct answers to this question, the most innovative change since 1988 includes the technology requiring wire for signal exchange and communication replaced by Bluetooth wireless technology

____________________________________

Q.

In such a fast-paced industry, technologies are constantly changing and evolving. Your company has been around for many of these. Looking back, what would you say some of the most innovative changes are from 1988 to today.

A.

Technology is amazing and is only getter better, quicker, smaller and more convenient to the user/consumer. In my opinion, and there are a hundred correct answers to this question, the most innovative change since 1988 includes the technology requiring wire for signal exchange and communication replaced

by Bluetooth wireless technology.

Other notable changes include PCB miniaturization requiring SMT printing, placement and reflow systems capable of using components measuring 01005 and trending smaller. Miniaturization additionally challenges inspection capability and requires AOI and X-ray equipment to see, test and approve what is too small for the human eye to detect.

Finally, lead to lead-free technology has affected the industry and drastically changed process requirements and equipment capabilities. Proper solder paste, reflow profiles, cleaning chemistries and equipment, coating, storage, handling, and testing have all become critical and downright essential to a world that relies on its electronics in every aspect of life.

Q. Tom, We cannot help but notice your customer list reads like a winning play-list. In today’s industry, how do you not only sign but keep these bigname companies as customers?

A. Support of the companies we represent whenever needed is of utmost importance to WittcoSales. ____________________________________

‘‘

I have prided my reputation over the past 25 years and every additional day we are honored to work in this industry in the value of customer needs and expectations

____________________________________ I have prided my reputation over the past 25 years and every additional day we are honored to work in this industry in the value of

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

customer needs and expectations. My goal for all my past, current and future customers is that they do not only just meet their manufacturing capabilities but also exceed and maximize their projections and success.

I truly believe that the reason WittcoSales is counted on by our customers is because we listen to their needs and support them to our best ability by suggesting the right solutions, even if it is one that we may not provide. I believe that a single sale is only winning a single game; creating a trusted relationship is the winning of the championship.

Q. What qualities do you think are most important for companies to have in order to succeed in today’s business atmosphere? How does WittcoSales embody these qualities?

A.

The answer to the last question addressed the main focus of our business belief. In a brief but very important summary to question number three, I believe the qualities most important for any business to succeed in any industry are simple — support, dedication and the response to customers’ requests and needs.

Q.

a team of professional sales associates in Southern California and Baja Mexico.

Q. WittcoSales serves the SMT, medical, industrial and aerospace industries. Which of these would you say is currently bringing the most success? Why do you say that? What do you see happening over the next few years in these key industries?

A.

The SMT market is critical in providing success to all industries: defense, medical, Aerospace, Automotive, Telecommunication, Industrial as well as computer. There are huge trends and opportunities for all fields and success as a measurement is changing daily.

WittcoSales continues to succeed mostly with contract manufacturers and OEMs supporting the defense and Bluetooth communications industries. Additionally, LED is an area of considerable growth and definitely should be considered a very fast growing segment for the SMT market, offering major business opportunities to companies like WittcoSales. ____________________________________

What does your company offer over your competitors? How does this benefit your customers?

We are seeing ‘‘ SMT assembly

A. Great question and a tricky one at the same time. WittcoSales shares a common goal with all our competitors - simply to be successful. Everyone’s definition of success varies and this is where the question gets tricky. I will comment only on my definition as it relates to my ultimate personal and business goals. To succeed in this day and age for me personally means I have a chance to provide for my family, while doing something I enjoy with an outcome that is beneficial for everyone involved. I try to treat everyone with respect and always make myself available to provide support. ____________________________________

____________________________________

full complement ‘‘ of top-line companies offering awardwinning equipment and consumables

____________________________________ WittcoSales is in a position to provide for our customers with a full complement of top-line companies offering award-winning equipment and consumables used in the electronics industry. WittcoSales is very fortunate to represent and support our customers, assisting them to succeed using

requirements become more densely populated with POPs, QFNs, microBGAs

Q. What technical trends have you noticed in your territory over the past year?

A.

Technology trends may be considered both challenging and exciting as smaller, faster and more reliable builds dictate the direction of our industry. We are seeing SMT assembly requirements become more densely populated with POPs, QFNs, microBGAs and some components barely visible to the human eye. The current trend is advancing toward LED Lighting, advanced Bluetooth technology, solar power expansion, and assemblies for unmanned vehicles (land, air, sea) for defense protection both home and abroad. This advancement of sophistication has challenged SMT equipment manufacturers in both their hardware and software capabilities.

Consumable manufacturers responsible for supplying support such as solder paste and stencils have also had to push their design guidelines to the fullest.

Q.

Since your founding more than 25 years ago, I imagine that the company has had to remain fluid to keep pace with constantly changing technologies.

Based on your success, you have done well remaining flexible. Where do you see your company going in the next five years?

A. Wittcosales will continue to grow and change as directed by new technology and our customers’ needs. We are always focused on changes and advancements regarding industry technology and make sure that WittcoSales is in a position to represent the right equipment and consumable manufacturers to fully support our customers.

Q. On a related note, do you anticipate entering any new industry segments? If so which one(s) and why?

A. WittcoSales plans on staying the course with our current focus supporting the SMT and micro-electronics markets with equipment and consumables, allowing our customers to meet the challenging technology changes of tomorrow. ____________________________________

‘‘

WittcoSales plans on staying the course with our current focus supporting the SMT and microelectronics markets with equipment and consumables, allowing our customers to meet the challenging technology changes of tomorrow

____________________________________ WittcoSales also offers customers the service of a travel professional with seven years of experience specializing in cruises, Hawaii and exotic destinations.

WittcoSales will assist the planning of a corporate trip/conference or a personal vacation getting you the best results, the lowest prices and a personal service to ensure you have the perfect trip or event. WittcoSales will offer this service complimentary as a way of thanking and appreciating its customers and the industry that has supported us for the last 25 years.

Increasing Quality of Life One Solution at a Time

by Jay Wimer, President, Valtronic

Valtronic is a full-service global provider of engineering, industrialization and manufacturing for medical devices and related high-reliability products from microelectronics to complex system integration. Headquartered in the Valley de Joux in Switzerland, the company is strongly supported by its U.S. and Moroccan facilities, and works closely with customers across the globe.

Valtronic’s customers are leading global suppliers of medical implants and devices, diagnostic imaging equipment, and sensitive aerospace and industrial assemblies.

For more than 30 years, Valtronic has helped hundreds of companies develop and produce Class II & III medical devices and advanced miniaturized electronic assemblies from its worldwide facilities.

With a focus on becoming a worldwide recognized partner for innovative personal healthcare devices the company aligns itself with forward-thinking, experienced, reliable partners. So when the U.S. facility, based in Solon, Ohio, expanded and increased its space from a 25,000 sq ft facility to a state-of-the-art 68,000 sq ft facility, JUKI Automation Systems partnered with Valtronic to assist the company in its commitment to manufacturing innovations.

“We analyzed several competitors and it became evident that JUKI provided the equipment with the placement rate and quality to support the current and future growing business needs while keeping us ahead of our competition,” said Jay Wimer, Valtronic’s President.

While this is the company’s first JUKI purchase, Valtronic has had a relationship for more than 20 years with JUKI’s independent sales representative, David Trail of Horizon Sales. The company purchased two lines for surface mount technology (SMT), which were installed at the end of April 2014. Each line includes a precision JUKI K3 fully automatic screen printer, a JUKI high-speed flexible parts placer KE-3020 VLN and a JUKI RS800 eco-friendly reflow oven.

The K3 screen printer will use patented mathematical calculating algorithms to maintain the machines’ highest accuracy print alignment achieving 01-005 (0402 metric) printing. The printer was designed to handle requirements of different pressures on the front and rear squeegees and of the squeegee’s leveling stability. These features will prevent solder paste leakage.

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Additionally, the K3 offers a 2D solder paste inspection system that immediately identifies any solder paste deposition defects at critical locations.

JUKI’s newest model, the KE-3020 VLN, offers the optimum flexible placement system for high-density placements. From placing a wide range of components such as 01005s (0402) and ICs to odd-forms, this leading technology is built for accuracy and speed. Placement speeds range from 17,100 to 2,200 CPH: IC (vision centering/ effective tact). The multi-nozzle laser head includes six nozzles plus one highresolution head. Component sizes range from 01005 to 47 mm sq components.

The eco-friendly RS series Reflow Oven includes an Independent Air Velocity Controlling System that allows for flexible processing control. The efficiency of this machine provides energy savings while lowering carbon emissions. By filtering air or N2 back to its oven chamber, the reflow oven reduces thermal loss while getting better flux reclamation.

Valtronic purchased the line to help accomplish three goals:

electronic device miniaturization as a core competency.

Because not many manufacturers deal with bare die technology in the form of miniaturization. Valtronic recognized the increased demand and changes in requirements for some medical implants and embarked on installing a cleanroom. The clean environment is a particulate-controlled environment and just another reason that the company stands out from its competition.

In addition to the cleanroom in the U.S. facility, in 2013, Valtronic added a BioBurden ISO Class 8 Cleanroom to handle demands for specific customers’ products. The 288 sq ft modern facility qualifies temperature, humidity and contamination controls. It provides Valtronic with the ability to package electronic and mechanical assemblies in a pouch ready for Ethylene Oxide (EtO) sterilization. It completes the production chain for customers’ products, and allows Valtronic to provide a complete contract manufacturing solution for active implants.

Valtronic Morocco also has an ISO7 and ISO8 cleanroom.

• Quality: the line will enable the company to keep its core competency in miniaturization, offering quality-driven products from a stateof-the-art line of equipment

Wimer said, “Our success has been achieved by organic growth due to our presence and performance as a valued supplier over the years.” The company’s exceptional quality of product, knowledge of miniaturization and the fact that Valtronic is FDA registered add to the success.

• LED Lighting Business: The line will provide the ability to handle size requirements necessary to enter the LED lighting business. Wimer added, “The LED lighting market is an emerging market with only around 2 percent of the market being covered in the United States and, therefore, providing high growth potential.”

Looking to the future, Wimer adds that he expects an increase in integration of the supply chain as customers continue to demand more service from contract manufacturers, which includes quality management of suppliers (regulatory compliance from suppliers). “As for technologies/product offerings, LED lighting will become a definite addition to our portfolio, and we will heavily continue down the path of personal healthcare devices in the medical market.”

• Repeatability: the line will allow Valtronic to recognize cost savings compared to its current equipment

Valtronic is a rare company in that it stays flexible and changes its focus to meet the current needs of the industry, so looking into the LED lighting segment is on par for the company. It has a history of doing this and has experienced much success. For example, in 1999, Valtronic re-examined its current positioning and began looking at different opportunities. Before the move to medical, Valtronic USA had a substantial history in the telecom business. After researching the medical industry, it was evident that Valtronic needed to establish themselves in the growing medical field. Valtronic shifted marketing and sales focus to drive medical sales, specifically

Regardless of the industry segment, Valtronic’s customers are global, leading suppliers of highly advanced and sophisticated devices and equipment.

They come to Valtronic because they expect to receive world-class standards in product design and development, industrialization and production. “Failure is not an option,” concluded Wimer. The JUKI lines will help Valtronic continue exceeding their customers’ needs while enhancing quality of life through its technologicallyleading solutions.

| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

We hope you have enjoyed our fifth edition and found it an interesting and enjoyable read.

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| JULY/AUGUST 2014 ISSUE

technology today interview

an interview with Mark Stansfield, MD, SolderStar Ltd by smt today staff editor

computer software tracks the progress of the PCB through the oven allowing for the most accurate calculation of the profile seen at product level.

OvenProbe - the company’s latest development, measures performance of conventional reflow ovens and is designed for use after machine maintenance to benchmark the machine’s thermal transfer performance. ____________________________________

‘‘

Q.

In your opinion, what will be the products in the main stream in coming years for information technology? What will be their assembly characteristics and your solutions to them? ____________________________________

‘‘

Our latest reflow optimisation engine, Autoseeker 2, can search through millions of reflow oven setpoint possibilities in a matter of seconds

____________________________________

A. Consumer electronic goods are still following the trend of increased functionality while physical constraints remain fixed or, in the case of emerging sectors like wearable ‘gadgets’, new manufacturing methods and material are needed for ultra-miniature high technology assemblies. SolderStar solutions are well placed to help with developing the thermal processes for these challenging areas.

Our latest reflow optimisation engine, Autoseeker 2, can search through millions of reflow oven setpoint possibilities in a

matter of seconds to find the best possible process settings for these sensitive assemblies. Combined with the SolderStar APS (Automatic Profiling System), these provide a powerful combination of optimal profile setup and 100% monitoring of every assembly through the production line.

Q.

You have exhibited at many shows already this year, including NEPCON China and SMT Hybrid & Packaging in Nuremberg most recently. What were the latest products that you exhibited?

What are their advantages for the downstream manufacturers?

A.

The most advanced solution that will be presented by SolderStar this year is the new and pioneering Automatic Profiling System (APS). APS is a full time system for profiling each and every PCB soldered in a convection reflow oven. Every system is tailored for and fitted to a customer’s oven so their requirements are met precisely. Special temperature probes are mounted along the heated length on both sides of the machine to monitor actual product level temperatures in real time. In addition to this, the system keeps track of the current speed and position of each assembly in the process.

The APS system allows 100% checking of temperature profiles, an automatic analysis of the profile, and checking of production parameters against production limits. The

I like to believe that every feature we design into our products is done for a purpose, and productivity has a big influence on those decisions

____________________________________ Our latest SolderStar PRO Reflow Profilers – the industries smallest datalogger, yet still provides direct USB and wireless telemetry. We have produced systems for customer profiling assemblies down to 60mm in width.

When tunnel heights are minimal this product comes out top with the lowest Heatshield height available due to its ultra slim-line footprint.

WaveShuttle PRO – our leading wave solder analyser. Unsurpassed measurement performance for conventional wave solder machines. Dedicated wave measurement circuitry and production robustness makes it possible to measure wave contact time, temperature and crucially wave height in a single pass, multiple times every single day.

Q. Reliability is one of the major concerns in manufacturing. How do you help companies to achieve this and improve reliability?

A. I like to believe that every feature we design into our products is done for a purpose, and productivity has a big

technology today interview

interview continued... influence on those decisions. Profiling tools are definitely 50% a software product; we have continually evolved the software supplied with our instrument. Our early customers were smaller manufacturers who were new to profiling, who didn’t always have dedicated engineers to manage the thermal process.

We pioneered the approach of presenting solder process results in graphical form rather than in the traditional tables of data, realising that understanding the process condition was much simpler and hence quicker this way. Our tools also make the job of periodic checking the lines a much less onerous task, we have robust fixtures to allow rapid checking of a thermal process without the need for troublesome test boards, plus integrated SPC tools to quickly draw process information from the historical data. ____________________________________

Our tools also ‘‘ make the job of

periodic checking the lines a much less onerous task, we have robust fixtures to allow rapid checking of a thermal process without the need for troublesome test boards

demands on instrument manufacturers to help them by providing any new solutions they need to smooth this transition.

One example of this is the SolderStar Multi-Wave product introduced at SMT Nuremberg in 2013. This new instrument concept provides an engineer with a necessary measurement system, sensors and software to quickly build his/her own test fixtures which evaluate each and every tooling design being used. ____________________________________

to not profile an ‘‘ assembly during the NPI stage and then performing some form of periodic checking is, to be frank, just not doing the job correctly

____________________________________

Q.

Defects in SMT process is another big concern. Downstream manufacturers will inspect and identify the defects to avoid the inferior products being shipped into the market, or find ways to prevent defects from happening. Obviously the latter seems to be more significant, how does your company help the manufacturers in this regard?

A.

I am a great believer in ‘You Can’t Manage What You Don’t Measure’.

Profiling spans all levels of manufacture and we have a product range to cover the needs of each. To produce electronic assemblies without a known profile is just asking for trouble further down the line, either rework costs or early failures and unhappy customers. Not every company warrants investment in equipment to continuously monitor the production lines, but to not profile an assembly during the NPI stage and then performing some form of periodic checking is, to be frank, just not doing the job correctly.

The soldering process is a dynamic thing, with many outside influences affecting the profile seen at product level, machine loading , flux build up , extraction performance change or machine failure.

All these things can be measured and controlled with the adoption of a quality control procedure.

As a minimum, verifying the machine before a new batch is sent through the line is common sense and for long running production batches periodic checking would also be prudent. For customers who need complete traceability, then we can also help as the SolderStar APS (Automatic Profiling System) tracks the profile of every assembly that passes through the oven and, where PCB barcoding is available, we’ll work with the customer to interface to internal ERP systems which automatically store and sort profiles by Type, Batch and Work ID.

____________________________________

Q.

How about enhancing assembly process efficiency?

A. The SolderStar tools help in a multitude of ways. We operate a common platform across all 4 soldering processes which reduces training time and centralisation of profile data. Our software is extremely easy to use. It provides all the powerful tools an engineer expects to see and we’ve also put real effort into making both the hardware and software easy to operate for all levels of user.

Secondly, as manufacturers evaluate changes in more flexible or cost effective soldering technologies, they place

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2014 NPI AWARD WINNER FOR TEST & INSPECTION

Circuits Assembly Congratulates

MIRTEC

Winner of the 2014 NPI Award for AOI MIRTEC (MV-7 Omni 2D/3D In-Line AOI) Circuits Assembly’s New Product Introduction (NPI) Award recognizes the leading new products or electronics assembly during the past 12 months.

PERFORMANCE SERIES MV-7 OMNI 2D/3D AOI

OMNI-VISION®® 2D/3D Inspection Technology

15

MEGA PIXEL EXCLUSIVE CAMERA TECHNOLOGY MS-11 3D SPI

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