MADISON, AL — Jim Raby, one of the foremost experts on soldering and assembly reliability, has retired after a 57-year career.

Raby is well-known throughout the industry for his work with soldering and high-reliability printed circuit assemblies. He spent his entire career in electronics manufacturing, starting with the Saturn/Apollo rocket program. He is credited for developing the NASA and Navy (the famous China Lake) soldering schools, and was instrumental in developing the IPC soldering certification curriculum, used by the vast majority of the industry today. He initiated the Electronics Manufacturing Productivity Facility (now known as the American Competitiveness Institute). During his career, he has trained tens of thousands of engineers and operators.

For more than 30 years, Raby has worked on industry standards, including DOD-STD-2000, MIL-STD-2000, J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610. He also helped write and implement standards for wire harnesses. He has been involved in the research for lead-free solder processes and materials. His seminal paper, “Standardization of Military Specifications,” was the roadmap for reducing some 219 specifications into a single four-document set known as MIL-STD-2000, the precursor to J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610. He has worked on more than a dozen standards and training programs, and chaired or vice-chaired committees on soldering, rework and repair, component mounting and product assurance. Raby was instrumental in the writing of the curriculum and beta testing for J-STD-001, IPC-A-610D, IPC/WHMA-A-620 and IPC-7711/7721A, and received the IPC Presidents Award in 1984.

CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY named its Electronics Assembly Hall of Fame for Raby.

The announcement was made official this week at STI Electronics, the manufacturing and training company Raby cofounded with his wife, Ellen, and son David, in 1982. Ellen Raby is also retiring.

STI now employs more than 70 staff and provides training services, analytical and failure analysis, prototyping, and small- to medium-volume PCB assembly.

“Jim and Ellen’s contributions to our industry are well documented,” said David Raby, president and CEO. “Jim’s vision and Ellen’s steadiness also have helped shape STI Electronics into the kind of company it is today – a company based on strong values and ensuring our employees, customers and suppliers are all treated as they should be. I wish them the very best in their well-earned retirement and I commit to growing STI without changing those values. It has been a special privilege to be able to work as a family for the last 32 years.”

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