Dynatech To Distribute Aegis Software With Samsung Equipment

Dynatech Technology Inc. (Horsham, PA), the North American distributor for Samsung surface-mount technology equipment, has signed a distribution agreement with Aegis Industrial Software Corp. (Horsham, PA) to sell and install Aegis's CircuitCAM and CheckPoint software on Samsung equipment.

"It's more than one-stop shopping for our customers," said Mike Foster, director of sales for Dynatech. "With both companies located in the same corporate campus, customers can get their training for the equipment and the software on the same business trip. Customers will benefit from having the training on each system essentially at the same time, making it easier to retain the information and become more productive more quickly when the systems are installed in their plants."

In the market for small to medium electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) shops, the Samsung Techwin line includes the newly introduced CP60L compact high-speed chip shooter, CP45F full vision assembly system and a variety of entry-level placement systems, plus machine-control software that can tie into line manufacturing and enterprise information systems. As the North American distributor, Dynatech Technology also provides 24/7 service with a guaranteed 30-minute call-back time.

Manufacturing and process engineers use CircuitCAM to convert CAD design information into visual assembly documentation, reports and optimized machine programs that include the generation and optimization interfaces for the pick-and-place insertion process, inspection and test machines. Users can operate the MS Office suite and programs such as AutoCAD directly within the software environment, and they can transfer documentation into programs such as Word and Excel. Data stored by the software enters a relational database, such as Access, which can be used in stand-alone mode. CheckPoint provides bill-of-materials, revision control and management capabilities.

www.dynatechsmt.com

Universal Instruments, CyberOptics Sign Partnership Agreement

Universal Instruments Corp. (Binghamton, NY) and CyberOptics Corp. (Minneapolis, MN) have signed an agreement to integrate the new Embedded Process Verification (EPV) inspection technology from CyberOptics into Universal's electronic component placement systems.

Universal will offer the EPV sensor system as a feature on its recently released platform placement machines that incorporate its new placement head. Introduction of the sensor is currently planned for the second half of 2004.

Ian McEvoy, president of Universal, said, "To achieve the challenging quality goal of less than 10 defects per million for surface-mount circuit board assembly, you have to verify each component placement. The CyberOptics' EPV is the first sensing system to enable this within the placement machine."

Steven Case, CyberOptics' chairman and founder said, "Unlike traditional inspection systems that are positioned after the placement machine in an electronics assembly line, EPV puts the inspection process right at the point of action, inside the pick-and-place machine. Ultimately, defects detected by the EPV sensor may be corrected while the circuit board is still within the placement machine."

www.uic.com

www.cyberoptics.com

Kester Sold to American Capital

Kester, a business unit of Northrop Grumman Corp., has been sold to American Capital Strategies Ltd. for an undisclosed amount.

At a press conference on Tuesday during APEX, Dave Torp, Kester's vice president of marketing and business development, announced that the company has just one announcement to make at the show this year--they have been acquired. The acquisition allows Kester to break from the defense arena and return to their roots of supplying to the assembly, component, electrical and industrial marketplace.

According to Torp, the acquisition allows Kester more freedom. "We have increased flexibility and agility within the marketplace, and can generate more buiness, especially in foreign entities," he siad. "With them [American Capital], we are free to market globally, manufacture and support customers, especially in China."

Kester was sold to American Capital "lock, stock and barrel," said Torp. He added that Kester's management team remains intact.

Torp also said that Kester comprises a large portion of American Capital's holding portfolio, allowing Kester to keep up with this constantly changing industry and new technologies. Kester also has implemented a "phase-gate system" which will allow them to accelerate new product development from years to months.

American Capital's investment takes the form of a revolving credit facility, senior term loans, senior and junior subordinated debt and preferred common equity. Post-closing, American Capital will own 84% of Kester on a fully diluted basis. The remaining ownership in the acquiring company represents amounts under the employee options program, as well as equity co-investors.

www.kester.com

NEMI Kicks Off 2004 Roadmap

The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI, Herndon,VA), an industry-led consortium focused on strengthening the global electronics manufacturing supply chain, will kick off its 2004 roadmap March 24-25. NEMI member Sun Microsystems will host the meeting at their facility in Newark, CA.

"The kick-off meeting gives all of the committees and groups who are developing individual chapters of the roadmap a chance to meet together as a whole to discuss the ‘big picture' and coordinate on the issues that affect all aspects of the roadmap," said Jim Arnold, fellow of the technical staff for Motorola and NEMI's director of roadmapping. "It's a very useful and productive session that catalyzes the six-month process."

Every two years, NEMI maps the future manufacturing needs of the global electronics industry in order to identify the key technology and infrastructure developments required to assure leadership of the supply chain over the next decade. It helps companies anticipate shifts in product requirements and provides an early warning of changes in technology or infrastructure.

2004 marks the tenth anniversary of this highly successful initiative. The first roadmap was created in 1994 by the National Electronics Manufacturing Framework Committee, a group of 200 individuals from industry, government and academia who came together to study the challenges facing the nation in electronics manufacturing, and to develop technology roadmaps and policy options with which to address these challenges.

Since that time, the roadmap has served as the foundation of all NEMI activities. NEMI uses the roadmap's forecasts to identify critical technology and infrastructure gaps, prioritize R&D needs to meet these gaps, and initiate activities to address industry needs.

NEMI is currently recruiting industry experts to participate in the 2004 roadmap (NEMI membership is not required for participation).

Anyone interested in getting involved with the NEMI roadmap should contact Chuck Richardson, NEMI staff manager of roadmapping, (256) 880-0922; email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

www.nemi.org

Tyco Electronics Brings the Kanetic Product Line to APEX

Tyco Electronics (Willow Grove, PA), a business segment of Tyco International Ltd., is highlighting the Kanetic product line at the APEX show taking place Feb. 24-26 in Anaheim, CA.

Tyco Electronics signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Kanetic that resulted in Tyco assuming all responsibility for the manufacture, sales and support of the Kanetic product line. This agreement provides customers Kanetic's product offerings along with Tyco's financial strength and worldwide sales and service capability.

The product line features an adjustable length edge belt workstation, magazine unloader, an inline board destacker, inverter, and magazine loader. All products have adjustable length, dual speed adjustment, thin board capabilities, a control board and flow reversibility.

Tyco Electronics Automation Group (TEAG), a business unit of Tyco Electronics, is a supplier of automated equipment that is used in the manufacturing of printed circuit board assemblies and systems.

http://automation.tycoelectronics.com

Nash Joins BTU Executive Team

BTU International Inc. (North Billerica, MA), a supplier of advanced thermal processing equipment for semiconductor packaging, surface-mount and advanced materials processing, has announced the appointment of Tom Nash as vice president of marketing.

Nash joins the company as a member of the senior management team, reporting directly to Mark R. Rosenzweig, president and chief executive of BTU International. Nash will oversee all facets of corporate marketing, working closely with the executive team on corporate strategy as the company continues to expand its product and customer base.

"We are extremely pleased that Tom has joined our team," said Rosenzweig. "He brings a wealth of international business experience in the electronics and process control industries as well as valuable experience in strategic planning, acquisition analysis and new business development. Tom will utilize his skills and experience to guide our new product development program, implement strategies to increase our global market share and support our worldwide sales organization."

Nash has previously held positions in general management, executive sales and marketing management, as well as product development, during his career at the Black & Decker Corp., Vitronics Corp. and most recently as president of CIMCIS Ltd.

www.btu.com

Aegis, Cogiscan Offer Closed-Loop Mfg. Control

AEGIS Industrial Software Corp. (Horsham, PA) and Cogiscan Inc. (Bromont, Quebec, Canada) have announced that they will demonstrate integration between their products as the Cogiscan material tracking and line control technology is integrated to Aegis' real-time machine monitoring and data acquisition systems.

The combined solution offers control of business processes from the preparation of design and bill of matrials data, to line setup validation, execution and the gathering and analysis of process data. It then yields traceability—effectively closing the informational loop. The technical integration creates the first solution offering the Aegis NPI and MES solutions with the materials and process control solutions offered from Cogiscan.

"When Aegis and Cogiscan solutions combine to create closed loop manufacturing control, it yields more than just an extended range of functions," said Jason Spera, chief executive officer of Aegis, "It delivers new depth of information management through the entire process from end-to-end. It is a platform-independent solution free of proprietary and machine-specific elements to make deployment and scalability simple."

www.aiscorp.com

www.cogiscan.com

Juki Automation Systems Partners with Tecnomatix

Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (Herzlia, Israel), a provider of manufacturing pocess mnagement (MPM), has partnered with Juki Automation ystems Europe (Solothurn, Switzerland) to offer integrated solutions for electronics manufacturing. Juki, a supplier of surface-mount automated assembly equipment and systems, will deploy several Tecnomatix eMPower for Electronics solutions along with their own surface-mount machines.

The partnership, which includes deployment of eMPower eM-Assembly Expert and eM-View Expert, will give Juki greater market impact in Europe as well as complete machine and part library support for Juki surface-mount machines. Juki customers will be able to integrate eM-Assembly expert with other eMPower solutions for electronics. Tecnomatix in turn will gain a stronger presence in the global electronics market.

"Juki is pleased to be partnering with such an established leader in MPM solutions," said Jurg Schupbach, president of Juki Automation Systems Europe. "The Tecnomatix line offers both Juki and our customers a fully comprehensive, integrated environment that will allow users the flexibility to make better, more informed manufacturing decisions."

"Tecnomatix is committed to offering Juki and all of our partners an MPM solution to help grow their businesses," said Israel Levy, chief executive officer, Tecnomatix Unicam, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. "Juki is able to leverage industry-leading software from Tecnomatix for programming and managing assembly machines, which provides their customers maximum business benefits and the flexibility to choose the assembly equipment platforms that best support their business strategy."

www.tecnomatix.com

www.jas-smt.com

Jabil to Implement Valor Software Worldwide

Valor Computerized Systems (Yvane, Israel), a provider of productivity increasing engineering software solutions to the electronics design and manufacturing industry, has reached an agreement with Jabil Circuit Inc. (St. Petersburg, FL), a top-tier electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider. Trilogy 5000 will be implemented at a majority of Jabil's manufacturing and service facilities located in Asia, Europe and the Americas to increase efficiencies in new product introduction (NPI), design for manufacturability (DFM) and assembly process optimization. The deal marks the largest software deployment in Valor's corporate history.

The engineering system selected by Jabil covers the full scope of the assembly engineering solution for an integrated, efficient and productive CAD to DFM to assembly process.

Chris Singleton, global director for manufacturing engineering at Jabil said, "We will be able to accommodate customer ECN's easier and faster as well as provide a higher level of DFM service for customers. Jabil expects Trilogy tools to reduce the engineering process time for new jobs. This is particularly important to our growing high-mix business and will enable us to accelerate new product introductions."

www.valor.com

www.jabil.com

FEINFOCUS, GOEPEL Partner for AOI/AXI System

FEINFOCUS (Stamford, CT), a manufacturer of x-ray inspection systems and tubes, and GOEPEL electronic (Jena, Germany), a vendor of electronic and optical test and inspection systems, have combined their 30 years of test and inspection experience with a recent technology partnership.

The new cooperation and development project has resulted in the launch of the OptiCon X-Line inspection system, which was unveiled at Productronica 2003. The new system combines automated optical inspection (AOI) and x-ray inspection technology for the automated analysis of hidden solder joints.

The system, based on the OptiCon series from GOEPEL, provides automatic recognition of shorts and solder bridges, as well as missing solder balls on ball grid array (BGA) and microBGA devices. FEINFOCUS contributed to the development of the system with x-ray tube technology that was implemented according to GOEPEL's specifications. The companies will publish joint technical papers and application findings through the use of the combined technologies.

www.feinfocus.com

www.goepel.com

Exhibitor Space Filling at electronica 2004

According to show organizers, electronica 2004 is quickly filling up exhibitor space. The show, occurring November 9-12, in Munich, Germany, is expected to attract more than 77,000 international visitors. The trade show will cover more than 1.4 million square feet of exhibit space at the New Munich Trade Fair Centre.

U.S. companies can receive an all-inclusive exhibition space within the show's U.S.A. Pavilions. The space includes furniture, carpet, graphics, shelving and unlimited use of the U.S. exhibitor lounge with complete access to interpreters.

"U.S.A. Pavilions allow U.S. exhibitors the opportunity to stand out from the crowd because of their size and visibility," stated Noel Hoekstra, president and chief operating officer of Munich Trade Fairs North America.

Exhibitors will be arranged into multiple halls organized by major product categories, which helps visitors find the companies and products most meaningful to their business. The halls are divided into:

• semiconductors: i ncludes transistors, power semiconductor components, logic circuits and processors for workstations and PCs
• embedded in Munich: includes microprocessors, microcontrollers, assemblies/modules and development tools hardware and software
• sensors and microsystems: includes sensors for mechanical, climate, optical, chemical and biological parameters and microsystems
• PCBs and other circuit carriers and EMS: includes PCBs for backplanes/bus systems, electronics manufacturing services (EMS) and prototyping
• interconnection technology: includes connectors for telecommunications, specialized connection/connecting components and sockets
• electronic design (ED/EDA): includes CAD/CAE tools, peripheral equipment, design and development systems
• assemblies and subsystems: includes automotive electronic assemblies, assemblies for measurement applications, DDI and other network-technology components and electronics protection devices
• switches: includes switches for continuous connection, electrical keys, components and accessories for keyboards
• passive components: includes inductors and accessories, microwave components, Piezo electric components, magnetic and electronic ceramic products
• displays: includes monitors, plug-and-play, display elements and assemblies, signaling and illuminating elements
• power supplies: includes transformers, coil ware for specific applications, batteries and power management systems
• casing technology: includes system racks, special housings and thermal management
• servo-technology/drive elements: includes motors, gears and magnetic actuators
• test and measurement: includes measuring/testing of geometric parameters, environmental, chemical, optical and electrical parameters and software tools for test systems.

Additional information about electronica 2004 may be found at www.munichtradefairs.com or www.global-electronics.net . Those interested in exhibiting may contact Jessica Mowrey at (312) 377-2656 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text9404 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

www.esi.com

DEK's Via Fill Process Wins Innovative Technology Award

The IPC Association (Northbrook, IL) recently commended DEK's (Zurich, Switzerland) technological advances with its new via fill process. Awarded a slot in the Innovative Technology Showcase at the APEX exhibition in Anaheim, CA, DEK's 100% fill technology was described by the judges as groundbreaking.

As part of the new and emerging technologies showcase, the process delivers 100% fill of substrate vias with no voids and minimal surface residue. This Pro-Flow-based process offers solutions to problems such as insufficient fill, voiding, poor throughput and excessive handling of product.

The fully enclosed head is used in conjunction with a dedicated tooling fixture that ensures complete fill of vias in the minimum of print passes (typically two), with a paste pressure of 2.5 bar and a print speed of 25mm/s. In addition, the print material has been shown to have a life of over three months in the transfer head.

Traditional manual or squeegee-based systems are less clean and operator-friendly, and take multiple passes to push material into vias. They can also use a vacuum table to pull material through, resulting in both voids and inadequate deposition.

With results in throughput of over fives times faster than traditional squeegee-based fill processes, the system is repeatable and offers accuracy.

DEK is a global provider of advanced pre-placement manufacturing solutions and innovative deposition technologies for a wide range of electronic materials.

www.dek.com

Indium Corp., Motorola Receive Soldertec Global Awards

Soldertec Global has awarded its Lead-Free Solder Co-operation Award to global solder materials manufacturer Indium Corp. (Utica, NY) and their customer Motorola.

The award recognizes the high quality collaboration between the two companies. Indium's vice president of technology, Ning-Cheng Lee and Motorola's Dr. Edwin Bradley and Dr. Vahid Goudarzi have developed a lead-free assembly process and solder paste that has been used to assemble more than five million cellular phones worldwide. The team then shared their process details with the electronics assembly industry.

The Pb-Free Quickstart process offers practical benefits, including a wide process window, component-friendly profiles and no requirement for nitrogen reflow. Several hundred process, quality and production engineers have been trained on the process.

The award, established in 1999, is awarded to industrial consortiums, material suppliers and lead-free users from North America, Europe and Asia.

www.indium.com

www.lead-free.org

Beta Testing Confirms Speedline's Tooling Reduces Set Up Time

Speedline Technologies Inc. (Franklin, MA) announced that its MPM Gel-Flex conformal board support system reduced set up time by 50% in customer beta testing. The system also demonstrated increased process yields and reduced wiper frequencies when compared with other tooling systems.  

The beta testing revealed that customers liked the Gel-Flex system's low maintenance requirements, ruggedness and durability. The solution also was seen as being considerably less expensive to own and operate compared to customized tooling options.

All of the participants in the test program noticed that the ystem reduced board setup time and product changeover times by at least 50% and by as much as 75% when compared to their existing board support system. This translates to increased printer uptime and increased board production.  

Consisting of electrostatic discharge (ESD)-safe Polyurethane Elastomer Gel enclosed within a durable membrane shell and mounted to a magnetic base, the tooling is a conformal board-support system. The system can conform to underside components while providing firm support for the entire board surface.

www.speedlinetech.com

BP Microsystems Launches New Website

In association with BP Micro's corporate re-branding, which introduced a new logo and color change late last year, BP Microsystems (Houston, TX) has announced that it is introducing a new Website to the electronics community. The site has refined features, an enhanced look and improved navigation.

Designed for ease of use, navigating the site has never been simpler. As you navigate through the site, you will see most of the information is located on one page and wasted space has been eliminated, reducing the need to scroll.

The information tabs have been reduced from eight to four categories: Products, Software, Support and About BP Micro. Visible below each tab are subcategories, which showcase BP Micro's most searched and asked-about information.

The site still features searching functions for over 19,000 programmable semiconductor devices for which BP Microsystems supports on its equipment.

www.bpmicro.com

Elqotec Standardizes with Ovation Tooling

Elcoteq Network Corp., one of Europe's largest providers of electronics manufacturing services, has standardized on Grid-lok brand printed circuit board (PCB) support tooling for surface-mount PCB assembly at the Elcoteq Finland Oy, Vaasa facility. Grid-lok tooling, by Ovation (Bethlehem, PA), is a global leader in compliant automatic support tooling for PCB assembly. 

"The addition of the Grid-lok tooling systems to our surface-mount equipment was a large step toward improving our production efficiency," said Jarmo Kasari, Surface-Mount Technology Maintenance Manager. "We typically run as many as six different products per line in the course of one shift. We are constantly looking at innovative ways to improve our process and reduce costly machine downtime. Once installed, we immediately began to see to return on our investment for these systems."

Grid-lok is the only support tooling to automatically set and reset to the bottom-side topography of each consecutive PCB. 

www.grid-lok.com

IPC Announces APEX/EXPO Best Paper Winners; Attendee Numbers

As attendance totals indicate, the first co-located IPC SMEMA Council's APEX/IPC Printed Circuits Expo/IPC Designers Summit exhibition and conference, held Feb. 24-26 in Anaheim, CA, proved to be a wise investment for the show's exhibitors. IPC (Northbrook, IL) announced today that the attendance increased 8% over last year, from a combined exhibition total of 5,300 in 2003 to 5,700 attendees this year. Additionally, the co-location increased traffic at both shows, with 60% of attendees indicating they would take part in the offerings of both the APEX and Expo events.

The three-day event attracted 10,200 total visitors (attendees and exhibitors) to the Anaheim Convention Center, which featured 480 companies covering more than 154,350 sq. ft. of exhibit space. The professional development courses welcomed nearly 1,300 participants and 1,100 people attended the technical conference. Also, this year's Interconnect Manufacturing Services (IMS) / Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Presidents Management and Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) Management Council meetings continued to draw strong numbers, with a total of 105 senior level managers in attendance.

Wendy Stallman, corporate communications manager at Electro Scientific Industries, concurred with McGuirk, "The quality of attendance at this year's event shows that the market is turning around. It is refreshing to see that people are beginning to make purchases again for existing equipment and that they are beginning to embrace new process technologies, such as embedded passives."

Attendee Mark Basich, manufacturing manager at Rauland Borg, siad, "The show was highly informative this year. It was well organized and having the shows at the same time allowed us to reduce the amount of time and energy we spent in previous years to meet and greet others in the industry."

Next year's co-located show will take place Feb. 22-24, 2005 in the same location.

IPC also recognized this year's best U.S. and international papers at its co-located exhibition and conference. Each winning paper received a $1,000 honorarium and a commemorative plaque from IPC.

"Tin Whisker Growth—Substrate Effect Understanding CTE Mismatch and IMC Formation" received the Best U.S. Paper award. Cookson Electronics' Dr. Yun Zhang, Chonglun Fan, Dr. Chen Xu, Oscar Khaselev and Dr. Joseph Abys co-authored the winning paper.

In addition, IPC recognized the following papers as Honorable Mentions: "Mechanical Bending Technique for Determining CSP Design and Assembly Weaknesses," by Mark R. Larsen and Dr. Ian R. Harvey from the University of Utah, David Turner of Inovar, Inc., Brent Porter of Bourns Electronics and James Ortowski from EDO Ceramics; and "Design of Experiment in Micro-Via Thermal Fatigue Test," by Dr. Tse Eric Wong, Harold S. Fenger and Dr. Isaac C. Chen of Raytheon Electronic Systems.

The Martin L. Barton Best International Paper Award, named for former APEX Technical Conference Director Martin Barton, was awarded to "Phosphorus in Electroless Nickel Layers—Curse or Blessing." The paper was authored by Atotech Deutschland GmbH's Sven Lamprecht and Hans Jurgen Schreier, as well as Kuldip Johal and Hugh Roberts of Atotech USA.

IPC recognized "The Effect of Thermal Loaded Bend Test on the Solder Joint Reliability," co-authored by Yuanze University Taiwan's Dr. Yeongshu Chen, C.S. Wang and C.H. Chen, as well as Solectron Corp.'s Dr. Aichyun Shiah, with an Honorable Mention for this international paper.

Copies of the winning papers are included in the 2004 Technical Conference Proceedings. They will also be published in the IPC's Review, a monthly publication distributed to IPC members.

www.ipc.org