FEATURES

• SEAs 2007
  EFD’s Customer Service Metrics
  The company has held a lock on the SEA materials category. Here’s why.
  Chelsey Drysdale

• Cover Story
  Understencil Cleaning for Process Repeatability
  Ramping the cleaning frequency means lower throughput. There are, however, elegant and novel alternatives.
  Trevor Warren

• Solder Testing
  Solder Paste Thixotropy Impacts Rheometric Results
  Attempts to meet ISO/TS 16949 have informed that a solder paste’s thixotropic history has a major impact on its rheometric characterization repeatability and reproducibility. A novel sample preparation method reduces the thixotropy impact in conjunction with enhanced plate/plate rheometry.
  Ineke van Tiggelen-Aarden and Eli Westerlaken

• EMS Business Models
  An EMS Provider That Doesn’t Build Boards
  Taking “focus” to the extreme can mean giving up SMT assembly too. How one EMS firm chooses what to build – and what not to.
  Dawn Poirier

• Products and Services
  2007 Circuits Assembly Buyers Guide
  A valuable resource for locating surface mount and electronics assembly suppliers.

FIRST PERSON

• Caveat Lector
  "Flex"ibility will be in order
  Mike Buetow

• Letters

• Talking Heads
  Dynatech's Michael Foster.
  Mike Buetow

MONEY MATTERS

• Global Sourcing
  Lessons from India.
  Greg Papandrew

TECH TALK

• On the Forefront
  Solar cells heat up.
  E. Jan Vardaman

• Screen Printing
  Controlling cleaning inputs.
  Clive Ashmore

• Better Manufacturing
  Don’t let black pad make you see red.
  Bryan Gillespie

• NEW COLUMN: Getting Lean
  The foundations of “Lean.”
  Marty Neese

• Tech Tips
  Conformal coating types and uses.
  American Competitiveness Institute

• Wave Soldering
  You can solder small passives.
  Gerjan Diepstraten

• Test and Inspection
  “Limited access” doesn’t mean “limited testing.”
  Stacy Kalisz Johnson

• Pb-Free Lessons Learned
  A hybrid solution to a “mixed up” problem.
  Chrys Shea

• Materials World
  Mixed metals strategies.
  Dr. Renzhe Zhao

• Technical Abstracts

DEPARTMENTS

Industry News
Market Watch
Ad Index
Product Spotlight
Assembly Insider

On the cover: Proper stencil cleaning boosts end-product consistency. (Photo courtesy DEK)