SICK (Minneapolis, MN), a provider of factory automation solutions, has announced that its laser measurement system sensors (LMS) were used by several teams during the DARPA Grand Challenge. The sensor is one of the key components of the navigation system, helping to sense the terrain and obstacles in front of the unmanned vehicles.
Sponsored by the Department of Defense, the competition is designed to test state of the art autonomous vehicle technology. The race, which took place March 13, covered a rugged course between Barstow, CA, and Primm, NV. The team that completed the course the fastest within a specified time won $1 million.
"The LMS units play a key role in our terrain sensing capablities," said Chris Pederson, team leader for the A.I. Motorvators team. "The relialbility and quality are impressive and demonstrate the company's committment to producing components that have the performance and durability needed for autonomous ground vehicles."
"The SICK sensors are considered key to our ability to generate a simplified 3-D image of the immediate terrain in front of the vehicle," said Ivar Schoenmeyr, leader of the CyberRyder team.
SICK non-contact LMS sensors offer distance measurement and collision control throughout a scanning field up to 180 degrees. The sensors can also be used for monitoring open spaces for building security, object classification, determining the volume of objects and collision prevention for vehicles and cranes.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Orbotech Inc. (Billerica, MA), the North American subsidiary of Orbotech Ltd. (Yavne, Israel), has announced the successful installation of two Trion-2340HD automated optical inspection (AOI) systems and integrated ADVISOR process control software tools at Nu Visions Manufacturing LLC (Springfield, MA), a provider of electronics manufacturing services.
Barry Cohen, president and chief executive officer of Orbotech Inc., said, "Nu Visions has a progressive strategy of continual investment in upgrading and expanding its existing capabilities to better serve its customers needs for technology complexity and manufacturing flexibility. We are proud to be chosen by Nu Visions as their AOI supplier and are sure that our field-proven post-reflow inspection solution will provide them with outstanding results to meet their process improvement and total customer satisfaction goals."
Nu Visions Manufacturing provides original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with customized total manufacturing solutions, including circuit design, board design from schematics, mechanical and product design, sourcing and procurement, prototype and volume board assembly, system assembly, design and implementation of product testing, warranty and repair services. Since 1991, Nu Visions has been servicing OEMs in the defense, industrial and medical industries, presenting competitive outsourcing advantages, access to advanced manufacturing technologies, shortened product time-to-market, and effective asset utilization.
Orbotech provides yield-enhancing production support solutions for specialized applications in the supply chain of the electronics industry, principally for printed circuit boards (PCBs) and flat panel displays (FPDs). The company designs, develops, manufactures, markets and services automated optical inspection (AOI) systems for bare and assembled PCBs and for FPDs, and imaging solutions for PCB production.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
AIM has announce an international series of seminars entitled "Finally! Practical Guidelines for Achieving Successful Lead-Free Assembly." The series will kick off in the Pacific Northwest later this month and continue throughout 2004. The seminars will be led by AIM and guest speakers from multinational original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers such as Intel and RadiSys.
With the WEEE/RoHS Directives outlawing lead from electronics in the EU by July 2006 and foreign competition driving the implementation of lead-free electronics assembly around the world, manufacturers need to fully understand the steps to take to successfully transition to lead-free assembly.
To successfully achieve lead-free electronics assembly, each participant in the manufacturing process, from purchasing to engineering to maintenance to quality, must have a solid understanding of the changes required of them.
While there are many theoretical workshops on lead-free assembly, this seminar focuses on the practical considerations for achieving successful lead-free assembly at your factory. Each step of the manufacturing cycle is addressed, from purchasing parts to inspecting assembled boards. Solid advice, real world examples and helpful images of the means to overcome the many challenges of lead-free assembly are presented.
Upcoming seminar dates are: March 30 in Spokane, WA; March 31 in Seattle, WA; April 1 in Portland, OR; April 7 in St. Louis, MO.
To participate, contact David Suraski of AIM: (401) 463-5605; email: info@aimsolder.com.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Digi-Key Corp. announced that they have signed an agreement with Analog Devices Inc. (ADI, Norwood, MA) that allows Digi-Key to distribute ADI products in the Americas. The relationship will give ADI customers increased access to product, as well as provide them uninterrupted services and support systems through Digi-Key's distribution channel and real-time online service capabilities.
Digi-Key now stocks a full line of ADI's product offerings, including analog integrated circuits (ICs), digital signal processors (DSPs) and micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) products. These products are in stock and available for immediate shipment to customers in North, Central and South America.
"By combining ADI's strong brand name and product presence with Digi-Key's ability to reach our growing customer base, this relationship is mutually beneficial to both companies and respective customers," said Richard Begen, director of worldwide distribution, Analog Devices. "Digi-Key provides a choice for customers interested in purchasing ADI products through the catalog distribution channel, thus providing ADI greater reach in servicing its large customer base."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Cognex Corp. (Natick, MA), a supplier of machine vision systems, announced that Palomar Technologies (Vista, CA), a manufacturer of automated, high-precision assembly systems for the electronics, automotive, aerospace and medical industries, has integrated Cognex's MVS-8000(R) machine vision system into its new Model 8000 thermosonic wire bonder.
Wirebonders are automated, high-speed machines used during the manufacture of semiconductor chips to attach semiconductor die to lead frames and other substrates. The Cognex vision systems will be used to guide and monitor the bonding process by automatically determining where the connections between the die and lead frame are to be made. Using Cognex machine vision, the Palomar bonder is able to place eight tightly spaced wires per second, with a repeatability of better than five microns.
"Palomar has relied on Cognex as our primary vision supplier for the past 15 years," said Bruce Hueners, vice president of marketing for Palomar Technologies. "We consider the engineering staff at Cognex to be an extension of our own and we capitalize on their name recognition and position in the industry to help promote our products. Cognex machine vision has been one of the important features that differentiates our product, and it provides our customers with a strategic competitive advantage."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Kester (Des Plaines, IL) and Metcal (Menlo Park, CA) will present a three-part lead-free assembly seminar at the Advanced Manufacturing Expo at The International Center in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on March 24 and 25, 2004. Kester and Metcal will both be featured in the Innovations Stage, located on the show floor and in a seminar room adjacent to the show floor as part of the Flex Forum.
Lead-free Assembly - Part 1 is designed to assist electronics assembly manufacturers with a reliable and cost effective implementation of lead-free assembly operations. The seminar covers the main issues with lead-free soldering in surface-mount technology, wave soldering and its rework operations. It also offers technical and practical information on preventing process issues usually associated with lead-free soldering. Successful case studies are also discussed, showing solutions to issues typically encountered with lead-free assembly. The seminar will have speakers who will address specific issues such as rework, profiling and inspection. This part of the seminar is designed for process engineers who are or will be implementing lead-free assembly and its rework operations. It will be beneficial to line supervisors, group leaders and line operators wishing to understand these processes as to offer immediate and effective process solutions.
Lead-free Assembly - Part 2 is also designed to assist electronics assembly manufacturers with a reliable and cost effective implementation of lead-free assembly operations. Additionally, it covers the main issues with lead-free soldering in surface-mount technology, wave soldering and its rework operations. Hands-on demonstrations of the following will be available to attendees:
• thermal requirements for lead-free rework operations
• flux selection for lead-free hand assembly and rework
• maintaining production yields and reliability with lead-free rework.
Lead-free Assembly - Part 3 is part of the Flex Forum and will be presented in Seminar Room. The final part of the seminar details the "8 Steps to Lead-Free Assembly," in the implementation of a lead-free process. This seminar will be beneficial for those seeking to be in a position to implement lead-free soldering or in the process of drafting an implementation plan. For those who have or who are currently implementing a lead-free process, this seminar will help greatly in developing a solid understanding of the process variables. Monitoring of these variables will maintain excellent production yields and product reliability with lead-free operation. Topics covered include:
• lead-free alloy selection
• component and board finishes for reliable lead free
• selecting the flux chemistry for lead-free operations
• Optimizing lead-free surface-mount technology, wave and rework operations
• prevent soldering defects with lead free.
Assembly Canada is Canada's only tradeshow dedicated to the function of assembling discrete parts into finished products. Canadian High Technology Show (CHTS) is a forum for industry professionals to assess and compare the latest products and services for electronics manufacturing. These two events form the basis of Advanced Manufacturing Expo.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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