News
According to IPC (Northbrook, IL), the North American interconnect manufacturing services (IMS)/ printed circuit board (PCB) industry book-to-bill ratio for February remained firm at 1.08. The ratio is calculated by averaging the index numbers for orders booked over the past three months and dividing by the average index numbers for sales billed during the same period. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which indicates probable near-term growth.
Shipments in February increased 27.5% year-on-year, while orders booked increased 42%. Shipments of PCBs are up 27.9% year-to-date, with bookings up 30.9%.
The February shipment index was 131.4, up 11.3% from January, and the booking index was 144.4, up 15.3%..
The index shows how current PCB shipments and bookings relate to an index point. In this case, 1992 was chosen as the index point because it was a stable growth year for U.S. PCB manufacturers. A shipment index number of 117.0, for example, indicates that shipments are 17% higher than average shipments for the same time period in 1992.
Survey participants report shipments have increased 28.6% year-to date and bookings have increased 33.6%.
The information in IPC's monthly industry statistics is based on data provided by PCB manufacturers that participate in the IMS Statistical Program. These companies represent approximately 60% of the U.S. IMS industry.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (Herzlia, Israel), a provider of manufacturing process management (MPM), announced that Bosch Security Systems Ltd. has selected eMPower solutions from Tecnomatix Unicam for its manufacturing site in China. Tecnomatix Unicam is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tecnomatix Technologies.
The solutions—including eM-Assembly Expert and eM-Test Expert—will help the company facilitate machine setup and reduce the impact of product changeover in the company's high-mix, low-volume manufacturing environment. Eventually, Bosch plans to extend the application to the shop floors as well. This initiative will begin with the Bosch Security Systems facility in Zhuhai, South China.
Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. also predicted that sales will rise by 15 to 20% in 2005 on top of the 15% growth projected for 2004, helped by higher demand from manufacturers and cost-cutting efforts.
Tecnomatix, a provider of robotic simulation and engineering software, has weathered a three-year slump by reducing 25% of its work force. Demand started to pick up in the December quarter, as it signed a $50 million contract with a major U.S. automotive maker.
In 2003, the company posted revenue of $86.3 million and a loss of $10.3 million.
The bulk of Tecnomatix's revenue comes from Europe and North America. It is expanding rapidly in China, where it faces the double-edged sword of surging demand and rampant piracy.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reservedDigi-Key Corp. (Thief River Falls, MN) and AVX (Myrtle Beach, SC) have signed a global agreement allowing Digi-Key to distribute AVX products. For AVX, Digi-Key will serve as a channel partner, managing an extensive customer base that includes technology leaders as well as small and emerging customers. AVX will enhance Digi-Key's product offering in a variety of categories allowing customers more choices in component technology.
Mark Larson, president of Digi-Key, said, "Digi-Key's ability to provide off-the-shelf delivery on a broad range of AVX components for both prototype and production needs should translate into a real advantage for Digi-Key's customers."
AVX capacitor products are widely used and Digi-Key meets the specific demands of this important area of the electronics market. Digi-Key offers a variety of standard AVX capacitors, oscillators, varistors and interconnect, as well as more innovative products like the OxiCap, which is a low voltage, non-burn capacitor, ideal for replacing surface-mount device (SMD) aluminum electrolytics.
Digi-Key is a full service provider of prototype/design as well as production volume quantities of electronic components.
Serving a broad range of markets including: telecommunications, data processing, automotive, consumer and medical sectors, AVX serves the passive electronic component and interconnect products industries.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
phoenix|x-ray Systems + Services Inc. (Camarillo, CA) has introduced the nanome|x, a high-powered nanofocus four-in-one failure analysis system. The x-ray inspection and failure analysis system can perform sophisticated nondestructive testing processes and resolve minute details. The system is designed to meet manufacturers' requirements of complex semiconductor devices and highly integrated electronic assemblies, yet can be used in the field of micromechanics and material testing as well.
The design is a result of a close partnership with its customers across several fields of applications. As a result, the system uses a high-powered nanofocus tube that can be operated in four modes covering the range from nanometer resolution to high-power radiation. Users can resolve an extreme level of detail (200-300 nm or 0.2-0.3 microns), displaying the slightest defect in miniaturized assemblies, such as pad wetting failures in flip chip solder joints or cracks in bond wires with verifiable results.
The same tube is infinitely variable up to 160kV and can also power up to 50W to see through highly absorbent materials like tungsten alloys used in IC packages or injector nozzles or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).
The system deploys the company's ovhm|module technology that, without rotation of the board and thus loss of magnification in the oblique, allows for a high magnification (2000x) and 3-D-like imagery with 2-D magnification acquisition speeds. The tube and detector rotate up to 70° around the sample while providing the needed oblique view necessary to see minute defects in small solder joints found in fine-pitch ball grid arrays (FBGAs), microBGAs, column-grid arrays (CGAs), chip-scale packages (CSPs) and flip chips. This option is ideal for determining z-position solder voids, inspecting wetting quality, detecting cracks in bond wires, inspecting BGA device joint stacks and ball bond quality and measurement of via plating in both IC and printed circuit board (PCB) production.
The intensifier in the system is a digital detector technology and video system that delivers distinct images in pseudo real-time of poor absorbing materials with enhanced contrast.
Additional features include the automated inspection of BGA and quad flat pack (QFP) solder joints by an algorithm for the automated pad wetting analysis, software for the automated backend, software for the automated die-attach voiding calculation following user-defined standards and an ergonomic design for comfortable operation.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI, Herndon, VA), an industry-led consortium focused on strengthening the global electronics supply chain, and the IEEE Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology Society (CPMT, Piscataway, NJ) have entered into a formal agreement that outlines key areas of collaboration between the two organizations.
One of the primary collaborations under this new agreement will be roadmap development, beginning with the 2004 NEMI roadmap. The roadmaps, created every two years, map the future manufacturing needs of the electronics industry to identify the key technology and infrastructure developments required to assure leadership of the global 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.
The CPMT Society's members are technical professionals whose fields of expertise complement and substantially overlap with NEMI, and many CPMT Society members have represented their respective employers in the development of previous NEMI roadmaps. With more than 40% of the Society's members outside the U.S., the CPMT Society is committing experienced professionals from Europe, Asia and North America to many of the NEMI roadmap chapter committees.
Involvement of this broad-based group will help NEMI in its efforts to globalize the scope of the 2004 roadmap. Other areas of collaboration include NEMI involvement in CPMT Society-sponsored conferences, workshops and refereed publications, and CPMT Society coordination with the NEMI Technical Committee on development of research and development priorities.
"We have worked informally with the CPMT Society for many years, but wanted to form a more structured relationship with planned activities that would allow us to work together rather than just doing things on an opportunistic basis," said Jim McElroy, executive director and chief executive officer of NEMI.
Rolf Aschenbrenner, vice president of technical activities for the CPMT Society, said, "We also look forward to NEMI members presenting their work at CPMT Society workshops and conferences as well as soliciting papers for IEEE CPMT Transactions journals. In fact, we are already coordinating a NEMI tin whisker workshop as part of our Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) in Las Vegas this June."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
EFD Inc. (East Providence, RI)'s new Ultra 2400 Dispensing Workstation is a precision dispensing system that applies accurate, consistent amounts of solder paste, flux, adhesives, epoxies and other fluids used in electronics assembly processes—from uniform dots as small as 0.10160 mm (0.004 in.) in diameter to neat, controlled beads.
According to the company, benefits of the system's consistent fluid application include higher yields, reduced fluid costs, better process control and shorter training time for new operators.
The workstation features a vertical design that conserves benchtop space and a footprint 60% smaller than standard electro-pneumatic dispenser configurations.
Standard features include: simultaneous digital display of dispense time, air pressure, vacuum, shot count and dispense mode, for greater process control than standard analog gauges; dispense time adjustable in 0.0001 second increments for precise control of deposit size; an internal pressure reservoir that reduces cycle time and improves deposit control; multilingual display in English, German, French, Spanish, Chinese or Japanese; automatic voltage regulation from 85 to 265 volts, with universal power plugs; automatic U.S./metric conversion of all dispensing parameters; and security lockout with tamper-proof password control
Several accessories are available to customize the workstation, including a flexible task light, a 1.7X magnifier for precision closeup work, a flexible syringe barrel holder, and an ergonomic barrel grip with a touch-sensor finger switch and LED spotlight to illuminate the dispensing area.
The system includes all components needed to begin immediate production, including dispense tips, syringe barrels and pistons matched to the user's specific application.
EFD Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nordson Corp., a producer of precision dispensing equipment.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Aqueous Technologies Corp. (Rancho Cucamonga, CA) has announced the appointment of Howard Budovsky of Matthew Associates Inc. (Waban, MA) as a manufacturer's representative serving the New England Area.
With more than 15 years of experience serving all aspects of the electronics environment, Matthew Assoc. has developed long-term relationships with a large and diverse base of customers. As a manufacturer's representative, they bring to high-technology companies an array of electronics assembly products.
Aqueous has chosen Matthew Assoc. for their expertise in both the manufacturing and cleaning equipment arenas, as well as their industry knowledge, attention to detail and follow-up that Aqueous customers have come to expect.
Additionally, Matthew Assoc. offers consulting services that specialize in developing process optimization and qualification, testability, factory flow implementation, manufacturing and test equipment selection, and process qualification. These services can be offered in conjunction with equipment selection or as an independent element.
For more information on Matthew Assoc., contact Howard Budovsky, Matthew Associates, 92 Crofton Rd., Waban, MA, 02468-2115; (617) 965-6126; email: hbudovsky@matthewassociates.com.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Indium Corp. (Binghamton, NY) now offers flux-coated solder preforms to support the optimization of electronic assembly processes.
According to the company, flux-coated solder preforms offer several advantages over plain solder preforms, including: improved process time—using the pre-applied, fused flux, the preforms eliminate the need to add flux as an additional process step—and improved accuracy since the process fuses precise amounts of flux onto each solder preform. The system also reduces variability by eliminating process steps and by improving the consistency and accuracy of the flux quantity.
Flux coatings are available in no-clean formulations and the solder preforms are produced in a large range of sizes and shapes, to precisely suit each requirement.
Indium Corp. is a supplier of electronics assembly materials, including solder pastes, solder preforms, fluxes, lead-free solder alloys, underfill materials and die-attach materials. The company is also a supplier of commercial grade and high-purity indium.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Asymtek (Carlsbad, CA), a Nordson company, was named a recipient of Intel Corp.'s 2003 Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) award, Intel's highest honor for its suppliers, for outstanding commitment to quality and performance by suppliers that provide products and services deemed essential to Intel's success. The company was given the award for its efforts in supplying Intel with automated fluid dispensing equipment.
Henkel Technologies (Industry, CA) was also named a recipient of Intel Corp.'s Preferred Quality Supplier (PQS) award for its efforts in supplying Intel with die attach adhesive and underfill.
The SCQI and PQS award winners were honored at a celebration in Burlingame, CA, on March 23. Intel also recognized award winners with an advertisement in the U.S., Europe and Asian editions of the Wall Street Journal.
"Congratulations to Asymtek, who has moved up from being a 2002 Preferred Quality Supplier winner to this year earning Intel's highest supplier award the SCQI award," said Randy Bollig, Intel director ATCED. "Being flexible and responsive to our dynamic needs while executing flawlessly earned Asymtek the SCQI award. Working with Asymtek this past year has been a pleasure as they met or exceeded all of their commitments."
Robert L. Ciardella, president of Asymtek, said, "Given the adverse business climate of the past 12 months, the additional effort which was required to move from the PQS to SCQI award level is a true measure of Asymtek's continued commitment to Intel and our entire customer base."
"Henkel Technologies appreciates the opportunity in working with Intel," said Pat Trippel, president of Henkel Technologies' Electronics Group. "Working with Intel has improved our manufacturing and development capabilities allowing Henkel Technologies to be a better supplier to the industry. We look forward to continuing to work with Intel and strive to attain SCQI."
Intel, the world's largest chip maker, is a manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products.
Asymtek supplies automated fluid dispensing systems to customers worldwide, specializing in semiconductor, surface-mount and electronics packaging applications.
Henkel Technologies Electronic Materials Group provides adhesives, sealants and solders for electronics packaging and assembly applications, and specializes in printed circuit boards for products such as cell phones and computers.
http://supplier.intel.com/quality/
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Advanced Circuits (Aurora, CO), a quick-turn printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturer with real-time customer service, again experienced record growth in a down economy and an industry that has been declining for several years.
Although the PCB industry in the U.S. shrank 40% from 2001 through 2003, Advanced Circuits grew more than 15% each year during that time. Exceeding its goals for 2003, the company ended the year with more than $27.5 million in revenues.
"At a time when the U.S. PCB market is losing business to manufacturers overseas, we created a niche for ourselves in the prototype PCB market when we developed a system for building small quantity, quick-turn prototypes with a low premium price," said Ron Huston, president and chief executive officer of Advanced Circuits.
The company invested more than $5 million in capital into equipment and facilities in 2003, including a 62,000 sq. ft. office and manufacturing facility. Investments have already been planned for $500,000 worth of additional equipment in 2004. The company added 15 employees in 2003, bringing its total to 195, which includes three shifts in production and multiple shifts in other departments.
Advanced Circuits has gained an average of more than 200 new customers a month for the past three years. The company attributes its tremendous growth and customer retention to reliability and the customer-focused attitude of the entire staff. To time-pressed design engineers, the fact that Advanced Circuits delivers more than 99% of their boards on time or early is a significant quality in a manufacturer.
To ensure that this growth continues in years to come, a full-time professional marketing and training staff have been added to the Advanced Circuits team. Huston is also showing appreciation to the employees that made this success possible by treating the entire staff to an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas, NV, over Memorial Day weekend.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
In a drawing held during APEX 2004, Betatron Inc. (San Jose, CA), a contract assembler specializing in high-end prototype assembly, won the free use of Dage Precision Industries' (Fremont, CA) XD6500 digital x-ray system.
The winning entry was one of the more than 400 applications received during Dage's pre-APEX and APEX show promotion. Said winner, Mike Young, "I feel like the luckiest guy at the show! We've just received the latest and greatest x-ray inspection technology available today."
Dage Precision's managing director, Paul Walter, said, "With over 400 entries in this year's drawing and the sheer number of system demonstrations performed here at APEX, we're really pleased. Congratulations to Mike and to Betatron."
The integrated digital image acquisition technology, XiDAT, on the system's platform offers improved digital data processing, enhanced resolution, extensive grayscale definition and the Image Wizard software operating system. The x-ray system achieves high resolution and magnification levels through use of Dage's proprietary x-ray tube technology, focusing lens and optimized image chain.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Kester (Des Plaines, IL), Metcal (Menlo Park, CA) and KIC (San Diego, CA) will present a series of Lead-free Technology Seminars scheduled to take place throughout 2004. The next seminar will take place April 6-7 in the San Jose, CA area.
Kester, a supplier of solder and related materials and services to the electronics assembly, micro-component and industrial soldering industries, Metcal, a lead-free soldering solutions provider, and KIC, a provider of lead-free thermal process solutions, understand the challenges associated with the implementation of lead-free assembly. This implementation is rapidly progressing in Asia and throughout the WEEE Directive in Europe, mandating the elimination of lead in many electronics goods by 2006.
The conversion from a leaded process to a lead-free process is not a simple transition. A solid understanding of the alloys, fluxes, board and component finishes, and how they impact the process will be required. Another critical aspect of converting to lead free is the shrinking process window caused by the higher solder melting temperatures butting against the temperature tolerances of the most sensitive components. Learning how to manage this shrinking thermal process window will be an important topic discussed in the seminars.
From combined experiences, the companies have developed this series of seminars to assist North American assemblers with the implementation of lead-free technology. These non-commercial seminars include surface-mount technology, ball grid array (BGA), inspection and documentation. They also offer attendees the technical ability to switch to lead-free reliably, effectively and in time to meet their customers' expectations.
The upcoming seminar will take place at the Four Points Sheraton, 1250 Lakeside Dr., Sunnyvale, CA, 94085; (408) 738-4888, and will explain how to implement lead-free reliably. Additional topics will include alloy selection, flux selection, wave process, surface-mount assembly, inspection and documentation, BGA profiling and rework, reflow optimization and issues and answers. Attendees are encouraged to bring their boards for rework solutions.
To register for the Lead-free Solutions seminar, visit www.metcal.com.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Press Releases
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