Features Articles
Can we build on past successes of cost and task sharing?
Much attention is focused on the importance of boosting electronics manufacturing in the US, but in a recent interview, Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, CEO of CEA-Leti, called R&D the roots of the tree of manufacturing. What a great analogy. Without successful R&D in the electronics industry, successful manufacturing is not possible. Creating the best ecosystem to foster R&D is key.
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Can we build on past successes of cost and task sharing?
Much attention is focused on the importance of boosting electronics manufacturing in the US, but in a recent interview, Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, CEO of CEA-Leti, called R&D the roots of the tree of manufacturing. What a great analogy. Without successful R&D in the electronics industry, successful manufacturing is not possible. Creating the best ecosystem to foster R&D is key.
To continue reading, please log in or register using the link in the upper right corner of the page.
Solder joint corrosion causes.
This month we illustrate dendrites and corrosion on board assemblies. The example in FIGURE 1 is straightforward. Saltwater was found on the surface of the metal board. It caused intermittent operation of the LED before failure at 25 meters. Yes, you guessed it: My underwater light leaked due to a rubber gasket failure. The rubber had been out in the sun too long and hardened, then cracked. The image shows chemical reaction with dendrite formation on the surface of the joints and some green verdigris.
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An RFID tag can log everything from storage location to print strokes.
Outside of sheer printing machine capability, the stencil is arguably the next most important element of the printing process. Stencil material, thickness, aperture integrity, sidewall smoothness (or lack thereof), and tension all play a role in the quality of the solder paste deposit. And, like all consumables, metal stencils have a lifetime: They do not last forever. Unless a stencil is damaged, tension loss is the factor that most often determines when a stencil has run its course. A properly tensioned stencil enables a good, solid release of the paste deposits onto the board. Alternatively, a stencil that has lost tension and has begun to “sag” may result in defects such as “dog ears”1, bridges, or insufficient paste on pad, to name a few.
Today, stencil tension is more important than ever. Historically, when stencil thicknesses averaged 200µm, one was far more likely to retire a stencil from damage than from wear. Now, however, with the exceptionally thin 60µm foils required for miniaturized designs, tension loss can occur sooner, as repeated stencil pressure during the print stroke eventually reduces stencil elasticity. As has been addressed in this column, there is a proven correlation to changing tension and the output of the printing process.2
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American manufacturers are throwing away business opportunities. Are you?
According to a recent statement by US Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Ellen Lord, national electronics procurement is at a crossroads.
“[America] can no longer clearly identify the pedigree of its microelectronics,” she said. “Therefore, we can no longer ensure that backdoors, malicious code, or data exfiltration commands aren’t embedded in our code.”
According to Lord, a variety of price pressures – ranging from government regulations to labor costs – have driven manufacturing of electronics offshore and created not only an economic imbalance but a security threat as well. “That’s what we need to reverse,” she said.
Like the Defense Department, American consumers also support bringing manufacturing back onshore. They believe the “Made in USA” slogan means saving American jobs and, often, superior quality of goods. They support “reshoring” – bringing the manufacturing and assembly of goods – back to the US.
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The big lesson from this unpredictable year is infrastructure planning pays.
“Hindsight is 20:20” refers to a vision measurement, not this crazy year. But from a planning standpoint, the year “2020” has rewarded electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies that built resilience into their operational plans. As I write this, the Covid-19 pandemic continues to spur an era of new normal. The introduction of vaccines will hopefully drive a return to something close to the old normal. While this challenge is ongoing, however, it is important to look at some of the operational investments that have proved most beneficial.
Here are five areas that stand out to me:
IT. Companies that were already supporting employees working remotely as a result of business travel, remote home offices or a need to work in multiple time zones more comfortably had an edge in converting a larger portion of the workforce to work-at-home scenarios. VPNs, internal systems capable of supporting secure and fast access to remote users, videoconferencing tools, seamless transfer of work phones to mobile phones, and existing policies/training on maintaining security in home office environments are all key elements enabling employees to effectively work at home. Companies with these in place simply had to scale up to accommodate a larger user base. Systems strategy has also been integral in managing the supply chain and forecasting disruption driven by Covid-19. Companies with systems that can quickly assess inventory levels, material availability and production status globally were better off than those with facility-specific systems or systems that required much manual interpretation to gather that information.
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Press Releases
- Robert C. Donovan Joins DISTRON CORPORATION, Marking the Third Generation in Family Leadership
- Incap UK Invests in SMT Technology as Part of Long-Term Operational Development
- Evolve Manufacturing Celebrates 100 Years of Combined Leadership in Medical Device Manufacturing; Noreen King Comments
- STI Celebrates Christy Hill’s 20 Years of Dedicated Service; David Raby Comments