News
UP Media Group Inc. (UPMG, Atlanta, GA) has announced that PCB Design Conference West, the annual West Coast conference and exhibition for printed circuit board (PCB) engineering, design and manufacturing professionals, will return to the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA, on March 7-11, 2005. Long held in Santa Clara, PCB West has been held at the San Jose Convention Center for the last two years.
"The San Jose Convention Center is a terrific venue and we really enjoyed holding the show there," said UPMG president Pete Waddell. "However, there are a lot of positives about the Santa Clara Convention Center that our attendees, exhibitors and staff alike appreciate. For example, the SCCC facility is located just off Highway 101 on Great America Parkway, which results in easy access from all parts of Silicon Valley by rail or car. Parking is free, and two great hotels—the Westin Hotel Santa Clara and Hilton Santa Clara—are literally only steps away from the convention center lobby."
Sponsored by industry trade magazines Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly, PCB West annually provides attendees and vendors with a conference and exhibition for the design and manufacture of advanced circuits, printed circuit boards (PCBs) and related technologies.
PCB West will provide attendees with a five-day conference program featuring a three-day Technical Conference of short courses and papers and two days of in-depth Professional Development Certificate Curriculum courses. The two-day product and service exhibition will be held on March 8-9.
UPMG is a privately held company that specializes in magazine publishing and trade show and conference production. UPMG currently publishes Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly. In addition, UPMG produces two annual conferences and trade shows for the design and manufacture industry—PCB Design Conference West and PCB Design Conference East in the Boston area. UPMG also hosts the PCB Design Conference Road Series of courses in cities throughout the U.S.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI, Herndon, VA) will sponsor a tin whisker workshop and a component supplier/large user meeting at the upcoming IEEE Electronic Components and Technology Conference (ECTC) in Las Vegas, NV, June 1-4.
An all-day session on June 1 will review all of the NEMI tin whisker project activities to date. Two half-day sessions are scheduled for June 2. Users and suppliers will discuss mitigation strategies and acceptance test plans for high-reliability critical systems applications in the morning session, followed by an open meeting of the Tin Whisker Accelerated Test Project in the afternoon.
With the move toward lead-free electronics, tin is considered a drop-in replacement for the tin-lead finish currently used for component terminations. However, pure tin coatings may have a tendency to grow small filaments, known as whiskers, which could bridge adjacent terminals, causing system failures. NEMI has three projects that are working on various aspects of this phenomenon: accelerated test (attempting to develop tests to predict tin whiskers), modeling (attempting to understand basic cause of whiskers) and a user group (addressing how high-reliability, long-life systems or critical applications can be protected).
The Tuesday workshop will provide an overview of more than three years' work by the three projects, including discussion of an annotated bibliography, a set of tests recommended to JEDEC, basic theories behind whisker formation and how to protect critical applications and systems given what is known today.
On Wednesday, the Tin Whisker User Group will focus on the need for mitigation practices when pure tin is used as a component terminal coating. The concern with tin whiskers in high-reliability, critical systems applications will be discussed, potential solutions outlined and tests to demonstrate compliance will be proposed.
Carol Handwerker, chief of the Metallurgy Division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will moderate the Tuesday workshop and Wednesday user/supplier discussions on whisker mitigation and test acceptance. Nick Vo, Motorola, will chair the Wednesday test method standardization evaluation and discussions.
All meetings will be held in the same venue as the ECTC. Anyone registered for ECTC can attend the NEMI tin whisker meetings. Individuals wishing to attend only the NEMI meetings should contact the NEMI secretariat for information (703-834-0330).
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Ultrasonic Systems Inc. (Haverhill, MA) has developed a new solution to apply no-clean, low solids flux for lead-free wave soldering. Nozzle-free Ultra-Spray technology with reciprocating motion enables the proper amount of flux to be applied uniformly and repeatably with complete through-hole penetration.
The higher operating temperatures of lead-free alloys require flux chemistries with stable activators, excellent wetting properties and minimal post wave residue. But flux chemistry alone cannot guarantee good soldering success. Precision fluxing technology is the solution. Too little flux can cause bridging and poor wetting. Poor through-hole penetration can result in insufficient solder joints. Too much flux can cause solder balls or leave harmful residues that are not removed in modern no-clean operations.
Visit the company's Web site to learn more about the lead-free spray fluxing solution.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI, Herndon, VA) has announced that Centor Software Corp. (Irvine, CA), Foxconn (Taiwan), MatrixOne (Westford, MA), Microsoft (Redmond, WA) and Speedline Technologies (Franklin, MA) are the latest companies to join the industry-led consortium.
"NEMI attracts organizations from across the supply chain, and this latest group of new member companies demonstrates our broad range of appeal," said Jim McElroy, executive director and chief executive officer of NEMI. "Our newest members include a major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) (Microsoft), a major component module move service (CMMS) provider (Foxconn), two software solution providers (Centor and MatrixOne) and a capital equipment manufacturer (Speedline). Our methodology brings together diverse interests and fosters a collaborative environment that benefits the entire industry. These new participants further strengthen our membership base and improve our effectiveness in facilitating change as we address gaps in the global electronics manufacturing infrastructure."
Dan Camarda, vice president of marketing with Centor, said, "NEMI member firms face a wide range of challenges in dealing with environmental concerns, specifically RoHS transition issues such as materials declarations. Centor is pleased to have the opportunity of working in collaboration with NEMI firms in leveraging our experience to help drive industry-standard solutions for these challenges."
Centor Software Corp. provides business analytics applications for manufacturers focused on the end-of-life and customer use stages of a product's lifecycle. Its suite of applications helps decision makers reduce regulatory compliance costs and improve product quality, ultimately increasing customer satisfaction, lowering product lifecycle costs and reducing producer liabilities. Centor's customer base includes OEMs and supply chain companies in the automotive, electronics, electrical equipment and aerospace industries.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., with the registered trade name Foxconn, is an integrated global CMMS provider. The company specializes in components, modules, moves and services for computers, communications and consumer electronics. With subsidiaries and operations throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia, Foxconn is a manufacturer of PC connectors, motherboards and PC system integration..
MatrixOne Inc. delivers collaborative product lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. The flexible solutions unleash the creative power of global value chains to inspire innovations and speed them to market. The company's from the aerospace and defense, automotive, consumer products, high technology, life sciences, machinery and process industries include Agilent Technologies, General Electric, Honda, Johnson Controls, Philips, Procter & Gamble, Siemens, and Toshiba.
Founded in 1975, Microsoft is a provider of software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division products include Xbox game consoles and accessories and PC hardware such as keyboards, mice and other devices.
Speedline Technologies is a provider of single-source process knowledge, solutions and service to the printed circuit board assembly and semiconductor packaging industries. The company sells five brands: ACCEL microelectronics cleaning; CAMALOT dispensing systems; ELECTROVERT wave soldering, reflow soldering and cleaning equipment; MPM stencil and screen printing systems; and PROTECT global services, support and training solutions.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Assembly Technology Expo (ATExpo) will mark its 25th anniversary as the trade show kicks off on Sept. 28-30, 2004, in Rosemont, IL. The ATExpo conference opens one day earlier on Sept. 27.
The event features a showcase of assembly solutions, from advanced robotic systems to hand tools. Nearly 600 suppliers will display and demonstrate new products in more than fifty categories, for use in a range of manufacturing industries, including: automotive, electronics, industrial equipment, computers, household appliances, motors and generators, medical, telecommunications and aeronautics/aerospace.
The conference will offer ten free special events as part of the Free Educational Program. The program is highlighted by three entertaining and informative keynote presentations.
The opening keynote, "Made in America," will be presented by television star John Ratzenberger, the producer and host of the Travel Channel's John Ratzenberger's Made in
America series. On the second day, "A Tale of Two Rovers—Integrating, Testing and Operating the Mars Exploration Rovers," will be delivered by Christopher Salvo, Mission Manager, Mars Exploration Rover for NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratories. And on Sept. 30, Karl Eberle, vice president and general manager of Harley-Davidson's Kansas City assembly facility will share manufacturing successes in the revolutionary, "Relationship Driven Leadership, a Unique Manufacturing Environment."
The conference offers over 30 sessions organized into six tracks: Adhesives,
Automated Assembly, Lean Manufacturing, Manufacturing Management, Materials
Joining and Wire Processing. The organizations presenting conference sessions at the conference include: The Automated Imaging Association (AIA), APICS - the Educational Society for Resource Management, the Adhesive and Sealant Council (ASC), the Edison Welding Institute (EWI), the Robotic Industries Association (RIA), the Wiring Harness Manufacturers Association (WHMA) and ASSEMBLY magazine. Sessions will focus on a variety of topics, including lean production, flexible assembly and robotics in assembly.
Three dedicated technology pavilions make it easier for attendees to locate the specific products and suppliers they want to see. The Electronics Manufacturing Pavilion features nearly 200 suppliers offering solutions for every phase of the electronics manufacturing process, from design, packaging and fabrication to assembly and test. The pavilion also features the EASi Line, a working assembly line that incorporates sample equipment from the areas of material handling and transport, stencil printing, component pick-and-place, reflow wave solder, visual and x-ray inspection, robotic point-to-point soldering, packaging, microcontroller programming, and factory modeling and simulation. This year's line will manufacture a Light Chaser game that visitors can take home.
The Robotics Pavilion, endorsed by the RIA and AIA, is the place to find industrial robotics, flexible automation, machine vision solutions and related technologies.
The Wire Harness Pavilion showcases wire-processing solutions. Endorsed by the Wire Harness Manufacturers Association, the pavilion features new products and services for electronic cable assemblies, cord sets, wiring harnesses and other products within the wire processing industry. The Wire Processing Assembly Line (WPAL) theme this year is, "Lean Sigma Technologies To Support Wire and Cable Processing."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Cookson Group plc (London, UK), an international materials technology company, announced the appointment of Nick Salmon as Group Chief Executive.
Salmon has held leadership positions within major international organizations over many years. At Babcock International plc, the engineering services group, he was chief executive from 1993 to 1997. From 1997 to 2001, Salmon was executive vice president of ABB Alstom Power and president of Alstom's Energy Sector. From 2001 until March of this year, he was executive vice president of Alstom SA.
In May, Cookson announced that Stephen Howard intended to relinquish the role of group chief executive, after the identification and appointment of a successor. Howard will step down as on July 19, and will continue as an executive director until the end of the year.
The company also announced the appointment of Jan Pieter Oosterveld as a non-executive director, with immediate effect.
Oosterveld spent his career at Royal Philips Electronics. Until his retirement in March, he was a member of the Group Management Committee, CEO of Philips Asia Pacific, Chairman of the Board of Directors of LG.Philips LCD Seoul, South Korea and Vice-Chairman of the Supervisory Board of LG.Philips Displays NV, Hong Kong.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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