Global SMT Podcast: PCBA, EMS, ASM, SMT, SFS, IPC: Recent Episodes
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Anda won three different categories in the Global Technology Awards 2024 for Potting, Plasma Systems and Dispensing Systems.
The Potting System uses vacuum to remove bubbles or air gaps from the process.
The plasma system removes oils and contaminants from the substrate while creating greater surface tension for conformal coatings. Anda offer both open air plasma and vacuum plasma systems.
Anda's dispensing system is a fast, five-axis system running on linear motors, with a wide range of valves and applicators.
Gayle Towell explains how AIM's REL61 alloy offers greater reliability with better microstructure than SAC305. The alloy is a SnAgBi available in type 5 and type 6 bar, wire or paste formats.
Amtech is a small CEM based in Troy, MI which is a high-mix, small-medium volume contract manufacturer. Vapor Phase has enabled greater flexibility and quicker setup during product changeover.
Winners of two Global Technology Awards, the CBAN 25 3D printing system has developed considerably in recent years, both with the size of the 3D jigs and assemblies it can produce and the production speed.Likewise there is continued research across the polymers used in the process to add new properties. The latest research has involved experimenting with conductive inks to create traces within the polymer.
Seika Machinery introduce a range of strain gauges to measure stress across bolts and other materials used in PCB assembly.
Bob Bouchard talks about the success of the Aurora reflow oven platform and how the various energy saving and flux management tools are contributing towards the sustainability of the reflow process.
StenTech have developed a unique nanocoating called Bluprint that is applied using Vapour Phase Deposition and lasts for the life of the stencil.
Jim Vicarro describers how increasing miniaturisation is driving the necessity for nitrogen in the reflow process.Nitrogen generators provide a more stable, repeatable, sustainable process, which in turn increases reliability and yield.
Alfonoso Herrera discusses the benefits of their Durafuse low-temp solder. Herrera also discusses how manufacturers can eliminate the need for wave soldering using low-temp solders.
With a large installed base of over 2,400 inspection machines in Mexico, Heriberto Cueves, Mexico Sales Manager discusses the support infrastructure and his aspirations to grow sales to 2,800 in the near future.
Hanwha Automation introduce the XM520F pick and place mounter, which places a larger array of larger, heavier components, with up to 100 newtons of placement force, while maintaining the flexibility to place smaller components and devices.
Anda is moving to new offices in Guadjalahara, expanding their services and equipment ranges in Mexico. Carlos Barassa talks about a new machine that combines dispensing and coating on the same platform.
StenTech have developed a unique nanocoating called Bluprint that is applied using Vapour Phase Deposition and lasts for the life of the stencil.
With a large installed base of over 2,400 inspection machines in Mexico, Heriberto Cueves, Mexico Sales Manager discusses the support infrastructure and his aspirations to grow sales to 2,800 in the near future.
Trevor Galbraith and Tom Forsythe discuss the current status of the Mexican market for electronics manufacturing and the bright outlook for 2025.
Don Dennison from PIT Equipment Services discusses the emerging opportunities with the CREATE NEW YORK program.
Joe Hertline discusses the range of die attach or thermal interface materials to meet increasing range of applications needing higher junction temperatures. Hertline discusses the different materials and how to approach heterogeneous challenges.
Jose Luis Ciccio reveals the latest pick-to-light portable racks for at-line component storage. The system is extremely flexible and can accommodate reels, sticks or jedec trays.
Kamil Stasiak discusses the Yamaha One-Step Solution. The benefit of using a full line of equipment from the same manufacturer is greater integration and performance capabilities.
The latest equipment upgrade is to their 3D AOI system, which has upgraded cameras to 25 megapixel and a new laser for measuring shiny and reflective parts that cannot be measured using Moire.
EV car manufacturers are looking for more in-depth data on their manufacturing processes with real-time feedback and closed-loop control.
Rob Di Matteo introduces ANS GmbH as the new German distributor for BTU. Rob also provides an update on the recent launch of the Aurora reflow oven and the large number of features that have contributed to its success.Di Matteo also discussed the recent factory opening in Mexico and some of the other custom furnace applications that BTU serves.
Mike Young introduced the new SASinno NuTech selective soldering system. The update machine handles board sizes up to 605 x 810mm.
Taylor Wagen describes how ERP systems that control most of the day to day business processes integrate into MES and other systems.
Gus Mavrou discusses the latest upgrades to SEHO's wave soldering and selective soldering systems.
Jesper Lykke explains how AXI has progressed over the years to produce the clarity and actionable information needed by the operators.
Seika Machinery specializes in identifying, marketing and distributing the leading technologies from Japan to the North American market.
Don Dennison talks about his most recent rep award from Impossible Objects. The company produces high quality 3D fixtures and parts using ESD compliant materials with a quick turnaround.
Mark Stansfield describes the reasons nitrogen is used to reduce oxidization on PC boards. Solderstar SLX measures the amount of oxygen in the air within the oven and is the result of a three year development program.
Dalton Dodge explains how collaborative Robots from Brooks Automation can be used to augment or support Automation Islands for testing, materials management and other functions in the electronics assembly process.
Zi Yang Seow describes how ViTrox have intelligently improved the SPI, AOI and X-ray inspection systems to overlay each inspection technique to provide a holistic view of any defects.
Calcuquote celebrated their 10th Anniversary by enabling customers the ability to customize Stock CQ to meet their needs closer.
Essemtec continue to add capabilities within a single platform on their Puma and Fox placement machines.
Ivan Romo discusses their latest partnership with SonoTek and the growing distribution network of warehouses throughout Mexico.
Tracey Latham talks to Keith about the importance of quality and reliability at Latham Industries, an Arizona-based, woman-owned Contract Manufacturer.
NEOTech celebrates it's 50th Anniversary. The high-rel contractor offers the scale of a tier one, with the customer service of a tier 3 manufacturer.00:00 - Intro / NEOTech mission01:04 - Partnership01:52 - Design for manufacturing and design for test02:39 - Manufacturing in three countries04:25 - Strong relationshipsIf you enjoyed watching this video, please Like and Subscribe to our channel by clicking below:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC05aHyKgA6dIhJ2m1G_5JzQ?sub_confirmation=1If you want the latest news from the EMS industry, subscribe to our Newsletterhttps://action.globalsmt.com/j1.pl?1b6751adb5704f9542bd3d56dc94395d96ar
Takatoshi Nishimura discusses SN100 CV available in bar or cored wire for use in wave soldering, selective soldering as well as robotic and hand soldering applications.
Tagarno launches the new T50 Digital Microscope. This is the industry's first 4K 60fps full sensor camera using the new SONY Block camera.
The YRP10 stencil printer is 20 percent faster than its predecessor and contains a host of automation upgrades.
Kamil Stasiak also describes how the YSUP line control software works and the benefits it brings to line optimisation.
Dr Mike Bixenman describes the cleanliness testing services offered by Magnalytix using a range of test coupons that closely mimic the component mix, density and board finishes the customer is using in their process.
IBL introduce a new inline vapour phase machine for high-volume, high reliability applications. The system uses Galden gas and the bath is raised and lowered to meet the PCB unlike other competitors, who do the opposite. IBL claim this offers a more stable and accurate vapor blanket.
ITWEAE release an Exit Wing Laminar flow system last year. Through discussions and field trials they have further enhanced this with automatic control to vary the wave height for optimal results.
Another upgrade to the Electrovert Wave Soldering system has been their energy management by adding an isothermal convection preheat. A patented system that has been taken from ITWEAE's reflow soldering division. The high velocity of airflow driven through the top and bottom of the unit delivers a high impingement to the board as it goes through the preheat phase.
Anda Technologies launched the iCoat 5L, a large format conformal coating system that accommodate up to 600mm in width and any length of board. It has 5 axis of movement and can be fitted with an array of different valve configurations.
Anda also supply two different forms of plasma technology and a range of different curing options.
MIRTEC showed the 5 camera ART 3D AOI system for inspection small, shiny devices. The system merges the raw data from all five cameras to provide more accurate inspection without losing any data.
MIRTEC also showed the TAL Component inspection unit that uses a laser-based head to measure components up to 70mm in height. The unite works in tandem with MIRTEC's MV6 OMNI which maintains line speed.
Europlacer shows it's latest iiP7 stencil printer and the iiN2 pick and place machine.
The printer is fitted with a unique lookup/look down camera below the stencil and above the stencil. The printer scan the PCB fiducials after it enter the work area. The stencil then pulls out to allow the top camera to calibrate the PCB in the print position. The printer has a maximum cycle time of 5 seconds.
Other features include the ability to dispense paste or glue and apply a barcode at the end of the cycle.
The iiN2 is the latest iteration to the inneo family of pick and place machines. Designed to handle a much wider range of components, faster changeover and increased productivity.
Apollo Seiko introduced a new inductance-based soldering system. It is built on a 3-axis robot, using a pendant tablet to program the system. The company also manufactures a wide range of laser soldering systems. The latest Stargate system is fitted with a pyrometer that ensures the core temperature on the circuit board stays within spec.
The NXTR was originally introduced two years ago. FUJI have made a number of refinements to improve changeover times.
FUJI have also introduced an automated printer system at the start of the line.
Another new launch at APEX is the AIMEXR platform that uses a smaller number of heads to handle a larger range of components for processing large boards and tall devices.
The latest version of the Essegi 3600 FA storage tower has been reconfigured to increase the automation for loading and unloading. The access door has been moved from the rear of the machine to the front side for easier access by AVGs.
StenTech introduced a new nano coating for stencils called StenTech Blueprint. The coating is only 2 nanometeres thick and is applied through an ion deposition sputtering technique to provide superior protection to the stencil.
Transition Automation have upgraded the design of the magnetic squeegee blade system introduced last year. The magnetic force has been softened across the length of the blade and the end stops made simpler and easier to attach and remove for cleaning.
The ViTtrox V810 provides 100 percent board inspection at line speed. Richard describes how they are using AI to improve programming time, defect classification and identification. this is contributing to an overall saving of up to 30 percent.
Kurtz Ersa debut the first of their HotFlow 3 reflow ovens, manufactured at their new factory in Juarez, Mexico. The HotFlow is a high-volume, dual-lane reflow system with optional flux management systems and energy control features.
BTU makes the North American debut of the Aurora reflow oven. The highly-configurable Aurora can customize oven zones to be heat up or cool-down zones. It comes packed with other features such as in-built Aqua-Scrub Flux Management, energy management systems etc.
BTU also started manufacturing some of their Pyramax ovens in Mexico for both the North American and European markets.
Anthony Ambrose, Data I/O, discusses the current state of EV market and the future prospects for double-digit growth across drive trains, infotainment and other safety systems within the vehicle.
Kyzen debuted the Analyst II. The Analyst process monitoring tool has been around for a number of years. The system has been completely redesigned in a modular, industrial approach to make it more robust and easier to replace parts in the field.
The software suite has also been updated to expand on the range of metrics provided.
Jonny Nichols describes the range of features in the Hanwha HM520W pick and place platform. The system is designed to handle wide boards and a full range of components from 01005 components up 150 x 200mm, up to 55mm tall and heavy devices up to 300 grams.
00:00 - Intro / HM520W
03:02 - large components
04:17 - heavy components
05:14 - grippers
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Koh Young upgrade a number of products. The KSMART software has been updated with increased accessibility and ease of use.The Zenith 2 3D AOI system is now fitted with a 25 megapixel camera enabling a much larger FOV.Koh Young's standard AOI system for through-hole inspection is fitted with a board-flipper that enables double-sided inspection.
Nordson Electronics Solutions have introduced two, new selective soldering platforms. The Synchro 3 and the Synchro 5 are capable of high-volume applications. The Synchro has up to 3 potting systems and the Synchro 5 can accommodate a maximum of 5 different pots.
Rehm launched the new Protecto dispensing platform that can be fitted with a variety of valves and nozzles for a wide range of applications. Complemented by Rehm's loaders/unloaders, curing ovens, reflow and vapour phase ovens, the company now has the ability to offer full line solutions.
Aegis FactoryLogix is now available on a SaaS platform enabling subscribers to get up and running and receive instant updates in real-time.Aegis have also partnered with Arch Systems to develop an Automated Real-Time Improvement Accelerator (ARIA) which takes the rich data collected by FactoryLogix and passes it upstream to the Arch Systems engine to process and pass back down to the Aegis MES with actionable insights.
Mycronic debuts the US launch of the A40 pick and place platform, armed with a unique new high-speed head, which handles a much wider range of components.The company also debuted their new stencil printer, which was launched at Productronica. The stencil printer is designed to be used in tandem with the Mycronic SPI system and the MY500 jet printer for touch up of missing paste or insufficients.00:00 - Intro01:19 - Two new major platforms03:40 - MyPro A4006:30 - Deep learning solution09:57 - What does it mean for the shop floor?If you enjoyed watching this video, please Like and Subscribe to our channel by clicking below:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC05aHyKgA6dIhJ2m1G_5JzQ?sub_confirmation=1If you want the latest news from the EMS industry, subscribe to our Newsletterhttps://action.globalsmt.com/j1.pl?1b6751adb5704f9542bd3d56dc94395d96a
Dave Bennet, President at Bentec has partnered with David Erskine from Detech to market a new concept inspection system for final assembly inspection.The system called Prey by Detech is now available worldwide through Bentec network of rep and distributors.
Trevor Galbraith hosts the show wrap-up with Megan Wendling, looking at the products on the show floor and other highlights from Anaheim.
MicroCare has developed a range of PFAS excempt formulations to meet the upcoming regulations on banning PFAS in electronics assemblies.3M is currently one of the biggest suppliers in that market and is committed to stopping production of PFAS material by 2025.
Todd Rountree explains the synergies and benefits of the newly combined organisation, which now offers a full service cleaning capability from sohisticated batch cleaners to full in-line systems.
Dieter Weiss discusses the impact of the 2022/23 chip crisis resulting in the bull-whip effect that is responsible for soft number in Q1 and Q2. Demand is expected to pick up again in Q3 and Q4, returning to normal by the end of 2024.
Arch Systems' was launched in 2015 by two Stanford graduates, Andrew Scheurmann (CEO) and Tim Burke (CTO). The company have had a global impact on Flex's systems and their success has helped attract additional tier one customers such as Jabil, Plexus and Celestica. The React tool has been added to monitor and guide actions on the factory floor, contributing to improvements in attrition, quality, and performance. The partnership with Aegis and Factory Logix integrates data insights and actions back into the MES for operators' benefit.
IPC's Chief Economist Shawn Dubravic gives Trevor his insight into the state of the industry.
John Mitchell reports on the major wins and challenges for IPC over the past 12 months and the goals the association has set for the upcoming year ahead.
ASYS Group won two major awards at Productronica. The Global Technology award for their new Sphere print head for the Serio 6000 and the Productronica award for their latest Pulse Pro software charting OEE of the factory.In addition, ASYS introduced a new smart buffer for management of their WIP materials.
Leo Peng describes the MAS-i2 selective soldering system, equipped with two fluxers. A spray fluxer and a drop jet fluxer. They can be setup to top-up areas, or contain different fluxes for high-mix applications.Preheating is infra-red and the soldering station contains two independent pots.
Anders Petersen describes a new microscope system from Tagarno. The system contains the latest SONY 4K technology and is hands-free. Powered by a Linux computer installed into the base of the unit, the microscope has virtually no latency. The lenses can be interchanged easily. Everything is attached magnetically without the need for any tools.
Arcadia demonstrated the Archimedes Smart Storage system. The reel sensors are built into a metal strip at the base of each reel bay, which the manufacturer claims is more reliable than switches or other methods.The Archimedes has a 3D scanner and a smart software system built into the rack to track reels as they are added or subtracted from the cart.Arcadia also showed a smart stencil storage system.
The Redox tool from Plasmatreat removes oxide in an inline process. The system does not use flux and is performed under nitrogen using a formic gas.
The new printer from Panasonic has a 10 stencil automatic changeover to cater for the high-mix market. It also has an automatic paste changeover and a paperless cleaning system. The printer also has a viscosity meter which allows the operator to alter the temperature for optimum results.On the mounter side Panasonic have introduced a new platform with chip placement accuracy of 15um. The weight of the head has been reduced to improve speed. The system has sensors monitoring trends and offering predicitive maintenance.The key new technology on dispaly is the self-feeding feeder, where operators feed in the tape and it automatically splices the tape onto the previous reel. This is available in a range of different tape widths.
BTU shows the new Aurora platform with programmable zones for flexible manufacturing. The system also comes with Aqua Scrub flux management incorporated and BTU's energy management system.
Trevor Galbraith asks Josef Ernst how ASMPT's "Open Automation" philosophy is shaping the intelligent electronics manufacturing facilities of the future?
Trevor Galbraith interviews Robin Ng about how ASMPT adapts to changes and disruptions in the market, and what strategies are in place to ensure its long-term growth and resilience.
Approximately one year now Gunter Lauber moved up from leading the SMT Solutions Team as their CEO to become the Chief Strategy Officer for the entire group, while still acting as the chairman of the SMT Team. He tells Trevor Galbraith about his new role and his plans for the future.
Ben Khoshnood talks about the recent expansion into a 5,000 sq. ft. factory with demo and training facilities and a product showroom.The LS 700-1 is a linside cart designed to be located between the pick and place machines on the line. This new cart is the first to enable configurable dividers to accommodate larger reels.
Soni Singh, Managing Director, NM Tronics discusses the rapid pace of growth in India for electronics manufacturing.NM Tronics is the leading distributor in India and manages sales and service for many leading brands, such as FUJI, Koh Young and Heller.
Scienscope display a production ready version of their IMS-200 Goods Inward component labeller. The system connects seemlessly to their x-ray component counter and their Smart Racks, which were recently updated to allow multiple operators to work from one Smart Rack. Another extension of the Smart Rack system is the Stencil Smart Rack, which tracks the cleaning cycles and life cycle of the stencil. The Stencil Rack also integrates with an automatic stencil washer system.
Dave Bennet, Managing Director, BENTEC Ltd describes the unique processes and applications of the SurfX plasma systems using Argon gas.
Fahmi Helmi demonstrates the new V9i for conformal coating inspection. It can also be used in final box build to inspect for missing screws or cracked casings etc.ViTrox also showed their SPI system, which was developed pre-covid, but was demonstrated for the first time in Europe.The V810i 3D x-ray system is the latest x-ray system that uses AI to half setup times to 1-2 hours. AI is also used as a virtual-assist for operators to increase productivity and quality.
In an intriguing Tech Talk interview, Terecircuits have developed a polymer carrier that can pickup large amounts of devices in one pass and use a high-powered UV laser to deposit them with high accuracy on the substrate. The polymer material vaporizes during the process.In a separate develop, the same technology is being used to assemble chiplets in SiP Devices without the use of solder.
Stephan Haferl, CEO of COMET AG joins Trevor Galbraith to discuss the technology milestones, both past, present and future that continues to make the COMET Group one of the most innovative technology companies and solution providers across the semiconductor, backend packaging and PCBA sectors.
Micron said Friday it was committed to China and would invest 4.3 billion yuan ($603 million) over the next few years in its chip packaging facility in the city of Xian.
Micron, the biggest US memory chipmaker, was last month targeted by China’s cyberspace regulator, which said the firm had failed a network security review. The Chinese regulator added that it would block operators of key infrastructure from buying from the company.
Micron made no mention of the regulator’s decision in its Friday statement, posted on WeChat.
“This investment project demonstrates Micron’s unwavering commitment to its China business and team,” it quoted CEO Sanjay Mehrotra as saying.
The investment will include buying packaging equipment from a Xian-based subsidiary of Taiwan’s Powertech Technology Inc, which Micron has been using in the factory since 2016, the company said.
Micron will also open a new production line at the site to manufacture mobile memory, storage and solid-state drive products to strengthen the plant’s packaging and testing capabilities.
Powertech said in a separate statement that the plan for Micron to buy the equipment was part of the 2016 agreement between the firms, so the financial impact on Powertech would be limited.
Micron, China’s commerce ministry and the Cyberspace Administration of China did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Micron did not disclose the value of the deal with Powertech but said it would offer contracts to 1,200 employees of the Taiwanese company’s Xian subsidiary and that the investment would create an additional 500 jobs.
This would bring Micron’s workforce in China to more than 4,500 people, the company added.
In May, Micron forecast a hit to revenue in the low-single to high-single digit percentages after the China ban. A Reuters review of more than 100 public government tenders found that Chinese authorities were already scaling back purchases of Micron’s chips before the ban.
Last week in Washington D.C. Reps. Anna G. Eshoo (CA-16) and Blake Moore (UT-1) announced bipartisan legislation to bolster domestic printed circuit board (PCB) production and strengthen supply chain security. The Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Actwill encourage domestic PCB manufacturing, research, and development to reduce supply chain disruptions, address national security concerns related to foreign PCB production, and enhance America’s economic leadership.
“Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are critical components of almost every piece of electronics used today. However, over the past two decades, a vast majority of PCB manufacturing has moved offshore, making PCBs vulnerable to tampering by foreign adversaries, and only 4% of PCBs are manufactured in the United States. If we want to ensure technological superiority across the global stage and strengthen national security, we need to bring PCB production back to America, which is exactly what my bipartisan bill does,” said Rep. Eshoo.
“Now is the moment for Congress to take decisive action by furthering robust legislation to reshore our manufacturing, strengthen our supply chains, and prioritize national security,” said Rep. Moore. “The Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act provides a tried and true approach to incentivizing American companies to produce printed circuit boards here at home, which will maintain the integrity of military and national security commercial materials, boost our economy and workforce, and usher in a new era of American manufacturing. The progress we have made on semiconductors is a significant step in the right direction, but congressional support for the entire microelectronics ecosystem is needed to reduce reliance on China. I am grateful to reintroduce this bill with Congresswoman Eshoo and am hopeful this bipartisan effort will successfully move through the legislative process.”
Background
PCBs are the material on which semiconductors sit (often the green-colored surface in images of chips) and are a critical part of the semiconductor supply chain. An assessment from the Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security called for domestic investment and production of key information and communications technology products such as PCBs.
The Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Actdoes the following to incentivize domestic PCB manufacturing and R&D:
- Establishes a financial assistance program, modeled on the CHIPS Act, within the Commerce Department for American facilities manufacturing or researching PCBs; and
- Provides a 25% tax credit for entities that purchase American-manufactured PCBs.
A one-page summary of the bill can be found hereand the bill text can be found here.
“This bipartisan bill addresses well-known vulnerabilities in U.S. electronics manufacturing, taking a ‘silicon-to-systems’ approach that prioritizes greater innovation and resiliency across the entire industry. We thank Reps. Eshoo and Moore for their leadership, and we call on all Members of Congress to support this bill,” said IPC President and CEO John W. Mitchell.
“From F-35s to F-150s, the modern world is built on printed circuit boards, and we need to make more of them in America. This bill will lead to new factories, high paying jobs and an ecosystem to support the work being done by our colleagues in the semiconductor industry,” said David Schild, Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA).
Source: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
With his characteristic humility and word economy, Gordon Moore once wrote “my career as an entrepreneur happened quite by accident.” A brilliant scientist, business leader and philanthropist, Gordon co-founded and led two pioneering technology enterprises, Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, and, with his wife, Betty, created one of the largest private grantmaking foundations in the U.S., the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
He may argue that his career as an entrepreneur happened by accident, but his world-changing contributions did not. Never one to trumpet his own accomplishments, Gordon wasn’t able to dissuade others from celebrating his wide and long-reaching legacy: the revolutionary technologies and breakthroughs, a long and generous history of philanthropy, and the very culture of experimentation, invention and relentless progress that now defines Silicon Valley.
It took decades for Gordon to be able to speak with a straight face of his eponymous “Moore’s Law,” the prophetic 1965 observation that became a cornerstone principle of innovation and driving force for the exponential pace of technological progress in the modern world. Gordon later observed that he had looked it up and was pleasantly surprised to find more references on the internet to “Moore’s Law” than to “Murphy’s Law.”
Dubbed a “quiet revolutionary” by his biographers, Gordon always worked in the absence of any pretense or desire for recognition, driven instead by an exceptional curiosity, generosity and unassuming commitment to hard work.
GORDON MOORE
Gordon was always a visionary. Even at the start of his career, he keenly recognized the impact that the technologies he was developing would have on the world. And at an industry event in 1979, he told an Intel audience: “We are bringing about the next great revolution in the history of mankind — the transition to the electronic age.” (Moore’s Law, Thackray, Brock and Jones).
Although Gordon was reluctant to spotlight his own contributions, his biographers have been less reticent about attribution. Gordon is simply, they argue, “the most important thinker and doer in the story of silicon electronics.”
A pioneering startA fifth generation Californian, Gordon was born in San Francisco in 1929. The son of the local chief deputy sheriff, he grew up in Pescadero, a small coastal community in San Mateo County that had been home to his family since the mid-nineteenth century.
He loved to fish in his neighborhood creek and to experiment with chemicals and “make explosives on a small production basis” behind the house. From an early age, Gordon had a passion for the natural world, science and experimentation, and he pursued that with a bright inquisitiveness, appreciation and sense of gratitude that would last a lifetime and become guideposts for his philanthropy.
Fishing and exploring Pescadero’s untrammeled wilds as a child and venturing to Baja and Costa Rica and even farther afield in later years offered a baseline that illustrated environmental changes brought by development and mass tourism, too often not for the better.
Always an acute observer, this helped instill in Gordon a concern and abiding interest in conserving nature for future generations, in the San Francisco Bay Area and around the world. “We see the wild places of only decades ago being changed to golf courses and resort hotels, and do not think that the whole world should go that way,” he reflected to the Chronicle of Philanthropy in 2002. “I hope we will really make a difference, long term (i.e., 10,000 years).”
Gordon met his greatest love and fellow outdoor adventurer, Betty, in 1947 at a student conference at the Monterey Peninsula’s seaside Asilomar conference center. When the two weren’t fishing the nearby streams — they loved finding remote spots to enjoy being outdoors — Gordon spent his vacations working for a cement company and building his college fund.
By 1950, after transferring to the University of California at Berkeley from San Jose State University, Gordon had earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry. He and Betty were married that same year at a small church in Santa Clara, and set out together for Pasadena, where he was awarded his Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology in 1954.
After graduating from Caltech, Gordon moved east for a job in research with the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. In early 1956, he was recruited west again by William Shockley, the soon-to-be Nobel Laureate who had, with his team at Bell Labs, invented the transistor. By 1957, Shockley’s abrasive management approach and fluid direction for Shockley Semiconductor prompted Gordon and seven of his colleagues to exit the company and form Fairchild Semiconductor.
FairchildAt the helm of research and development at Fairchild, Gordon used his ingenuity to help create and manufacture silicon transistors and then produce a complete circuit of planar transistors on a single piece of silicon: the world’s first microchip. While Sputnik had just been launched into space, demand for silicon transistors skyrocketed as the U.S. rushed to propel its own space program forward, and Fairchild had become one of the shining stars of the electronics industry.
As Fairchild soared, Gordon’s team expanded to hundreds of researchers. The company was developing new technologies at a rapid rate, and Fairchild employees began leaving to create their own businesses. “Every time we came up with a new idea, we spawned two or three companies trying to exploit it,” Gordon reflected.
These “Fairchildren” included offshoots like Signetics, General Micro Electronics, Molectro, Four-Phase Systems — and, in 1968, Intel.
Moore’s Law and the importance of investment in scienceThree years earlier, in 1965, Electronics magazine approached Gordon to ask if he would contribute an article on the future of electronics. In “Cramming More Components onto Integrated Circuits,” Gordon predicted that transistors’ cost would decrease at an exponential rate as the number on each silicon chip doubled annually.
“I never expected my extrapolation to be very precise,” Gordon said later. “However, over the next ten years, as I plotted new data points, they actually scattered closely along my extrapolated curve” (“Understanding Moore’s Law: Four Decades of Innovation” Edited by David C. Brock). In 1975, Gordon updated his prediction, by now recognized as “Moore’s Law,” anticipating that the doubling would happen every two years for the coming decade.
By the 50th anniversary of Moore’s Law in 2015, Intel estimated that the pace of innovation engendered by Moore’s Law had ushered in some $3 trillion in additional value to the U.S. gross domestic product over the prior 20 years. Moore’s Law had become the cornerstone of the semiconductor industry, and of the constantly evolving technologies that depend on it.
Critical to that engine of growth had been U.S. investment in basic research and STEM education, ten percent of the U.S. Federal Budget in 1968. By 2015, however, that had been reduced to a mere four percent. To Gordon, investment in discovery-driven science was another key impetus behind creating the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation in 2000, especially in the context of a widening funding gap for something he recognized as critical to human progress.
Intel###### ANDY GROVE, ROBERT NOYCE, AND GORDON MOORE
The most famous of the “Fairchildren,” Intel (for “Integrated Electronics”), was created in July 1968. Having left Fairchild Semiconductor and with financing help from Arthur Rock, Gordon and Robert Noyce invested $250,000 each in their new co-founded enterprise and raised another $2.5 million. Their first hire was Andy Grove.
Later billed as the “Intel Trinity” by Silicon Valley author Michael Malone, the three together built a company that, by 1971, had brought to market the first microprocessor, and by 1991, become the world’s largest semiconductor company.
Gordon became Intel’s president and chief executive officer in 1975. Four years later, he was elected chairman and chief executive. He became chairman emeritus in 1997, and retired in 2006.
Under Gordon’s leadership, Intel became the world’s highest valued semiconductor chip maker. But Intel also helped establish Silicon Valley’s culture and ethos, offering stock incentives for employees and structured as a meritocracy that eschewed bureaucracy and rewarded innovation, loyalty and the entrepreneurial spirit.
A celebrated manFor his pioneering contributions, Gordon was recognized with myriad honors. Among them are the National Medal of Technology from President George H. W. Bush in 1990, and the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President George W. Bush in 2002.
Gordon served as a member of the board of directors of Conservation International and Gilead Sciences, Inc., and was a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Engineers, and a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He also served as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology from 1995 until the beginning of 2001, when he continued as a Life Trustee.
A notable philanthropist###### GORDON AND BETTY MOORE
Intel’s success made the Moores billionaires, but they never lost touch with their small-town pragmatism or unassuming roots. The financial windfall made them even more focused on giving back to society, to try, as they expressed, to make the world a better place for their children and their children’s children. Long before signing the Giving Pledge in 2012, Gordon and Betty had already given more than half of their assets to charitable causes. In 2017, they were recognized as California’s most generous philanthropists.
Beginning with individual gifts, many of them anonymous, then forming the Moore Family Foundation, and eventually, in 2000, creating the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation “to create positive outcomes for future generations,” Gordon and Betty have maintained a focus across their philanthropic endeavors on supporting universities, hospitals and other nonprofit organizations working in environmental conservation, science, patient care and the San Francisco Bay Area.
“We thought we had an opportunity to make a significant impact on the world,” Gordon once reflected. “And really that is what was attractive. To do something permanent and hopefully on a large scale.”In 2015, he and Betty wrote their Statement of Founders’ Intent to capture and immortalize their hopes and expectations for their philanthropy. “Betty and I established the Foundation because we believe it can make a significant and positive impact in the world,” Gordon wrote. “We want the Foundation to tackle large, important issues at a scale where it can achieve significant and measurable impacts.”
But the man whose philanthropy would, he hoped, change the world for the better on a grand, meaningful scale — and whose observation of technological progress became “law” — also wrote this philanthropic guidance with characteristic humility, and just a touch of ironic self-deprecation: “Since it is impossible to predict the future with any certainty, the guidance cannot be very specific.”
Reflecting on the contrast between the Moores’ view of their own importance with Gordon’s aspirations for his scientific and philanthropic endeavors, Moore Foundation President Harvey Fineberg observed, “There is nothing ostentatious or extravagant in the way they live their lives. Yet, there is a grandness and inspirational quality in their belief in the improvability of the human condition.”
A humble man###### GORDON LAUGHING DURING THE CELEBRATION OF MOORE’S LAW 50TH ANNIVERSARY
One evening in 2015, Intel and the Moore Foundation hosted a celebration at San Francisco’s Exploratorium to mark the 50th anniversary of Moore’s Law. During an interview at the event, Gordon was asked what he had learned from his legendary observation. With that same humble wit, he answered: “Well, once I made a successful prediction, I avoided making another.”
Xavier Ong explains how air bubbles trapped in the conformal coating process are a potential reliability risk.
We hear from Soni Saran Singh, Managing Director/CEO of NMTronics, about the state of electronics manufacturing in India.
Koh Young is one of the world’s leading brands of inspection equipment and it’s founder and CEO, Dr Koh is one of the industry’s most creative innovators.
Koh Young is one of the world’s leading brands of inspection equipment and it’s founder and CEO, Dr Koh is one of the industry’s most creative innovators.
Koh Young is one of the world’s leading brands of inspection equipment and it’s founder and CEO, Dr Koh is one of the industry’s most creative innovators. In Part 2 we examine the growing pains that made Koh Young the company it has become today.
Dr Koh Interviews - Part 1
The first of a four-part series charting the journey of one of the industry's most innovative inventors. Dr Koh from Koh Young talks about his approach to developing new inspection systems and the importance of being the leader in each field.
Adaptsys has introduced enhancements to the Re-flex II on-demand tape-forming system to deliver greater part-packaging speed and efficiency for semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturers. By producing carrier tape to their specifications on site using Re-flex II, manufacturers can achieve a return on investment on materials alone within 12 months, plus significant productivity and quality control improvements.
Now with hardware-accelerated control algorithms that increase tape-forming speed, Re-flex II creates pockets at up to 4m/min., raising productivity and enabling users to significantly reduce turnaround times, further enhancing the financial returns on the system.
In addition, the new Crosswinder option for Re-flex II gives extra flexibility to produce more pockets per reel. Crosswinder increases both packing efficiency, ensuring easier transport and storage of filled reels, while also raising the performance of reels fitted to high-speed tape and reel systems. On the factory floor, reels filled using Crosswinder carry larger numbers of components allowing longer times between feeder changes.
“On-demand tape forming delivers valuable extra flexibility for any organisation needing an efficient and flexible solution for handling large numbers of components,” said James Cawkell, Technical Director of Adaptsys. “With our latest innovations that increase speed and component storage capacity, Re-flex II now delivers even greater value. With the savings against the price of pre-formed tape, owners can expect a faster return on their investment.”
Re-flex II equips component manufacturers and vendors to form pocketed tape as and when they need. Usage modes allow the formed tape to be wound onto reels or delivered directly into a component packing process. Re-flex II owners can avoid the supply-chain issues encountered when sourcing pre-formed tape, while “on demand” forming saves the space needed to store empty tapes waiting to be loaded. The system can produce both standard and custom tape pockets, with smart tooling that allows swapping between tape designs in minutes. The flexibility to switch between pocket forms helps simplify inventory.
When supplying tape directly to a component packaging process, Re-flex II reduces the number of times the supply carrier tape needs to be changed, especially with deeper pocket parts. A conventional 22” (560mm) reel can hold 40 metres of tape pre-formed with 6mm-deep pockets. At a component-taping speed of 2 metres per minute, the reel must be changed every 20 minutes. The Re-flex II supply reel contains up to 1000 metres of unformed tape, extending the changeover interval to eight hours. Hence the reel can be changed once per shift, minimising operator intervention, reducing equipment downtime, and increasing productivity.
Ideal for packaging electronic components such as ICs, connectors, electromechanical components, or miniature PCB assemblies such as antenna modules, Re-flex II also provides an efficient solution for packaging mechanical components such as springs for easy storage and fast, efficient retrieval.
Re-flex II is available to order from Adaptsys www.reflex-odt.com/semi/.
Please visit www.adaptsys.com for more information.
For further details please contact:
Duncan Milroy
Adaptsys Limited
Tel: +44 (0) 1730 262444
Email: duncan.milroy@adaptsys.com
www.adaptsys.com
PR Contact:
Kerry Marsh
Neesham Public Relations
Tel: +44 1296 628180
Email: kerrym@neesham.co.uk
Feb 2 (Reuters) - Rain Neuromorphics Inc., a startup designing chips that mimic the way the brain works and aims to serve companies using artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, said on Wednesday it raised $25 million. Gordon Wilson, CEO and co-founder of Rain, said that while most AI chips on the market today are digital, his company's technology is analogue. Digital chips read 1s and 0s while analogue chips can decipher incremental information such as sound waves. https://www.reuters.com/technology/chip-designer-mimicking-brain-backed-by-sam-altman-gets-25-mln-funding-2022-02-02/
Cope Assembly Products will represent all Hentec/RPS selective soldering, lead tinning and solderability test products throughout Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.
Hentec Industries/RPS Automation is pleased to announce it has appointed Cope Assembly Products as their exclusive sales representative for their entire product line for the states of Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. “We are pleased to have Doug Eidle and the entire group of Cope Assembly Products join our sales team”, said Tom Baro, National Sales Manager for Hentec/RPS. Cope Assembly Products has a wealth of experience in the electronics assembly industry including stencil printing, component placement, visual inspection, wave soldering, hand soldering, assembly materials, as well as test and inspection systems.
“We are confident that Doug and his sales team will advance our complete line of Vector and Valence selective soldering, component, Odyssey lead tinning machines, as well as Photon and Pulsar solderability test equipment throughout their entire sales territory”, added Baro.
www.rpsautomation.com
Following a successful return to live tradeshows at IPC APEX Expo in San Diego, Koh Young, the leading 3D measurement-based inspection equipment and solutions provider for the electronics industry, announces it has reinforced its dedication to helping customers create a smart factory by promoting Ivan Aduna to Global MES Leader. In this expanded role, Ivan will develop and manage MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) software and application deployments on a global level for Koh Young.
“Ivan’s promotion to Global MES Leader is just another example of the steps we are taking steps to ensure our customers are supported on their journey to create a smart factory,” said Joel Scutchfield, General Manager of SMT Operations at Koh Young America. “We [Koh Young] have been dedicated to making our customer’s lives easier. From new award-winning machines to AI-powered software tools, we are driven to improve the lives of our customers.”
Ivan Aduna earned his Mechatronics Engineering degree at the Universidad Panamericana in Guadalajara where he focused on embedded systems, algorithms, and low-power solutions. From there, Ivan applied his software expertise at Intel where he designed and executed test plans and use cases to refine network controllers on both Windows and Linux environments. His start with the Internet of Things began at Dextra Technologies where he developed embedded software systems for the automotive segment and telemetry-based tracking solutions. Today, Ivan leads the global smart factory integration efforts for Koh Young.
“When I combine my knowledge with my experience from positions as a manufacturer and a supplier it helps me understand, adopt, and implement MES solutions that open the gates of a smart factory to everyone,” commented Ivan Aduna about his new role. “I am excited to expand my role to help our customers around the world improve their manufacturing environment.”
If you missed the IPC APEX Expo or want to learn more about using our smart factory solutions to boost your productivity, visit us at kohyoungamerica.com or follow us at linkedin.com/company/koh-young-technology-inc.
Rogers’ shareholders vote "yes" to acquisition by DuPont During a special shareholder meeting, Rogers Corporation's shareholders voted to approve the previously reported acquisition of Rogers by DuPont. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Rogers’ shareholders will receive USD 277.00 in cash for every share of Rogers capital stock they own.
“We are pleased that Rogers’ shareholders voted to approve the pending acquisition by DuPont,” stated Bruce D. Hoechner, Rogers' President and CEO in a press update. “The combination of Rogers and DuPont’s Electronics & Industrial business will provide compelling benefits to our customers and employees as together we leverage our strengths in innovation and advanced materials to bring new solutions to rapidly growing end markets such as Electric and Hybrid Electric Vehicles.”
The completion of the transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, including receipt of certain non-U.S. regulatory approvals. The companies expect that the transaction will close by the end of the second quarter of 2022.
On January 27, 2022, AMD and Xilinx received a "green light" from China – the last regulatory approval needed to complete AMD's acquisition of Xilinx, which was originally announced back in October 2020. The National Anti-Monopoly Policy Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China have cleared the way for the companies to merge – after which Xilinx will become a wholly owned subsidiary of AMD.
AMD and Xilinx currently anticipate that to close the merger during the first quarter of 2022, a SEC-filling from AMD reads.
It was back in late October that the companies announced that they had entered into a definitive agreement for AMD to acquire Xilinx in an all-stock transaction valued at USD 35 billion.
With the Japan government stepping up their support for the local IC manufacturing sector, several new wafer fabs, including a joint venture (JV) between TSMC and Sony, will be constructed in Japan. These fabs are expected to go online sometime between 2022 and 2024, according to industry sources. The Japan government in late December 2020 approved JPY774 billion (US$6.8 billion) in funding for Japan's local IC manufacturing industry, the majority of which would finance cutting-edge chip manufacturing production capacity. The subsidies also target analog ICs and power management chips, and R&D of next-generation silicon. https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20220125PD207.html
Project expands capacity for Kapton® polyimide film and Pyralux® flexible circuit materials to meet growing global demand
DuPont Interconnect Solutions, a business within the Electronics & Industrial segment, today announced it has completed the expansion project at its Circleville, Ohio manufacturing site. The $250 million investment expands production of Kapton® polyimide film and Pyralux® flexible circuit materials, ensuring a committed supply to meet the growing global demand in the automotive, consumer electronics, telecom, specialized industrial and defense segments served by DuPont.
“This is a really important milestone for DuPont and the Electronics & Industrial business,” said Avi Avula, vice president and general manager, DuPont Interconnect Solutions. “With this expansion, we can elevate our service levels to our customers to help them grow. This new plant is an indication of our renewed commitment to our customers’ growth agenda and enables us to meet their aggressive demand for new products with higher reliability and supply assurance.”
The new manufacturing line at Circleville uses DuPont proprietary processing capabilities to produce advanced Kapton® polyimide films, which have set industry standards for more than 50 years, offering high performance, reliability and durability. Kapton® polyimide films provide a unique combination of electrical, thermal, chemical and mechanical properties that withstand extreme temperature, vibration and other demanding environments.
The Kapton® polyimide film is also at the heart of DuPont’s Pyralux® line of flexible copper-clad laminates that are available in a wide variety of copper types, thicknesses and construction options, all of which offer excellent thermal, chemical, electrical and mechanical properties. Pyralux® laminates are ideal for use in wide variety of multi-layer flex and rigid-flex applications which require advanced performance, such as low dissipation loss for high speed, high frequency, robust thermal resistance and high reliability. Click here to learn more about Kapton® Polyimide films | DuPont and Pyralux® Flex & Rigid-flex Laminates and Adhesives | DuPont products.
With the expansion completed, DuPont has started qualifying products for customer adoptions.
Pictured is a Transition Automation Permalex Squeegee printing an advanced filter spacer.
Transition Automation’s Advanced Permalex squeegees have passed initial trials in a new technology development between Henkel’s Advanced Resins Division and Aqua Membranes. The technology under development is a new innovation that creates 3D printed membranes for improved Reverse Osmosis Filtration. Transition Automation supplied several versions of Permalex squeegee to enable this project to reach its goals. The project is featured in a YouTube Presentation located at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zF1Umbekow.
Transition Automation, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the manufacturing and distribution of Permalex® Edge Metal Squeegees, holder systems, and advanced SMT printing systems. Founded in 1989, Transition Automation, Inc. continues to advance the state of the art in surface mount solder paste printing by innovating the critical and high-cycle squeegee component of the SMT assembly process. Company headquarters are located at 5 Trader Circle, Building D, Tyngsboro, MA 01879 USA . Phone: 978-649-2400; Fax 978-649-2402; Web: www.transitionautomation.com
Indium Corporation is pleased to announce several personnel updates at the company’s facility located on Robinson Road in Clinton, New York.
Kay Parker has accepted a new role as a Quality Engineering Applications Specialist after spending nearly three years as a Technical Support Engineer with Indium Corporation. In her new role, Parker is focused on the improvement of manufacturing processes, equipment, techniques, and materials to optimize industry applications. This includes supporting root cause investigations through product testing, data collection, and failure analysis. She also lends her expertise to assisting with customer data requests, quality surveys, and internal audits. Prior to joining Indium Corporation in 2018, Parker served as a college intern in the summer of 2015 at the company’s Utica, New York facility on Lincoln Avenue. She earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics with a minor in engineering science from the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute.
Dr. Casey Rowland, Dr. Mohan Gamage, and Dr. Gerald Decker have all been hired as Research Chemists. In these roles, they are responsible for designing and implementing product formulation studies for new products. This includes the development of product scale-up and manufacturing procedures and conducting training for employees involved the production, promotion, and sales of those products. They also lend their expertise to assisting the production and quality departments.
Dr. Rowland received his doctorate degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of Delaware and a bachelor’s degree in materials chemistry from West Virginia Wesleyan College. Prior to joining Indium Corporation, he was a graduate research assistant and a lab technician.
Dr. Gamage earned his doctorate degree in chemistry from the University of Miami and holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Colombo. Prior to his position with Indium Corporation, Dr. Gamage was a graduate research assistant at the University of Miami.
Dr. Decker received his doctorate degree in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Delaware and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the College of New Jersey. Prior to joining Indium Corporation, Dr. Decker was a research assistant at the University of Delaware.
www.indium.com
Some American global technology companies specializing in consumer electronics, computers and online services are bringing a portion of their manufacturing back to the U.S. following rapid certification of American-made product packaging by NVison, Inc., a Texas engineering services provider. The swift certification resulted in a faster time to market for new electronics devices. These tech companies have tight specs for things such as mobile and tablet packaging, which require certification from suppliers that their inserts meet stringent measurement demands. When Asian suppliers were unable to produce parts which met specifications, the tech companies turned to American suppliers and contacted Dallas-area NVision, Inc. to provide the necessary inspection and certification. NVision, a U.S.-based leader in 3D non-contact optical scanning and measurement, laser-scanned the packaging inserts for several product lines and provided digital files certifying that manufacturing specifications were passing quality standards. The speed and convenience of the process resulted in a decision by the tech companies to permanently return some of their production to the U.S. Made from a variety of materials such as polypropylene, polycarbonate, and paper and pulp materials, the packaging of mobile devices must meet a number of functional requirements. These include the need to snugly and securely house and protect the device and its accessories in an insert tray while not adding significant bulk or damaging the device’s mechanical controls, such as volume buttons, ring/silent switches, and more. The insert may also, depending on the device, require the inclusion of slots, indentations or other spaces to accommodate protruding parts of the device and/or hold instructions or related electronics. Since the inserts are placed in an inner box, which must fit tightly inside the outer, covering box, meeting all dimensional tolerances is critical. “The design and manufacture of consumer electronics packaging is easy for most of us to take for granted,” says Steve Kersen, President of NVision (Southlake, Texas). “While we can easily appreciate the complexities of the device itself, we usually don’t give too much thought to the numerous requirements that its packaging must meet.” After Asian suppliers were unable to provide product to meet specifications, the tech companies reached out to American suppliers and also contacted NVision, which offers turn-key solutions for in-house inspection as well as contract services to deliver inspection reports. NVision has worked with packaging experts for over three decades. After discussing certification requirements, the companies began shipping the suppliers’ packaging, along with their own original design files, to NVision for inspection and comparison. In total, hundreds of insert styles for multiple different products were scanned. For the bulk of the scanning, NVision chose to use its HandHeld scanner. Capable of capturing 60,000 separate measurements per second and accurate to within +/- one-thousandth of an inch, the HandHeld scanner is particularly well-suited to precision measurement. Its ability to accurately inspect for tight tolerances is so well-regarded that its results have even been used in court cases as expert evidence in determining the existence of product flaws and charting their timeline in the manufacturing process. Able to capture 3D geometry from objects of almost any size or shape and attached to a mechanical arm that moves about the object, the HandHeld scanner lets the user gather measurement data rapidly with superior precision. As the object is inspected, the scanner generates a point cloud consisting of millions of “points,” each point being a specific location on the object’s surface. Together with each point’s x,y,z coordinates and i,j,k vectors, the point cloud comprises an exact duplicate of the object’s surface, down to the most minute detail.
Mek (Marantz Electronics) has successfully delivered two desktop automatic optical inspection systems for Yunex Traffic, a global leader in designing, manufacturing and installing intelligent traffic systems.
The PowerSpector GDAz systems, which now integrate into Yunex Traffic’s manufacturing facility and support the inspection of THT and solder joints, are the most versatile AOI inspection systems, reliably inspecting SMT and THT component bodies for a variety of components including presence/absence, type, polarity, offset, text and colours. Suitable for use in pre-reflow, post-reflow, post-wave and post-selective soldering, they can also be used for 2D solder paste inspection and first article inspection.
Henk Biemans, Mek’s CEO explained: “Our high-performing AOI systems have the capability to do both topside through hole components and solder inspection which means we were able to provide an all in one solution for Yunex Traffic. We were delighted to meet all of Yunex Traffic’ specific requirements and it is great to see the equipment in use and making a difference to the manufacture of traffic equipment that’s installed all over the world.
Simon Martin, Head of Global Manufacturing for Yunex Traffic commented: “The introduction of the automatic optical inspection systems is making a real difference to how we manufacture key components for a wide range of traffic systems. We’re a global leader in intelligent traffic systems and this technology is enabling us to continue manufacturing critical components to the highest quality and deliver industry-leading solutions for our customers and the industry.”
The PowerSpector GDAz series targets inspection of taller THT components with a top clearance of 60mm and side cameras with a larger Field of View and 20µm resolution. A larger 3 angle lighting system secures optimal meniscus profiling in combination with increased top clearance without foregoing the maximum inspection area. A z-axis camera enables the inspection of a large variety of boards which vary in height. Due to the software’s abundance of features/test types, false failures can be eliminated easily.
www.marantz-electronics.com
Staff reporters, Taipei; Eifeh Strom, DIGITIMES
DIGITIMES has released its ranking of "Asia Supply Chain Market Cap 100" based on the market capitalization of companies engaging in Asia supply chain manufacturing. These rankings go one step further to capture the dynamics of the ICT and automotive supply chains in Asia. From static rankings and dynamic rates of change, this ranking reflects trends in the electronics and hardware industries.
http://digitimes
Jan 28 (Reuters) - Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) triumph over the global chips supply-chain shortage has signaled good news amid troubled markets around the world. Not so fast, say analysts. The iPhone maker, which had warned three months ago that supply issues would dent its holiday-quarter revenue, on Thursday posted record results largely boosted by sales of its premium phones. It sees an improving situation, if some remaining shortages https://www.reuters.com/technology/apple-makes-easy-escape-supply-crisis-others-may-have-wait-2022-01-28/
Juki Automation Systems (JAS), Inc., a provider of automated assembly products and systems and subsidiary of Juki Corporation, is pleased to announce that Dynamic Source Manufacturing Inc. (DSM) has purchased its fourth ISM3600 Storage Tower. The latest ISM36000 was installed at DSM’s Tempe, Arizona facility along with an Incoming Material Station. With three systems already installed at its facility in Calgary, Canada, Juki was the clear choice when DSM needed a storage tower for its smart factory in Tempe, AZ. The sale was liaised by Juki’s manufacturers’ representative in AZ, Bill Butt with Quantum Systems.
With manufacturing facilities in Canada and the United States, Dynamic Source Manufacturing has nearly complete automation and digitalization of its material flow and value chain. This includes cutting-edge hardware solutions for processes such as intelligent material receiving, smart shop-floor and point-of-use material storage and retrieval, high-volume connected placement and post-teardown X-ray counting of parts.
As leading experts in Electronics Manufacturing Solutions (EMS) for more than 20 years, DSM has helped launch some of the most dynamic products in global industries with precision and excellence, such as communications, energy, emerging technologies, industrial, automotive, and security and defense. Along with its ISO 9001:2015 certification, DSM is certified through Canada’s Controlled Goods Program and registered through the USA’s International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
“The DSM team decided to add this capability to our EMS facility to help automate what had traditionally been a very manual operation,” says David Watson, General Manager at DSM (Arizona). “The Juki system fully integrates with our ERP and other manufacturing execution systems to help ensure our inventory accuracy via their scanning capabilities, dry storage to support component integrity, and a method to pull/return kits that is quick and complete. After the successful integration of the Juki system in our Calgary facility, the Arizona site is following their lead and committed to fully automating our factory. Although the Juki system is new in our Arizona facility, it has already helped us complete kits faster, eliminate the need for physical counts when returning to storage, and helped give our staff another tool to aid in our mutual success.”
The ISM storage management system provides an intelligent and flexible storage solution. Using the ISM UltraFlex 3600, DSM can flexibly store up to 3,644 reels, monitor them intelligently as well as oversee the fully automatic import and export of the components.
For more information about Dynamic Source Manufacturing (DSM), visit https://dynamicsourcemfg.com/.
For more information about Juki, visit www.jukiamericas.com.
PARIS, (Reuters) - French-Italian chipmaker STMicroelectronics plans to double its investments this year to up to $3.6 billion, buoyed by high demand that drove its earnings to beat expectations in the fourth quarter. The step up in spending stems from a global chip shortage that has hit manufacturers and fuelled inflation for semi-conductors, which range from low-added value chips in washing machines to sophisticated sensors in cars and smartphones. https://www.reuters.com/technology/stmicro-plans-invest-up-36-bln-2022-meet-chip-demand-2022-01-27/
January 26, 2022 By Sebastian Moss
A US government investigation into the ongoing semiconductor supply shortage has found that companies that rely on chips have just a few days' worth of supply.
More than a year into the chip shortage, and the "semiconductor supply chain remains fragile," while "demand continues to far outstrip supply," the government warned.
A wafer of IBM Power 7 chips – IBM First, the report aims to understand how we got here: Already in 2019, chip manufacturers were struggling to obtain manufacturing equipment and components used in electronic assembly such as diodes, capacitors, and substrates.
The market was growing fast, with cars becoming more intelligent, and 5G rollouts beginning. Then Covid-19 happened, simultaneously shutting down factories and supply chains, while dramatically increasing demand - particularly for home IT and data center servers.
On top of that, there were a series of unrelated black swan events, including a storm in Texas taking out Samsung, NXP, and Infineon fabs; a fire at Japan's Renesas fab (and another at ASML); power cuts and droughts in Taiwan; and a wayward balloon. Just this week, earthquakes shut down two Toshiba chip fabs.
With the scene set, the US Department of Commerce surveyed "nearly every major semiconductor producer" and major customers in key industries to understand the scale of the problem.
They found that demand for chips was 17 percent higher in 2021 than 2019, but that supply did not increase by as much.
The median inventory of semiconductor products highlighted by buyers has fallen from 40 days in 2019 to less than five days in 2021. In key industries, that number is smaller still.
"This means a disruption overseas, which might shut down a semiconductor plant for 2-3 weeks, has the potential to disable a manufacturing facility and furlough workers in the United States if that facility only has 3-5 days of inventory," the department said.
Specific products had worse supply chain issues than others, the department found.
In particular:
Microcontrollers that are primarily made of legacy logic chips, including, for example, at 40, 90, 150, 180, and 250 nm nodes Analog chips including, for example, at 40, 130, 160, 180, and 800 nm nodes; and Optoelectronics chips including, for example, at 65, 110, and 180 nm nodes. Wafer production was an issue across the board, "which requires a longer-term solution," the department said.
Immediate relief is difficult, as new fabs take years to set up. However, the government touted its efforts to work with industries like the automotive sector to help find short-term solutions like new partnerships and using different chips to meet demand.
With demand growing, and competition increasing with Intel entering the contract fab game, manufacturers have announced enormous manufacturing spending sprees. In its 2021 report, the Semiconductor Industry Association forecast that semiconductor industry capex would reach close to $150 billion in 2021 and over $150 billion in 2022. Prior to 2021, the industry never spent more than $115 billion on annual capex.
These sites will take years to set up, but previously announced fab expansions are expected to come online as early as the second half of 2022, helping somewhat.
The department used the report as an effort to push for the $52 billion in domestic semiconductor funding included in the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act. The Act was passed by the Senate last year, and also included $190 billion for technology and research funding.
Simultaneously with the report, the House introduced its version of the act, calling it the 'America Competes Act.' It drops the $190bn funding, but keeps the chip incentives. It also has $45bn to support supply chain resilience and manufacturing of critical goods, industrial equipment, and manufacturing technology.
From the $52bn, some $22bn would be spent this year. $19bn would be allocated to "semiconductor fabrication, assembly,
January 26, 2022 By Sebastian Moss
A 6.6 magnitude earthquake that rattled southwestern and western Japan early Saturday brought two chip fabs offline.
The earthquake, which did not cause a tsunami, took Toshiba's Oita and Buzen semiconductor production sites offline. There were no injuries at the facilities, although the earthquake injured around 13 people in the country.
A Toshiba T9769A integrated circuit – Wikimedia Commons "Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation has responded to the major earthquakes that occurred off the coast of Kyushu on January 22 by establishing an emergency task force at its headquarters in Kawasaki, Japan," the company said in a statement.
"Our first concern is the safety of our employees and their families, and beyond this the wellbeing of the local community in the affected area."
Toshiba added: "We are also assessing the damage to our production facilities, and will provide updates as soon as they become available."
The Oita plant, which produces LSI chips for the auto and industrial machine industries, was damaged by the earthquake. Production lines have been impacted, but the severity of the damage is not yet known.
Amid a lengthy chip shortage, a series of unrelated events have impacted the manufacturing sector, including a storm in Texas taking out Samsung, NXP, and Infineon fabs; a fire at Japan's Renesas fab (and another at ASML); power cuts and droughts in Taiwan; and a wayward balloon.
Moov, a marketplace for used manufacturing equipment, announces that the company is expanding and making Austin, Texas, the location of its second headquarters. The Tempe, Arizona-headquartered company will be occupying a 3,527 square feet space at is second headquarter location in Austin.
“This decision establishes a beachhead for Moov in one of the country’s most critical, if not the most significant, current hotbeds for the semiconductor industry,” says Moov co-founder and CEO Steven Zhou, in a press release.
Raymond Mahon, Moov’s director of customer success, will head the Austin office. Sammy Mustafa, the company’s partner development manager, will lead expansion of Moov’s sales team in the Texas capital.
“We’re not satisfied with our more than 300% year-over-year revenue growth,” says Mahon. “We’re keeping our foot on the gas, and our growth is speeding up. We are projecting to do nine figures in revenue this year.”
Moov did achieve profitability last year, but is now focused on – as Steven Zhou puts it – "hyper-growth," and increasing the company’s existing market share lead.
The news about the company's second headquarters comes just a few months after Moov closed a USD 41 million series A funding round.
In Moov’s continued expansion push the company plans to open an East Coast office as well as increasing its current presence in China and Taiwan; and open new offices in Europe, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
Naprotek, LLC, a provider of high-reliability, quick-turn electronics manufacturing, has completed the acquisition of NexLogic, Inc., a privately held company based in San Jose, California. The addition expands Naprotek’s capabilities into microelectronics packaging and printed circuit board assembly, serving market demands for complex, critical applications.
Founded in 1995, NexLogic provides electronics manufacturing services across key markets, including Defense, Medical, and Test and Instrumentation, and is uniquely positioned to support Automated Test Equipment and Semiconductor providers. Its electronics manufacturing capabilities include design and development of microelectronic packaging, surface mount technology, and higher-level assemblies with in-house automation, test, and inspection.
“The combination of Naprotek and NexLogic, along with the recently announced acquisition of SemiGen, creates a unique mix of capabilities aligned with emerging technologies, increasing the value we deliver in partnership with our customers. Our team is now positioned to provide comprehensive electronics technology solutions for high-reliability, complex applications. Naprotek’s sophisticated and rapid engineering change management process, commitment to quality, and personalized customer service are essential elements when time-to-market is critical,” said Daniel Everitt, President and CEO of Naprotek.
Naprotek, which was acquired by Edgewater Capital Partners in December 2020, is committed to growth with a focus on expanding services and solutions in the high-value markets. “NexLogic brings a complementary set of capabilities to enhance the Naprotek platform strategy. We are thrilled to welcome the NexLogic team into Naprotek and the broader Edgewater family,” commented Chris Springer, Operating Partner at Edgewater Capital Partners.
“As the third acquisition in support of the Naprotek strategy of building an electronics technology solutions company, we are pleased to further expand Naprotek’s presence in Silicon Valley while adding additional capabilities in microelectronics packaging to support our existing customers,” remarked Pete Ostergard, Partner at Edgewater Capital.
www.naprotek.com
Altus, a supplier of capital equipment in the UK and Ireland, has added to its vapor phase soldering product line-up with the introduction of the new 2100 vapor phase inline soldering system from ASSCON.
ASSCON VP2100 has been designed for mass-production and with a space-saving size of just 2.70m it can be easily integrated into any assembly line. The system uses an innovative oxygen-free process. This ensures components including complex BGAs and QFPs are processed to the highest standard. Preheating and soldering is performed under exacting conditions so product overheating, component damage or PCB delamination cannot occur.
Mike Todd, Operations Manager Assembly, Soldering & Cleaning Products said: “The ASSCON VP2100 is a great addition to our 2022 portfolio. It meets many of the requirements that our customers look for in a vapor phase soldering system. One benefit that really stands out is that is has full inline integration so there is no need for workpiece carriers and a massive 750 x 620mm working area. The PCBs transfer and takeover process is done simply via pin chains. Production is also supported by dynamic profiling, a process for automatically controlling the optimum soldering profile in series production. This ensures perfect solder joints every time.
“Another benefit of the system is that it includes an electrically width-adjustable transport system. This allows for fast and uncomplicated adaptation to changing products and so has the flexibility to work efficiently within modern electronics production.
“Altus will be exhibiting at Southern Manufacturing & Electronics from 8-10 February where we will be available to cover all things vapour phase. Visitors will be able to discuss first-hand with our technical team how the advanced capabilities of the machine will benefit their production line.”
With energy prices souring, another advantage of VP2100 is its low energy consumption. It consumes 70% less energy using just 4.2 kWh per h/measurement. This is achieved as the vapor condenses on the solder product. The condensate encapsulates it completely, and therefore transmits the energy.
To find out more about ASSCON VP2100 visit the Altus team at the Southern Manufacturing & Electronics from 8-10 February stand H120 or go to www.altusgroup.co.uk
BAE Systems has been awarded a USD 60 million contract from the Army Contracting Command – Rock Island under the Cornerstone Other Transaction Authority to develop certain types of next-gen, radiation hardened by design (RHBD) microelectronics leveraging Intel Foundry Services.
The main goal of the program is described to expand onshore access to microelectronics technology for the US government and aerospace community.
Currently, this type of technology is available through limited sources in the US. This leads to supply chain challenges and time lags for the delivery of next-gen microelectronics designed for environmentally rugged missions like those occurring in space. With this contract, BAE Systems’ FAST Labs research and development organization will harness Intel’s foundry process to build a new design library that can be used to develop advanced, high-reliability microelectronics and expand the domestic supply of this technology. “Radiation hardened electronics are highly specialized mission critical technology,” says Chris Rappa, director at BAE Systems’ FAST Labs in a press release. “Leveraging Intel’s commercial foundry to manufacture this technology can speed up the production of next-generation technology and help resolve supply chain challenges so we can maintain our country’s technological edge.” Currently, development of RHBD ASICs uses a 45nm process, but with this contract there is potential to deploy more advanced technology nodes and enable more functionality and faster processing in smaller areas, at lower power.
In addition to working with Intel Foundry Services, BAE Systems will execute on this program through collaboration with a team composed of Cadence Design Systems, Carnegie Mellon University, Movellus, Reliable MicroSystems, and Sandia National Laboratories.
The Interim Report for the fourth quarter 2021, will be published 28 January at 8:30 a.m. CET. The same day, at 10:00 a.m. CET, NOTE will arrange a teleconference for analysts, media and investors.
The report will be presented by NOTE’s CEO and President Johannes Lind-Widestam. The presentation will be held in English.
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AMSTERDAM, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Intel has placed the first order with ASML (ASML.AS) for an advanced chipmaking machine that is still on the drawing board and won't be delivered for years, as semiconductor manufacturers look to get ahead in a booming industry. Alongside better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, ASML said on Wednesday it had now received orders for five of its next generation of lithography machines, plus an order for the even newer model that is still being designed. https://www.reuters.com/technology/intel-orders-asml-machine-still-drawing-board-chipmakers-look-an-edge-2022-01-19/
HumiSeal, a conformal coatings and electronics protection materials manufacturer, has announced that it has signed a new distribution agreement with Dubai based company, Gulf Application Engineering & Packaging (GAEP), to distribute HumiSeal’s comprehensive range of conformal coating materials throughout the region.
Based in Dubai, GAEP has established a solid reputation within the regions electronics industry which will help further strengthen HumiSeal’s presence in the area and develop its conformal coatings and electronics protection materials business. The remit of the agreement means that GAEP will distribute HumiSeal’s entire portfolio of materials enabling it to develop new customers as well as increase its involvement with a number of established existing customers.
Syed Abdul Aziz, Product manager at GAEP, summed up the new agreement by saying:
“I am delighted that we have been selected as a distributor partner for HumiSeal’s suite of conformal coating and electronics protection solutions. We have a portfolio of leading EMS equipment and materials and this agreement further strengthens our product offering. The quality of the HumiSeal products combined with our knowledge and understanding of our regional markets will allow us to exploit new opportunities and further develop existing ones.”
Commenting on the new range of sustainable and user-friendly materials EMEIA Manager for HumiSeal, Chris Palin said:
“GAEP has built a strong and powerful reputation and presence throughout the Middle East which is backed by strong engineering and technical support. HumiSeal is in a unique position of being completely independent when it comes to coating chemistry and with over 60 years in developing solutions, we are able to ensure that we meet the exact product requirements for our customers. I look forward to working closely with GAEP to develop the business in the area.”
A shortage of chips is holding back India's auto sector just when it sees early signs of a recovery
Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/business/technology/tata-group-in-talks-with-taiwanese-companies-for-chip-making-project-report-1061012.html
Dymax, leading global manufacturer of rapid-curing materials and equipment, proudly welcomes its newest manufacturers’ representative, WESCO Sales Group, Inc, to their growing list of business partnerships.
Located in Bellevue, Washington, WESCO will focus their efforts on promoting and supporting the sales of Dymax light-curing solutions to the aerospace and defense and EV markets throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Consisting of a highly specialized team of professionals with extensive experience in marketing and business development, WESCO will act as a conduit between Dymax and key customers. They will focus their efforts on creating and growing cooperative relationships between companies, providing expert technical guidance and assistance to design streamlined, cost-effective manufacturing processes.
The new partnership will bring Dymax together with customers and provide them with a single source for automated dispense, coating, curing, and materials solutions. “Our relationship with WESCO will help expand our reach to critical OEM manufacturers in the aerospace and defense, as well as electric vehicle industries that may not be aware of Dymax’s 40 years of experience developing innovative light-curing technologies,” commented Jason Maupin, Chief Commercial Officer for Dymax.
Robert Monks, Managing Director for WESCO, stated, “We’re excited that Dymax has chosen to work with us to expand their business into key industrial markets. Along with our sales expertise and their extensive knowledge of light curing, we can help manufacturers improve their processes, expand their capabilities, enhance communications, and increase their bottom line.”
Backed by significant technical expertise, WESCO’s sales team can seamlessly support onsite implementation, and in conjunction with Dymax’s extensive knowledge of the light-curing industry, offer a complete manufacturing solution to companies. Together, this alliance builds upon the Dymax mission to make its customers more capable and efficient.
The Murray Percival Company, the award-winning leading supplier to the Midwest's electronics industry, is pleased to announce that it now represents Anda Technologies’ conformal coating, plasma treatment, curing ovens, and full line solutions.
“We’re excited to add Murray Percival Co as our newest manufacturers’ representative,” commented Brian Stumm, Business Development Manager at ANDA. “The company has an outstanding reputation in our industry and we’re confident they’ll help us expand sales of our Conformal Coating, Dispensing and Plasma Treatment system.”
Winner of the 2020 NPI Award, 2019 GLOBAL Technology Award and 2019 Mexico Technology Award, the Anda AP-3 Series are advanced atmospheric pressure plasma treatment machines that are equipped with servo motors and a high-speed ball screw linear actuator system for accuracy. For the first time ever, the AP-3P will be showcased at IPC APEX EXPO later this month in San Diego, CA. As standard, the AP-3P machine is equipped with a single plasma nozzle situated above the substrate to treat, clean and activate surfaces from the top side only. Also available as an optional model, the AP-3DP utilizes dual plasma nozzles top and bottom (single nozzle above and single nozzle below substrate) two nozzles working simultaneously while performing their own independent plasma treatment motion path or program.
Plasma treatment removes static electricity and contaminants such as fine dust, oil, grease, microbial organisms, and both organic/inorganic compounds while also providing surface modification which facilitates adhesion of various coatings and/or adhesive materials. Additionally, plasma treatment promotes the flow of coatings for thin-film coating without other mechanical or chemical treatments required.
The Murray Percival Company recently was awarded Distributor of the Year by the Global Technology Awards from Global SMT & Packaging Magazine.
ZESTRON, the global leading provider of high precision cleaning products, services, and training solutions in the electronics manufacturing and semiconductor industries, is pleased to release the whitepaper “Impact of high reflow temperature on flux removal with high Pb solder paste”
Whitepaper Abstract:
High power discrete package commonly uses high lead (Pb) solder paste as die attach and interconnect material. High lead (Pb) solder paste is an ideal material and unreplaceable until present because of its low resistance, high thermal conductivity, and high melting point to sustain multiple reflow cycles. The alloy composition of the most commonly used solder paste are Pb92.5Sn5Ag2.5 and Pb95Sn5 which having a liquidus temperature of >300°C.
Voiding in solder joint is an on-going problem especially for power electronics. Void, caused by lack of solder or poor wetting in the solder bonds, will slow down or limit the heat dissipation of the power discrete packages, which can lead to thermal failure. By increasing the soldering profile peak temperature or prolong the soldering time, voids reduction can be achieved. However, this leads to an increase in the flux activity during reflow soldering process and resulted flux hardening condition. Proper cleaning of the discrete packages is essential after reflow soldering to remove the flux residue generated from die attach and clip attached (DACA).
To find out the impact of cleaning effectiveness against the different peak reflow temperatures on the discrete packages, the authors had developed a series of test plan to evaluate the cleaning effectiveness for the discrete packages soldered with the common high lead solder pastes that available in the market. For more information or to request for this free whitepaper, please email us at infoasia@zestron.com
Southwest Systems Technology, Inc., the leading manufacturing resource for the Southwest, is pleased to announce that it has hired Victor Migri as Outside Account Manager, covering the North Texas territory.
A skilled negotiator, efficient in working in competitive, high-pressure sales and customer service, Migri has experience as a Juki machine operator. He is customer service and neuro-marketing skilled, with inside and outside sales experience. Migri is proficient in developing leads and diligent in follow-up and relationship building.
Migri has experience identifying market trends and customer needs to create highly-targeted interactive and multi-media marketing campaigns. He is multi-lingual, fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish. Migri earned his Bachelor’s degree in Marketing & Logistics.
For more information about Southwest Systems Technology, contact Scott Fillebrown at Scott@SWSystems.com or visit www.swsystems.com
Reliable temperature data is essential in today’s fast-paced electronics manufacturing environment, but so too is equipment that is user-friendly. Solderstar has used their extensive knowledge and technical expertise to design the SLX, an innovative thermal profiler with the benefit of having zero measurement setup. Since its launch at the end of 2021, SLX has received much interest from the industry who can see the benefits of this novel profiling solution.
“To produce electronic assemblies without a known thermal profile will have adverse consequences to the assembly,” Mark Stansfield, Managing Director at Solderstar explains.
“The old adage ‘you cannot manage what you do not measure’ is particularly critical in a modern manufacturing environment where time and quality issues are extremely important to oversee.
“Since launching SLX during Productronica at the end of 2021 we have received a lot of interest from companies who realise just how beneficial the thermal profiler will be to their production processes.
“Reliable temperature data provides a true picture of the process and without an established oven profile, problems can occur with soldering quality, cleaning issues or further down the line involving either rework costs or early component failures. However, setting up profiles for each electronic assembly can be a time consuming exercise without the right tools. To help combat this problem, we designed the new Solderstar SLX which includes advanced smart adapters to allow profiling of soldering machines with zero setup and configuration.”
Not only is the Solderstar SLX a precise, battery powered datalogger which measures and records process parameters from any soldering process, but it is also the smallest available logger on the market. Mark continued: “What makes the compact SLX unique is its zero user setup feature. Just plug in your sensors and start the profile capture, no need for datalogger resetting or configuration via a computer. All sensor detection and configuration is automatic. The result is error free runs and quicker profile capture times.”
The new SLX can be docked onto any SMARTLink reflow heatshield or other process accessory and will auto-configure itself for data capture. It can be ready to profile from as little as a ten-minute charge and can operate for an impressive 15 hours when fully charged over a two hour period.
With download speeds ten times faster than previous models and multiple memories for storage of both temperature and other secondary parameters SLX conveniently displays the logger, sensor and memory status via status indicators and a multi-bar graph display. The unit has 2.4Ghz telemetry options with increased measurement range and maintains +/- 0.5 C accuracy.
www.solderstar.com
OSLO, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Nordic Semiconductor (NOD.OL) on Friday said its revenue and margins had exceeded expectations in the final quarter of 2021, and that demand remained strong across all its markets. Revenue for the October-December period amounted to $171 million, preliminary data showed, above the company's own guidance of $150 million-$170 million, the Norwegian firm said in a statement. https://www.reuters.com/technology/nordic-semiconductor-flags-higher-q4-revenue-margins-2022-01-14/
Dr. Jennie Hwang to address “Preventing Manufacturing Defects and Product Failure” and “Reliability of Electronics - the Role of Intermetallic Compounds” at IPC APEX on Monday, January 24, 2022, from 8:00AM to 11:00AM and from 3:30PM to 6:30PM, respectively. Under today’s manufacturing and market environment, the effort to maximize production yield, reduce cost and assure product reliability is becoming increasingly critical to a company’s competitiveness. Considering the new and anticipated developments in packaging and assembly and with the goal of achieving high yield and reliability in mind, the “how-to” prevent prevailing production defects and product reliability issues through an understanding of potential causes is a necessity. Dr Hwang leverages decades of extensive real-world experiences and deep and comprehensive knowledge to address “Preventing Manufacturing Defects and Product Failure” (PDC17) on Monday, January 24 from 8:00AM to 11:00AM; and “Reliability of Electronics - the Role of Intermetallic Compounds” (PDC27) on Monday, January 24 from 3:30PM to 6:30PM at IPC APEX be held at the San Diego Conference Center. Mon, Jan 24, 2022 - 8:00 AM to 11:00 AM PDC17: Preventing Manufacturing Defects and Product Failure Focusing on preventing prevailing production defects and product reliability issues that affect yield, cost and performance through an understanding of potential causes and plausible solutions, PDC17 provides a holistic overview of product reliability - the roles of materials, processes, testing/service conditions, and crucial principles behind the product reliability. One selected area related to product failure (tin whisker) and five selected defects (PCB pad cratering vs. pad lifting, BGA head-on-pillow, open or insufficient solder joints, copper dissolution issue and lead-free through-hole barrel filling) will be discussed. Specific defects associated with the reliability of BTC, PoP and BGA assembly will be highlighted. The root causes and preventive measures for each of the five prevalent production defects will be outlined. From practical perspectives, tin whisker with emphasis on risk mitigation through understanding the factors that affect tin whisker growth, and its testing challenges will be outlined. The practical tin whisker criteria for reliability implications in the lead-free environment and the relative effectiveness of mitigating measures will be ranked. The course addresses the most prevalent production issues and defects that affect yield, cost and reliability, suitable to all who are involved with or interested in SnPb and Pb-free manufacturing including designers, engineers, researchers, managers and business decision makers; also, is designed for those who desire the broad-based information. Please join your industry colleagues in this course. The main topics to be covered in this course are listed below. And attendees’ questions and comments are warmly welcomed. Main Topics:
Premise of production defects and product failure prevention; Common production defects and issues; PCB pad cratering (vs. pad lifting); Open or insufficient solder Joints; BGA head-on-pillow defect; Copper dissolution; Lead-free through-hole barrel filling; Defects of BTC and PoP solder joints - prevention and remedies; Tin whisker - concerns, practical criteria, testing challenges; growth phenomena; Tin whisker - contributing factors, risk mitigation, practical remedies; Summary
Registration: https://n1b.goexposoftware.com/events/ipc22/goExpo/user/listSeminars.php?ci=17 Info: ToyaRichardson@ipc.org Mon, Jan 24, 2022 - 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM PDC27: Reliability of Electronics - Role of Intermetallic Compounds Intermetallic compounds (IMCs) play an increasingly important role to the performance and reliability of solder interconnections in the chip level, package level and board level of lead-free electronics. With the goal to produce reliable products while achieving high yield...
Technology leader ASMPT has used the results of recently conducted customer satisfaction surveys to further improve its customer relationship management (CRM). The company wants to deliver even more agility, efficiency and resiliency in the future to better support its customers in the ROI-oriented automation of their smart factories. Accordingly, ASMPT will operate with only four Regions worldwide in order to make important experts and knowledge resources available to an even broader customer base. The previously separate Germany Region will be integrated into the EMEA Region under the leadership of Ralph Pötter, who previously ran the global sales & key account management of ASMPT's SMT Solutions Segment.
As Regional Head & Managing Director CRM, Ralph Pötter is responsible for the newly defined EMEA Region at ASMPT.
“The CRM process, which consists of the subprocesses Sales, Service and Marketing, is the interface to our customers. Here, a comprehensive understanding of the manufacturing processes, clear responsibilities, quick and sustainable decisions as well as lean processes make the difference. All of this works only if all departments and Regions harmonize perfectly and operate with a clear focus on the customer,” explains Waldemar Christen, Vice President CRM at ASMPT. "We continuously review our processes and tools for agility, efficiency and resiliency in order to consolidate our status as a market and technology leader in the semiconductor and SMT segments.” A recent customer satisfaction study has shown that strong customer support makes the difference. It confirmed that our account managers have a solid understanding of their customers’ production processes and rated them much higher than those of other market players.
Waldemar Christen, Vice President CRM at ASMPT Image source: ASM
Faster and more effective
As the recent Productronica trade fair demonstrated, the ASMPT team adapted to changing conditions and developed new customer support solutions also during the pandemic.
The positive responses to the Open Automation concept presented during the fair proved that classic machine sales and account management are making rapid advances. Today’s electronics manufacturers expect to work with a customer solutions consultant who advises them on both the machine and factory levels. This consultant must be a competent expert who supports his or her customers with software and hardware solutions and keeps an eye on the entire manufacturing process. In combination with ASMPT’s best-in-class product portfolio and corresponding adjustments in customer support, ASMPT’s people meet these expectations already today.
In order to make better use of synergies in the future, ASMPT has conducted a reorganization: EMEA and Germany are now combined into one region, which will also strengthen the Europe area in particular in view of the changes in the geopolitical situation. With the focus on Eastern Europe, this will further facilitate the potential expansion and development of manufacturing capacities for electronics manufacturers. Support and services will be adjusted so that customers worldwide can be offered the highest and most standardized level of service. The EMEA region will be managed by Ralph Pötter as Regional Head & Managing Director. The long-standing ASMPT managers Rafael Wojtakowski, Ralph Blömer and Stefan Techau will coordinate the sales and service business in Europe East, Germany and Europe West and report directly to Ralph Pötter.
“Of course, we want to continue to grow. Above all, however, we have the satisfaction of our customers today and in the future in mind with this realignment. With the constantly growing portfolio of products and services, we also want to offer the corresponding consulting and implementation support. The feedback on this step at the recent Productronica has been outstanding, and I look forward to implementing it with this strong team.
Quality-driven DIVaero attains another certification
DIVSYS Aerospace & Engineering (DIVaero), specializing in design / development / redesign of electronic modules and assemblies, and experts in the manufacture of electronic assembly and
PCB/PCBA laboratory have achieved AS9100D certification. AS9100 is a standard published by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) titled "Quality Management Systems - Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Organizations.”
“Now that we have AS9100D ingrained into our daily routine, we are well positioned to incorporate our growth plan for 2022.” Stated Tammie Fish, Managing Director for DIVaero. Calculated Growth
DIVaero already has ISO 9001:2015, so with the addition of AS9100D and a recent increase in facility square footage, another milestone in the planned growth strategy for Aerospace and Military customers has been accomplished. A well-trained team backed by a strong quality management system and room to grow was the calculated outline of owner, Stanley Bentley, P.E.
” A strong quality management system that is backed up by design and engineering professionals is a huge differentiator in a fairly crowded field of suppliers.” noted Stan Bentley. Quality Approach
Whether DIVaero is designing a top-secret module for the defense of our country or shipping a high technology electronic assembly order to a customer, the approach taken by
DIVaero is the same -- methodical quality steps incorporating documentation, traceability, risk analysis, monitoring, and measuring. AS9100 invokes a higher level of discipline and responsibility than ISO 9001, which plays perfectly into DIVaero’s commitment to provide the highest quality services and products to its customers.
Founded in 2018, DIVaero is a spin-off of Diversified Systems, Incorporated (dsi), a 48- year-old company specializing in PCB/PCBA design, PCB fabrication, PCB assembly and test, and PCB/PCBA Laboratory, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, and owned by Stanley Bentley, P .E.
Altus Group, a leading distributor of capital equipment is pleased to announce an important new addition to the sales team in Ireland. Gareth Fenton has been appointed as Sales Manager and will be responsible for managing the regional sales efforts and developing customer relationships across Ireland.
The appointment is part of an ongoing development programme that has seen the company expand significantly over the last 12 months. The Irish territory is an important part of the expansion plan for Altus who will be focusing on developing the sales and support infrastructure in the region to help maximise the tier one brands within the portfolio.
Joe Booth, Altus CEO said: ‘’2021 was a transformational year for Altus in Ireland and seeing the progress in developing our infrastructure has also been ideal. We now have a dedicated entity and a local team of experts following the employment of Michal Ostrykiewicz, our new Senior Applications Engineer, with Gareth now leading the new project charge. This has put us in a very strong starting position to build from within the region.
“Our market in Ireland has grown substantially so it’s important that we find people like Gareth who has the experience and knowledge to develop the business in the region.”
Gareth joins Altus with comprehensive knowledge having worked within the sector for many years. With a successful track record and extensive experience of processes and technology in the electronics industry he will be a welcome addition to the team.
“I am delighted that a person with Gareth’s calibre and potential has joined Altus in Ireland. As well as having all of the skill sets we look for in a team member and bags of enthusiasm, Gareth comes with great customer referrals which for us is of the utmost importance. With a very capable Sales Manager and Applications Engineer in the region, alongside the brands and processes we have in our portfolio, I can’t wait to see what Michal and Gareth can achieve in developing our business in the region. Watch this space!’’ said Joe.
www.altusgroup.co.uk
AIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, is pleased to announce the recent acquisition of BLT Circuit Services, Ltd., a leading manufacturer, and distributor for a comprehensive range of consumable products for the printed circuit and chemical milling industries.
Located in Suffolk, England, BLT has served as an AIM distributor for over ten years. The company will continue to operate as they have with additional management and financial support from AIM.
"Everyone at BLT is excited to be part of the AIM global group and look forward to working together with the AIM team to achieve our common goals," said Philip Leeder, BLT's General Manager.
"We have had a long and successful history working with BLT as an AIM distributor," said David Suraski, AIM's Executive Vice President, Assembly Materials Division. "We look forward to accelerating our growth together in the UK assembly market."
For more information visit www.aimsolder.com or https://bltcircuitservices.co.uk/
European semiconductor sales in November 2021 reached US$ 4.267 billion, an increase of 26.3% versus the same month one year ago, the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA) reported based on the latest World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) data. Compared to October 2021, the European semiconductor market increased by 3.1% in November. On a worldwide basis, semiconductor sales in November 2021 were US$ 49.690 billion, up 1.5% compared to October, and up 23.5% versus November 2020. These results confirm the strong growth recorded in Europe and worldwide through the year 2021. All growth figures represent a three-month rolling average.
On a month-to-month basis, discretes, analog devices, and sensors & actuators were the top-performing categories in Europe in November, up 4.8%, 4.7%, and 3.9% respectively. The memory market also experienced good growth, with an increase of 1.1 % compared to October.
In November, worldwide sales of application-specific semiconductors experienced a strong 4.5%-growth over October, with automotive semiconductors in particular growing at the above-average rate of 4.9%.
Exchange rate effects were more visible on the European sales picture than in October, when comparing market growth in Euros and in Dollars. Measured in Euro, semiconductor sales were 3.677 billion Euros in November 2021, up 4.1% versus the previous month and an in-crease of 28.4% versus the same month a year ago. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, semiconductor sales increased by 20.8%.
Monthly European semiconductor sales
Semiconductor sales worldwide and in Europe (in US Dollars)
Monthly European semiconductor sales development
(in Euros)
Note:
3/12 = Percent change of a three-month period compared to a similar period twelve months before
12/12 = Percent change of a twelve-month period compared to a similar period twelve months before
The news is full of constantly new, improved products and services that require microelectronics. STI Electronics, Inc. has the ability to be your sole partner, from concept to finished product. STI’s Microelectronics Packaging Lab was established to meet the rising need for advanced systems development and packaging to address the emerging challenges and issues facing today’s electronics assemblies.
Advanced design and modeling software enables STI to design and develop highly integrated hardware to meet shrinking form and fit factor requirements as well as increasing thermal loads. Emerging packaging materials are continuously evaluated to optimize electrical and thermal performance.
The microelectronics lab specializes in state-of-the-art packaging design and microelectronics assembly including current technologies such as Chip-On-Board (COB) and Multichip Module (MCM) as well as emerging technologies including STI’s patented packaging technology termed Imbedded Component/Die Technology (IC/DT®).
STI’s involvement in research and development programs, both in component packaging technologies and electronics assembly manufacturing, has brought about the installation of the latest, most advanced equipment and the acquisition of the top people in this field. STI is staffed to design, develop, assemble and test a ruggedized electronics assembly in an advanced cleanroom laboratory (Class 1000/ISO Class 6 certified) to meet its customers’ specifications.
https://stiusa.com
As of 1 January 2022, IPP in the United Kingdom and in Ireland will take over the responsibility for the Peters ELPEPCB® product range. While the ELPEGUARD® and ELPECAST® ranges were already marketed by IPP in these countries for some time, they will now act as sole representatives for all Peters lines from the new year on. IPP stands for Industrial Production Processes; this company is based in Bromsgrove south of Birmingham in the county of Worcestershire.
Placing all Peters product lines in the UK and Ireland under one roof: Markus Wieler, Global Business Development Manager at Peters in Kempen. Photo: Axel Küppers
ELPEPCB® are patented circuit printing inks that meet highest requirements in the manufacture of printed circuit boards. ELPEGUARD® products are conformal coatings developed by Peters for insulating assembled printed circuit boards so that they can meet higher demands in terms of reliability and service life. Finally, ELPECAST® refers to casting compounds - they protect and insulate electronics, sensor technology and lighting electronics from extreme climatic influences and aggressive media.
"There are many advantages to having our entire product range in the Anglo-Saxon region and also in Ireland under one roof," reports Markus Wieler, Global Business Development Manager at Peters. As such, the coatings engineer is responsible for OEM management. This means that he coordinates and super-vises the processes with end customers that use Peters products in their finished electronics. In this respect, the UK and Ireland are an exciting field: Peters and IPP have been cooperating for more than ten years in the field of conformal coatings and casting compounds for electronics. "The expansion to include circuit printing inks is therefore logical," says the graduate chemist. Markus Wieler recently met Jack Daly, Managing Director of IPP, at productronica in Munich, the leading trade fair for electronics.
In times of pandemic, when supply chains are not always stable, this can ensure high availability even in product variety. Furthermore, customers of the area in question can benefit from new products and further developments from the Peters laboratory and use top products for themselves. Another advantage is that Peters and IPP are already a well-established team. The employees are qualified and trained, speak the "Peters language", know the value and quality standard of the ink systems and can advise customers accordingly. "They not only know the market and the supply flows, but are also well versed in all legal, regulatory and technical aspects that change quickly and require professional competence," says the Global Business Development Manager.
In the end, says Markus Wieler, the customer benefits from the bundling of distribution flows in the UK and Ireland. As technical distributors for all three Peters product ranges, IPP can place the bouquet of high-tech inks and casting compounds on the islands in the best possible way. The end customer can also rely on the fair price-performance ratio. "He gets the highest quality in all three lines at competitive conditions." Plus all this in time, transparently and unbureaucratically, eliminating tiresome searches on the market and time-consuming price comparisons.
In general, Peters' quality policy is to offer high-quality products worldwide by following a coherent sales strategy and to maintain a low-threshold approach in B2B. "This applies to China, the USA, Europe and, since Brexit, especially to the Anglo-Saxon region," emphasises Peters Managing Director Ralf Schwartz. After all, the good business relations should not suffer under the Brexit decision, which is incomprehensible from the EU's point of view. Schwartz: "This is in line with our Peters policy: as far as possible, everything from a single source for the client.
www.peters.de
Slider type lineup gains slimmer LBAS12 and ABAS12 models
Yamaha Motor Europe Robotics, FA Section announced that its Robotics Operations has added new rod type models to the basic model lineup of the Robonity industrial robot series* and that slimmer models with reduced height will be added to the existing lineup of slider types. These additions to the Robonity Series will expand it to 29 models, offering clients an even greater range of products to choose from.
The Robonity Series includes motorless single-axis actuators that enable clients to use motors and drivers they are accustomed to and single-axis robots that are bundled with the EP-01 robot positioner. The Series is composed of “basic models” featuring high rigidity, compact construction, and low cost, and “advanced models” boasting high precision, high durability, and cleanroom-ready specifications, allowing clients to select models that best suit their needs.
Newly added to the basic model range are the LBAR motorless single-axis rod type actuator and the ABAR single-axis rod type robot. Their main features include 1) a built-in linear guide design that ensures rigidity so that straight-line performance is unaffected even when a radial load is applied and high operational precision with ±0° rod non-rotating accuracy, 2) construction contributing to equipment downsizing with a size some 65% more compact compared to conventional models, and 3) support for long strokes up to 800 mm.
Added to the slider type lineup are the slimmer LBAS12 motorless single-axis actuator and ABAS12 single-axis robot. Greater stability has been achieved by reviewing the design and reducing the height. These are ideal when used for the X-axis of Cartesian robots and also contribute to overall downsizing.
Main Features of Robonity Series’ LBAR and ABAR Rod Type Models
High rigidity, compact design, long stroke availability
• High-rigidity specification with built-in linear guide:
Thanks to the one-piece construction with built-in linear guide, straight-line performance is not impaired even when a radial load is applied. Further, juddering in the direction of rotation is inhibited and tools attached to the tip of the rod achieve ±0° of non-rotating accuracy. It also becomes possible to eliminate the need for an external guide, which saves on the time, effort, and cost involved in installing one.
• Approx. 65% greater compactness than conventional models:
Compared to a conventional model (TRANSERVO Series SRD05), a LBAR05 of the same size is some 65% narrower in width. This contributes to the downsizing of factory equipment.
• Supports long strokes:
Features a maximum stroke of 800 mm. Compared to a conventional model (TRANSERVO Series SRD05), a LBAR05 of the same size supports approximately twice its stroke capability at 600 mm.
Main Features of Robonity Series’ LBAS12 and ABAS12 Slim Slider Type Models
Slim construction enables a lower center of gravity, making it ideal for the X-axis of Cartesian robots
By completely reviewing the design, external width has been reduced to 120 mm and the height lowered to 76 mm, thereby contributing to the downsizing of facility equipment. In addition, the center of gravity is lower thanks to the slimmer construction, making the unit ideal for use as the X-axis of a Cartesian robot. It can also be used across a wide range of situations as it is compatible with both 200W and 400W motors with the same frame width.
Other Features of the Robonity Series
Simulator makes it easier to select optimum specifications
You can check projected cycle time and ball screw life by entering basic parameters into the simulator on the website.
Robinity Series Basic Specifications
Basic model (rod type): LBAR motorless single-axis actuator
*1: Positioning repeatability in one direction
*2: Maximum speed may not be reached when the movement distance is short or under some operating conditions.
(Reuters) - Chipmaker Intel Corp on Monday appointed Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) finance head David Zinsner as its chief financial officer and executive vice president. Zinsner, who will assume the role on Jan. 17, joined Micron in 2018 and has more than 20 years of financial and operational experience in semiconductors and manufacturing.
Computer chip maker Intel's logo is shown on a gaming computer display during the opening day of E3, the annual video games expo revealing the latest in gaming software and hardware in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 11, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake https://www.reuters.com/technology/chipmaker-intel-names-david-zinsner-finance-head-2022-01-10/
Highly regarded manufacturers’ representative enriches customer experience in Midwest region.
Universal Instruments has strengthened its upper Midwest US customer coverage with the appointment of B.R. Peterson Associates as its Channel Partner in the region. B.R. Peterson Associates will specifically be responsible for Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan.
Since 1991, B.R. Peterson Associates has covered the upper Midwest, providing manufacturers' representative services to many of the top suppliers of electronics manufacturing equipment, supplies and services. B.R. Peterson Associates bridges the gap between customer requirements and supplier's expertise, primarily in the Contract Manufacturing, Industrial Control, Automotive, Communications, Defense, and Medical markets.
Bruce Peterson, B.R. Peterson Associates President and founder, said, “Universal’s proven track record and expansive portfolio will enable us to deliver a premium experience for our current customer base while also providing us new market opportunities. This is a well-aligned partnership and we expect a rewarding long-term relationship.”
“Bruce has more than 30 years of experience and is well-respected in the region,” stated Kevin Clue, Universal Instruments General Manager, North America Field Operations. “We look forward to leveraging his relationships and expect that the breadth of our product line will be a considerable asset as B.R. Peterson Associates continues to provide first-class equipment, supplies and services to its customers.”
To learn more about Universal’s solutions for any electronics manufacturing challenge, contact Universal Instruments at +1-800-432-2607 or +1-607-779-7522
www.uic.com
Technology giant Samsung Electronics has said it expects to post a 52% jump in profit for the last three months of 2021, amid the global chip shortage.
The world's biggest memory chip maker estimates that it made 13.8tn won ($11.5bn; £8.5bn) in the period.
That would be its highest fourth quarter operating profit in four years.
The company's earnings were boosted by strong demand for server memory chips and higher profit margins in its chip contract manufacturing business.
“Samsung is well placed to profit from the record-breaking demand for PCs and electronics,” technology analyst Sam Reynolds told the BBC.
He also highlighted that the firm had benefited from currency fluctuations: "The Korean won continues to depreciate, making Korea's exports more attractive on the global market."
However, the estimated profit was lower than the 15.2tn won predicted by many analysts.
Samsung's spending on such things as employees' bonuses and marketing for its smartphone business were seen as reasons for it missing the market forecast.
In recent months, the global shortage of semiconductors has been causing major disruptions for manufacturers, from carmakers that have had to suspend production to Apple warning that iPhone shipments would be delayed.
Investors are also watching the company's chip manufacturing operation in Xi'an, central China. The city has been in lockdown since 23 December due to a coronavirus outbreak.
Samsung said last week that it would "temporarily adjust operations" at its sites in Xi'an but gave no further details of how the measures could impact the production of microchips.
In November, Samsung announced that it had chosen a site close to the US city of Taylor in Texas for its new $17bn computer chip plant.
The plant is expected to be operational by the second half of 2024. It is the South Korean electronics giant's biggest-ever US investment.
Shares in Samsung Electronics were trading around 1.8% higher in Seoul on Friday.
MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions, a global supplier of integrated solutions from our Circuitry, Assembly and Semiconductor divisions that provides unmatched capabilities in electronics design and manufacturing, has today announced the launch of brand new Electrolube websites for Electrolube Australia and New Zealand. Months of work have been dedicated to researching how and why people visit the website and the content has been redesigned to assist visitors with more application-based searches.
As reliability and performance are key factors for manufacturers looking to transform their end-products, Electrolube has focused on the numerous and varied application requirements of different industries to improve search results for customers. The content is now highly focused so customers can find appropriate solutions for their applications in seconds. A new product selection tool improves browsing experience and reduces search time by narrowing down the most relevant product options and offering a wider range of samples of encapsulation resins, thermal management products and conformal coating solutions. The interface has also been restructured to make each website’s navigation quick and easy as well as improve user experience to get quicker access to products, information and services.
Mike Woods, Electrolube Australia’s General Manager, comments, “With the wide range of applications we are involved in, the new websites not only help visitors find solutions faster but also demonstrate our strong capability as a specialist electro-chemicals manufacturer. We are strongly positioned as a trusted resource at every stage of design and production.”
MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions enables electronics interconnection through the innovative specialty chemicals and materials from our Alpha, Compugraphics, Electrolube, Kester, and MacDermid Enthone brands. We serve all global regions and all steps of device manufacturing within every segment of the electronics supply chain. The experts in our Semiconductor Solutions, Circuitry Solutions, and Assembly Solutions divisions collaborate with OEMs and fabricators in the implementation of new technologies that redefine what is possible in device design. Our world class technical service is constantly at hand to ensure optimized outcomes in yield and productivity. Our solutions can increase throughput, reduce carbon footprints, lower total cost of ownership, and enable electronics innovation.
For further information, please visit www.electrolube.com.au
Data I/O Corporation (NASDAQ: DAIO), the leading global provider of advanced data and security deployment solutions for flash, flash-memory based intelligent devices and microcontrollers, announced that Dr. Cheemin Bo-Linn will be joining the Board of Directors of Data I/O. Dr. Cheemin Bo-Linn is the CEO of Peritus Partners, a valuation accelerator, for industry sectors including automotive, electronics, consumer, and medical sectors with integrated security.
Cheemin has extensive domain experience and been recognized for her accomplishments. She was named “Top Woman of Influence” by the Silicon Valley Business Journal and was inducted into the “Hall of Fame” for Women in Technology. In 2019, she was named one of the “Top 50” public company Board of Directors by the National Association of Corporate Directors amongst its 22,000 board members. The Financial Times / Agenda named her one of the 2021 “Top 100” Diverse Directors in the Americas. Cheemin has board governance and industry expertise having served on four prior public boards in flash memory, cloud, SaaS, IoT, and manufacturing, as Lead Independent Director and Chair of every major committee. Prior, during her 20+ years in senior IBM executive roles, she led global teams as IBM’s VP of Industrial Sector/Electronics, responsible for IBM’s software, semiconductor chips, storage, and consulting services. Dr. Bo-Linn earned her Doctorate degree from the University of Houston. She was also named Visiting Professor in the Joint 2017-2018 EMBA /MBA program of Columbia University, London School of Business, and the University of Hong Kong. Her teaching domain included digital transformation and technology (artificial intelligence, IoT, sensory farms, data analytics, and security).
“We are thrilled to have Dr. Cheemin Bo-Linn join the Data I/O Board of Directors” said Anthony Ambrose, President and CEO of Data I/O Corporation. “Her technical knowledge and experience in security, automotive, and semiconductors combined with her outstanding track record in public company governance make her an ideal selection to the board for Data I/O.”
“I am excited to join the board of Data I/O. The company is the longtime global leader in data programming, and is poised to lead the vast emerging category of security provisioning. I look forward to working with the board and management to accelerate the positive momentum in automotive and IoT security,” said Cheemin Bo-Linn.
dataio.com
The Management Board of 3D-Micromac AG has appointed Hartmut Schubert to the position of Chief Technology Officer (CTO) effective immediately. In this role, he is responsible for the strategic management of the company's technology division.
After successfully completing his studies in control engineering in Darmstadt, Germany, Schubert worked for VITRONIC Dr.-Ing. Stein Bildverarbeitungssysteme GmbH for many years. During this time, he also completed his MBA studies in Mannheim, Germany and Paris. Since 2012, Schubert has held various technical and managerial positions at Dr. Heinrich Schneider Messtechnik GmbH. There, he was mainly responsible for strategic management, organizational optimization, new product development and the continued development of the OEM business unit. His profound experience in production/design, hardware and software development, and quality management complete his portfolio.
"My career stages have always been characterized by strong company growth through technical innovation, digitalization, business development and change management. I look forward to contributing these experiences to the continued successful development at 3D-Micromac," stated Schubert.
Uwe Wagner, CEO of 3D-Micromac AG, commented, "With the addition of Hartmut Schubert, we have completed our management team. We look forward to further strengthening our innovative power together with him and advancing 3D-Micromac technologically in the future."
https://3d-micromac.com/
KIC is well-known as the market and innovation leader in solutions for reflow and wave soldering process management. Going into its 45th year as the pioneer in thermal process monitoring, KIC looks forward to the next decade and further innovations.
Philip Kazmierowicz, President, commented, “We are excited to be celebrating 45 years in business and want to thank all of our loyal customers. Our mission is to advance the success of our customers, and we look forward to offering new and innovative technologies in the years to come.”
With the most robust and flexible traceability and connectivity capabilities addressing manufacturing requirements for production temperature profile inspection, now KIC brings yet another innovation to the market. The new WPI brings award-winning research and development and thermal experience to the wave solder process by providing users with automatic profiling – including an industry first Dwell Time and Parallelism measurement for each production board – real-time preheat and wave analytics, automatic SPC charting and more.
Electronics manufacturing is moving into an era requiring intelligent use of large amounts of data in order to run a flexible, efficient and successful manufacturing operation. KIC is at the forefront of this trend providing customers an easy path along this ‘smart factory’ learning curve.
KIC is a technology company working to make reflow ovens smarter through thermal profiling automation, connectivity, and optimization solutions. With support offices across the globe, KIC is ready to become your partner in thermal process applications for electronics and semiconductor manufacturing. For more information, visit https://kicthermal.com.
Move toward the future of Smart Factory integration with Wave Process Inspection, gaining line connectivity, flexible production, traceability, data analytics, process transparency/control, and real-time insight. For more information about KIC, visit www.kicthermal.com
With 2021 behind us, the world is expected to see some alleviation in chip crunch at least in the second half of 2022. While dozens of new fabs that start production in the next few years may result in a rebalancing of demands and supplies, many are seeing a golden era for the semiconductor industry in the years ahead. "This is just a true renaissance period for the industry," said Mark Edelstone, chairman of Morgan Stanley's global semiconductor investment banking, said in an online forum hosted by Silicon Catalyst, a semiconductor startup accelerator in California. Having taken 15 semiconductor companies public and over decades of the semiconductor industry and investment banking experience, Edelstone said the demand for chips has changed from a very computer-centric world to a very pervasive and encompassing one. New demands from artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, industry 4.0, autonomous vehicles and robots, gaming AR/VR, smart home, mobile device, cloud/datacenter, and 5G communications, are forecasted to push the size of the semiconductor market to US$1 trillion by the end of this decade, from the US$553 billion estimated by World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) for 2021, up 25.6% year-on-year.
BERLIN, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Daimler (DAIGn.DE) Chief Technology Officer Markus Schaefer said the luxury carmaker expects chip supply to remain scarce throughout 2022, particularly in the first half of the year. "Chip scarcity will also accompany us in 2022, particularly in the first half," Schaefer said to a journalists roundtable.
"We do not expect significant production capacity increases in the first half of the year ... these will barely come in the full year," he said. Daimler, soon to be renamed Mercedes-Benz, produced 23.9% fewer cars in October 2021 than the previous year and 21.8% less in November, mirroring a production drop as carmakers worldwide struggle to get their hands on enough chips to meet demand.
Reporting by Victoria Waldersee, Editing by Miranda Murray Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Reuters
The Kester brand of MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions, a global supplier of integrated solutions from our Circuitry, Assembly and Semiconductor divisions that provides unmatched capabilities in electronics design and manufacturing, is proud to announce a partnership with Proactive Process Solutions Group, LLC.
Proactive Process Solutions Group is a manufacturers’ rep firm with 150 years of collective experience in the electronics manufacturing industry. They will serve as the manufacturers’ representative for Kester products in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.
“We look forward to this partnership as we know Proactive Process Solutions Group will present Kester products and solutions to our end users through a consultative selling process and with the ability to target specific product and customer categories,” stated Keith Furr, Regional Sales Manager.
“We are excited to be a part of the Kester team once again,” said David Seay, Proactive Process Solutions Group Owner/President. “With over 30 plus years supporting Kester, we have the knowledge and experience to hit the ground running. We are equally excited about introducing Kester’s new products, including the ALPHA HiTech portfolio of adhesives, underfills, edgebond and encapsulant materials, to our assembly market distributors and end customer base.”
For additional information about Kester’s products and solutions, visit Kester.com. For further information on Proactive Process Solutions, visit proactivepsg.com.
Aurora Il: Dr. Chris Kalmus, Owner and President of Aurora Circuit announced that his company has a earned their AS-9100 Certification.
When making the announcement, Dr. Kalmus said, “ I am so proud of our team here at Aurora Circuits. This accomplishment is a true testament to all of the hard work everybody has done in the past few year. We had a number of options of which certification to pursue and decided on AS 9100 because it is actually a true process control certification providing us with a great system on which to run all facets of our company. Earning our AS 9100 certification is a great way to end 2021 better yet kick of 2022.”
www.auroracircuits.com
Walkme.com found that artificial intelligence takes the number one spot, with an estimated 175,837 online articles written about the technology from January to November 2021 – the equivalent of 526 online articles per day!
Machine learning is in second place - approximately 103,508 online articles were published about the technology between January to November 2021.
In third place is virtual reality (VR), with an estimated 64,509 online articles written about the immersive technology from January to November 2021.
Augmented reality (34,632), quantum computing (32,548) and cloud computing (28,874) each had over 28,000 online articles centred around them between January to November 2021, respectively ranking fourth, fifth and sixth.
At the other end in tenth position is edge computing. The distributed computing paradigm tech had 7,433 online articles written about it from January to November 2021.
Rafael Sweary, President and Co-Founder of Walkme.com commented on the research:
“With the pervasiveness of AI, it’s no wonder it’s one of the most discussed technologies today. Take another widely discussed topic, the Great Resignation, and sure enough, there’s an AI use-case tied to it.
AI can help understand how humans interact with software and proactively recommend ways to improve the user experience, with actions that can be taken immediately. It’s a win for businesses, who can glean valuable data regarding technology usage and understand where the end-users are having issues. And it’s a win for the employee, who can quickly navigate the company’s tech stack, and not have to struggle with onboarding or training - especially remotely. Everything is done automatically, powered by AI and machine learning to extract data.”
The Methodology:
Walkme.com utilised reputable sources ‘ITProPortal’ and ‘Forbes’ to generate a seed list of the technologies which are set to transform the way people live and work in the next few years. The seed list of reviewed/considered technologies included: artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, virtual reality (VR), quantum computing, cloud computing, robotic process automation (RPA), augmented reality (AR), 5G, digital twins, edge computing, smart contracts, 3D printing, 4D printing, nanotechnology, voice interfaces/chatbots and human augmentation – 16 in total. Once a comprehensive list of emerging technologies was drawn up, Walkme.com assessed each technology in the Buzzsumo database to identify approximately how many online articles were published about them. The data range of January to November 2021 was used to represent the year of 2021 because November 2021 was the last available month for the latest data. Once the data for each analysed technology was collected, a ranking system organised the results from highest to lowest based on the number of online articles written about each technology. The top ten technologies are presented in the final table above. To account for the different ways in which online articles are published, Walkme.com considered all naming and reference variations, e.g. ‘artificial intelligence’, AI’, ‘5G’, ‘5G network/5G communication’ and more. Additionally, to increase the reliability of results the names of the reviewed technologies were translated into 13 foreign languages which included: Spanish, Portuguese, French, Turkish, German, Italian, Polish, Romanian, Dutch, Greek, Czech, Swedish, and Ukrainian – these languages were considered because they are among the most spoken/written languages in the world and the Buzzsumo database had the capabilities to accurately understand the translations for the listed foreign languages. Whilst there are other foreign languages such as Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Russian and Bengali which are widely spoken/written, they were excluded from the research because the Buzzsumo database did not have the capabilities to accurately assess translations in these respective foreign languages.
A prototype "lickable" TV screen which can mimic food flavours has been developed by a Japanese professor, Reuters reports.
Dubbed Taste-the-TV, ten canisters spray flavour onto a "hygienic film" which is rolled over the screen for the viewer to lick.
Professor Homei Miyashita of Meiji University, suggested it could be used to train cooks or sommeliers remotely,
If made commercially, the TV would cost $875 (£735), he estimated.
"The goal is to make it possible for people to have the experience of something like eating at a restaurant on the other side of the world, even while staying at home," he told Reuters.
He is reportedly in talks with manufacturers about other possible applications of the flavour-spraying technology, such as adding flavours to toast.
Conventional oscilloscopes are not able to accurately measure readings related to the electric field of light particularly due to high speeds of light wave oscillations that are in the order of several gigahertz.
Such high speeds enable the coverage of the entire radio frequency and microwave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing higher speeds for transmitting information.
Although existing oscilloscopes can measure light field signals associated with ‘pulses’ of light, measuring their peaks and valleys is, however, not possible.
So to help in the extraction of information from the above parameters, a research team at the University of Central Florida (UCF) has developed an optical oscilloscope that can convert light oscillations into electrical signals with ease, much like hospital monitors that convert a patient’s heartbeat into electrical oscillation.
“Fibre optic communications have taken advantage of light to make things faster, but we are still functionally limited by the speed of the oscilloscope,” says Michael Chini, physics associate professor at UCF. “Our optical oscilloscope may be able to increase that speed by a factor of about 10,000.”
Designed and developed at the Laboratory for Ultrafast Metrology and Attoscience in Solids (LUMAS) that Prof Chini heads, the device has the capability for real-time measurement of the electric fields of individual laser pulses.
The next step for the team is to see how far they can push the speed limits of the technique.
Full press release: https://www.electronicsforu.com/news/whats-new/optical-oscilloscope-change-communication-technologies
Delta Electronics, Inc. (later referred to as “Delta”), a global leading provider of smart energy-saving solutions, today announced the agreement to acquire, through its subsidiary Delta International Holding Limited B.V., UI Acquisition Holding Co., owner of Universal Instruments Corporation and its worldwide branches and subsidiaries for an estimated amount of US$88.9 million (approx. NT$2,471,420 thousand)**. Universal Instruments, a global leader in precision automation solutions for smart manufacturing, boasts a lineage of over 100 years and provides precision automation solutions to world-leading customers in a broad range of fields, including automotive, computing, medical, industrial, as well as printed circuit board surface mount placement and odd-form insertion. The transaction is expected to generate substantial synergies by leveraging both companies’ R&D and global customer base and to strengthen Delta’s smart manufacturing capabilities for the electronics industry.
Mr. Ping Cheng, Delta’s chief executive officer, said, “Universal Instruments has built a remarkable track record and long-lasting customer relationships in the electronics manufacturing field, which is a key focus of Delta’s industrial automation business. Furthermore, by adding Universal’s precision automation machine offering and leading technologies to our highly diversified industrial automation portfolio, we can offer customers total solutions capable of enhancing the productivity and carbon footprint of their production lines. Universal Instruments’ rich experiences in standard automation machines will also enhance Delta’s product development processes. We look forward to cooperating deeply with Universal Instruments to accelerate the development of Delta’s next-generation smart manufacturing solutions.”
Jean-Luc Pelissier, Universal’s chief executive officer, commented “Delta has been a long term customer partner of Universal Instruments, and we are privileged to now be part of the Delta family. Delta’s global scale, strong presence in Asia, smart manufacturing prowess, and deep understanding of electronics automation needs supports our technology development and growth strategy. This unique combination will expand our scalability, improve our global reach, and also complement our supply chain and manufacturing footprint, thereby greatly benefiting all our customers.”
Throughout its 100-year history, Conklin, NY-based Universal Instruments has devoted itself to technological innovation and development, reflected in its 500+ patent portfolio and close to 30,000 systems delivered to date. The Company offers Precision Automation solutions for advanced applications requiring high accuracy, high-speed handling, assembly, and inspection. In addition, Universal Instruments developed its Advanced Process Lab (APL) platform, which assists customers in each phase of the products’ lifecycle (prototyping, process development, analytics, and advanced assembly).
Following the aforementioned transaction, Universal Instruments shall continue operating under the leadership of its original management team.
** The closing of the transaction is subject to satisfaction of certain closing conditions in the Purchase Agreement.
Firstronic announced that on Dec. 16, it signed an exclusive agreement with LACROIX which increases LACROIX’s equity stake from 12.5 percent to 62 percent. Subject to the usual conditions precedent, this transaction will be carried out in co-investment with Bpifrance, which will take a 26 percent stake in Firstronic through its International Build-Up Fund.
The current management team will remain in place. John Sammut, who has helmed Firstronic since 2011, will remain Firstronic’s CEO and retain a 4 percent stake in the Company, while Jochen Lipp, COO since 2013, will take a 3 percent stake in the Company.
"We could not be happier with this agreement. We are very familiar with LACROIX teams, and LACROIX and Firstronic are joining forces to create a global leader in EMS, which makes perfect sense from both an industrial and financial point of view. I am excited for us to start working together to solidify the excellent growth opportunities that lie ahead,” said Sammut.
"We have had a stake in Firstronic for almost four years now, during which time we have been able to observe the commitment and know-how of Firstronic’s teams and the strong potential synergies between our respective entities. Together with keeping in place a highly experienced management team, which has been able to grow the business at a rapid pace, these elements convinced us that a combination would be mutually beneficial. Proud of the opportunities afforded by a first acquisition such as this on US soil that is as structural as it is historic, we look forward to welcoming Firstronic’s teams within the Group and with them, creating a global leader in industrial IoT solutions and electronic devices for critical applications," said Vincent Bedouin, LACROIX CEO.
LACROIX has made international development one of the pillars of its Leadership 2025 plan, with the objective of strengthening its presence, particularly through acquisitions, in the strategic markets of the United States and Germany. Its involvement with Firstronic began in 2017 when the Group purchased a minority stake and subsequently increased to 12.5 percent, prior to this current transaction.
Founded in 1980, Firstronic is an electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider serving customers in the automotive, industrial and healthcare sectors in North America. With approximately 1,300 employees, the company has two production sites in Michigan and Mexico.
The acquisition of FIrstronic strengthens LACROIX's global position in sectors that are increasingly demanding electronic solutions. It is also extremely relevant from both an operational and financial point of view, as it is in line with the Group's strategic ambition to establish a strong industrial base in North America and complete an industrial network with a multi-continent reach. It also creates a solid foundation for accelerating the development of LACROIX's various activities within the USMCA region.
As Firstronic and LACROIX complement each other in terms of customers and respective locations, the combination of LACROIX and Firstronic aims to create a global leader in EMS. The synergies of this pairing include achievement of the critical size enabling cross selling and supporting major customers in Europe and North America with an optimal number of manufacturing facilities, geographical diversification for both companies and a very strong potential for economies of scale in purchasing activities and service delivery.
The operational relevance of the combination is complemented by a particularly attractive financial profile. Under the leadership of John Sammut, Firstronic has been generating double-digit sales growth over the last few years, together with significantly increased margins. Strong growth is expected across both indicators for the 2021 financial year with a trajectory of $140 million in revenue and EBITDA above 9 percent, with a forecast for over $200 million in revenue for 2022.
Dow (NYSE: Dow) will preview its latest silicone technologies for advanced semiconductor packaging at SEMICON Taiwan 2021 in Booth #I2616. These next-generation silicone-organic hybrid adhesives, silicone hotmelt solutions and silicone die-attach films (DAF) deliver improved performance, durability, uniformity and processability vs. traditional organics. Dow's high-performance technologies are engineered to address top trends in advanced semiconductor packaging, including ever-thinner, smaller and more-complex designs, by mitigating stress from mismatched coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) that can cause warpage. They also provide greater durability and reliability for applications exposed to harsh environmental conditions in industries such as aerospace and automotive electronics.
Pneumatic spray gun is used to apply ultraviolet-cure conformal coating (3-6714 UV Conformal Coating or 3-6748 UV Conformal Coating) to an electronic circuitboard.
Indium Corporation is pleased to announce that Brian O’Leary has accepted a new role as Global Head of e-Mobility & Infrastructure in addition to his current position as Global Accounts Manager.
In addition to his existing responsibilities, O’Leary now identifies and develops focused account strategies and manages a sales funnel for e-Mobility which includes, but is not limited to, electric cars, trucks, and charging stations. He works closely with regional sales, tech, product management, and R&D to develop branding and marketing strategies for this fast-growing marketing segment.
“At Indium Corporation, we believe that materials science changes the world—I am especially excited for the opportunity to become part of the change EV, e-mobility, and its supportive infrastructure will have on the world for generations to come,” O’Leary said.
O’Leary joined Indium Corporation in 2014, bringing with him more than 20 years of global electronics industry experience. Previously, he served as General Manager of International Sales at KIC, a privately held manufacturer of thermal measurement tools for reflow and wave soldering in the SMT and through-hole industries. O’Leary earned a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and international business from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s degree in international management with focused studies in international marketing & finance, China, and Southeast Asia from Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is proficient in several languages, has co-authored two books on surface mount technology, and has been invited to speak at several SMTA conferences.
Cooperation concluded with British market and innovation leader in battery production for mobility sector Order includes machines for assembling lithium-ion battery cells Total order volume of more than EUR 70 million for first expansion phase, further projects already in the planning stage High market demand for Manz's technology expertise Signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to further expand strategic cooperation
Manz AG, a globally active high-tech engineering company with a comprehensive technology portfolio, is consistently continuing its strategy of partnership-based growth. As part of a closed cooperation, the company has been assigned by UK battery cell technology developer and manufacturer Britishvolt to implement the first expansion stage for cell-assembly of a production line for the manufacture of lithium-ion battery cells in Northumberland, Northern England.
As part of this lighthouse project, Manz already provided support throughout the planning phase of the new production facility at the Cambois site in the Northeast of England. The project is based on an innovative and forward-looking concept that allows a high degree of flexibility and can also be adapted for future market requirements of cell formats and geometries.
This strategy significantly improves the performance and cost efficiency of production. Thanks to simultaneous engineering, Manz AG is able to map the entire manufacturing process for Britshvolt's battery cells within a short period of time using customized equipment technology for the assembly of the cylindrical cells. The effects of this approach on time-to-market are correspondingly positive: delivery of the production systems is scheduled for 2023, with production to start as early as the end of the same year. For this first expansion stage with a production capacity of 4 GWh, the order volume is over EUR 70 million. The project will have an impact on sales and earnings in 2022 and 2023.
In a jointly signed Memorandum of Understanding, the two companies also agree to further expand their strategic cooperation in order to be able to implement the ambitious growth plans of Britishvolt quickly and efficiently. Within the framework of the cooperation, the realization of further lines for cylindrical and prismatic cells is planned both in England and in Canada. These are intended to increase Britishvolt's total production capacity to well over 100 GWh.
Martin Drasch, CEO of Manz AG: "The dynamics in the e-mobility market is rapidly picking up pace. In view of the large number of announced projects in Europe for battery lines, it is only a matter of time before the mechanical engineering sector reaches its limits in terms of development and production capacities. With the investment in the English location in the county of Northumberland, Britishvolt is now securing the resources required for its growth strategy from us in time. With our many years of experience in the development of innovative production concepts and solutions for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries, we are an internationally sought-after partner. Our cooperation with Britishvolt is an outstanding example of this. Together, we are striving to make production more sustainable overall and significantly reduce total cost of ownership by consistently reducing energy consumption and a continuously automated process optimization through the use of artificial intelligence. We are very proud that we were able to convince Britishvolt of our capabilities and look forward to growing together with our new partner in the coming years."
Britishvolt has rapidly become a battery cell innovation driver in the UK. As such, the company plans to act as a contributing factor to help sustain the domestic automotive industry by building gigawatt capacity as the world races to zero in the age of electrification.
Timon Orlob, Britishvolt Global Chief Operating Officer: “Britishvolt aims to become a clean technology leader in ...
Taipei based, Delta Electronics has anounced it’s intention to acquire Universal Instruments Corporation for $89 million dollars. The company plans to continue to operate the company independently with the existing management team. In separate statements Mr. Ping Cheng, Delta’s chief executive officer, said, “Universal Instruments has built a remarkable track record and long-lasting customer relationships in the electronics manufacturing field, which is a key focus of Delta’s industrial automation business. Furthermore, by adding Universal’s precision automation machine offering and leading technologies to our highly diversified industrial automation portfolio, we can offer customers total solutions capable of enhancing the productivity and carbon footprint of their production lines. Universal Instruments’ rich experiences in standard automation machines will also enhance Delta’s product development processes. We look forward to cooperating deeply with Universal Instruments to accelerate the development of Delta’s next-generation smart manufacturing solutions.” Jean-Luc Pelissier, Universal’s chief executive officer, commented “Delta has been a long term customer partner of Universal Instruments, and we are privileged to now be part of the Delta family. Delta’s global scale, strong presence in Asia, smart manufacturing prowess, and deep understanding of electronics automation needs supports our technology development and growth strategy. This unique combination will expand our scalability, improve our global reach, and also complement our supply chain and manufacturing footprint, thereby greatly benefiting all our customers.”
Isola Group, a global innovator in materials for printed-circuit boards (PCBs), has announced its low-loss I-Tera® MT40 circuit materials supporting multilayer printed circuit boards (PCBs) for military- and commercial-grade low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. The laminates and prepreg materials are suitable for high-density-interconnect (HDI) multilayer assemblies that must meet demanding military size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements for LEO satellite payloads. The circuit materials are available in the form of I-Tera MT40 laminates and prepreg materials for high-speed-digital (HSD) circuit applications and I-Tera MT40 (RF/MW) laminates for high-frequency RF and microwave (MW) circuits through W-band frequencies.
Straightforward processing methods and manufacturing steps are used to fabricate single-, dual-, and multilayer circuits as well as HDI builds with I-TERA MT40 circuit materials in contrast to the complex and lengthy PCB fabrication processes required with other commonly used high-speed/high-frequency circuit materials such as PTFE. The ease of manufacturing reduces wear on machine tools, fabrication time, and assembly costs.
I-TERA MT40 (RF/MW) laminates maintain a dielectric constant (Dk) of 3.38, 3.45, 3.60, and 3.75 in the z-axis (thickness). The Dk remains stable over a wide temperature range, from -40 to +140°C. The laminates feature low loss at high frequencies, with a dissipation factor (Df) as low as 0.0028. They do not require any special thruhole treatments when forming multilayer circuits and HDIs, and support both HSD, RF/MW, and hybrid mixed-signal circuits. Laminates and prepregs are available in standard thicknesses and panel sizes, with standard copper weights of 0.5 to 2.0 oz. (and custom weights), with the light weight and durability required for critical military LEO satellite payloads.
For improved circuit reliability conformal coatings play an extremely important role. They help to protect electronics from moisture, debris, corrosion and add mechanical stability to reduce failures within harsh environments. It is therefore important that they are applied correctly. An important step in the process is accurate inspection but this can often prove difficult due to the transparent nature of the coatings. Koh Young has found a solution to the problem with the introduction of Neptune C+, the industry’s first true 3D in-line Dispense Process Inspection (DPI) solution. The new system is now available from Altus Group, a leading distributor of capital equipment, who are already seeing great interest in the innovative technology.
“Koh Young’s Neptune C+ is a real game changer when it comes to conformal coating inspection,” said Anthony Oh, Altus Applications Manager.
“As the industry’s first true 3D optical measurement solution for transparent material inspection it solves a long-standing industry challenge. Unlike traditional laser-confocal and electron microscopes that can only measure three-dimensional shapes, Neptune C+ delivers non-destructive 3D inspection to precisely measure wet/dry fluids. Importantly it also has the capability to quickly measure material thickness which 2D inspection simply can’t do.
“Not only does it offer true 3D profiling and superior performance, but it has high throughput and simple intuitive programing to ensure production speed is not affected.
“Since its launch in November we have received unprecedented enquiries from electronics manufacturers who can instantly see the benefits in Neptune C+ and how it will improve inspection processes. We expect this to continue to be a popular option in 2022!”
Neptune C+ uses Koh Young’s advanced L.I.F.T. technology (Laser Interferometry for Fluid Tomography). Based on low-coherence interferometry, LIFT employs Near-Infrared Light (NIR) to capture images through multiple layers of a fluidic structure regardless of transparency.
With its integrated flipper, intuitive programming, and machine learning algorithms, it allows manufacturers to explore the depths of its process using 2D, 3D, and cross-section views to accurately identify defects at full production speed.
With advanced algorithms to teach inspection parameters, Neptune accurately measures materials for coverage, thickness, and consistency using a user-defined threshold setting. It also inspects bubbles, cracks, and other defects.
Neptune C+ also measures underfill, epoxy, bonding, and more to deliver an accurate measurement of transparent, translucent, and pigmented materials. The system is currently suited for acrylic, silicone, polyurethane, water-based, UV-cure, and hybrid coatings.
www.altusgroup.co.uk
(Reuters) - Chipmaking equipment supplier BE Semiconductor (BESI) on Monday lowered its fourth-quarter revenue outlook due to flooding affecting its main production facility in Malaysia.
The maker of semiconductor assembly and packaging equipment said that torrential rains affected its main production facility in Shah Alam in Malaysia and halted the assembly of products with a value of around 25 million euros ($28 million).
"First estimates of one-time costs associated with materials and labor necessary to repair or reproduce any systems affected are in the range of 4-6 million euros and will be taken as a charge to fourth quarter earnings," the group said in a statement.
BESI said it did not expect estimated costs to repair the affected building and production related equipment to exceed 2 million euros.
Malaysian emergency services, reinforced by civilian volunteers, on Sunday rescued 21,000 people displaced by flooding from torrential rain in seven states. read more
The company now forecasts around a 15-20% fall in fourth-quarter revenue versus the third quarter compared with prior guidance of a decrease of 5-15%.
But BESI said it expected its fourth-quarter orders to reach around 180-190 million euros, up from 157.3 million euros recorded in the fourth quarter of last year.
BESI shares were down 4.6% to 70.32 euros at 1358 GMT.
The company was not immediately available to comment which of its customers could be affected by the floods.
Malaysia and Vietnam reopened around September, allowing manufacturers to resume production. Things are gradually turning around as vaccination rates rise, but with the virus still looming large, workers at the production lines are paying the price. According to Bloomberg, at least 20 workers at STMicroelectronoics Malaysia died from COVID-19 during the Delta outbreak. The production line was kept running at the height of the pandemic. The death rate at STMicro's plant in Muar was much higher than the national average across Malaysia, according to Bloomberg. https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20211209PD213.html?chid=10
CHENNAI, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Police in India have released dozens of those detained for blocking a key highway in a protest against food poisoning at a Foxconn (2317.TW) unit, the country's second instance of unrest at an Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier factory in a year. India is among the countries, such as Mexico and Vietnam, that are becoming increasingly important to contract manufacturers supplying American brands as they try to minimise the impact of the trade war between China and the United States. http://CHENNAI, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Police in India have released dozens of those detained for blocking a key highway in a protest against food poisoning at a Foxconn (2317.TW) unit, the country's second instance of unrest at an Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier factory in a year. India is among the countries, such as Mexico and Vietnam, that are becoming increasingly important to contract manufacturers supplying American brands as they try to minimise the impact of the trade war between China and the United States.
Mycronic AB (publ) has received an order for an SLX mask writer from an existing customer in Asia. The order value is in the range of USD 3-5 million. Delivery of the system is planned for the first quarter of 2023.
The SLX laser mask writer meets rising demand for photomasks for the semiconductor industry and a future need for replacement and modernization. Photomasks manufactured by laser mask writers are of high importance and account for 70-75 percent of all photomasks produced for semiconductor manufacturing. SLX is a new and modern mask writer based on the same technology as Mycronic’s mask writers for displays.
“We are very pleased with the continued interest in SLX. The system has been developed with sustainability in mind, combining performance and productivity with dramatically lowered energy consumption,” says Charlott Samuelsson, Sr VP Pattern Generators at Mycronic.
Mycronic provides mask writers for display manufacturing and production of semiconductors.
More Transparency for a Sustainable Future (Image: Rehm Thermal Systems).
Rehm Thermal Systems discloses effects on climate change via the CDP (formerly Carbon Disclosure Project)
Hardly any economic topic is as explosive as the area of energy. Regardless of whether it is a matter of competitiveness, social responsibility or cost savings: managing one's own energy requirements is one of the most necessary and at the same time most exciting challenges for every company today.
By disclosing its own environmental data to the CDP in 2021, Rehm Thermal Systems GmbH has demonstrated its commitment to corporate environmental transparency and thus made an important contribution to driving ecological change.
Save the Future: Commitment to nature and climate
The energy concept of the company from Blaubeuren - Seissen in the Swabian Alb combines efficient technologies and know-how with the requirements of a modern manufacturing company.
Tradition meets globalisation - with raw materials from suppliers in the region, Rehm Thermal Systems produces energy-efficient manufacturing equipment that has successfully established itself on the world market. Low material consumption, reliable recycling of recyclable materials as well as short transport routes through a production facility in Germany for the European market and another production site in China for the Asian market form the basis of the energy concept. This is the basis for high-quality, durable plants with low energy consumption and minimal emissions. This commitment benefits not only the environment, but also the customer!
Certified quality
Rehm Thermal Systems and its subsidiary Rehm BlechTec have been regularly certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001 since 2004. We also plan and design all machines to be CE-compliant in accordance with machinery directives. We are regularly certified in the energy audit according to DIN EN 16247-1 and have now set another milestone towards climate neutrality with the introduction of the environmental management system according to DIN EN ISO 14001:2015.
Transparency in environmental matters -
Rehm Thermal Systems is a member of the CDP
Rehm Thermal Systems GmbH discloses its impact on climate change and/or forests and/or water security through CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project), a global non-profit organisation that operates the world's leading platform for analysing and publishing environmental data. CDP drives companies and governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, secure water resources and protect forests. In 2021, more than 13,000 companies with over 64% of global market capitalisation made environmental data transparent through CDP. In addition, more than 1,100 cities, states and regions have contributed their data. This makes the CDP platform one of the richest sources of information worldwide on how companies and governments are driving environmental change.
Quote from David Lammers, Deputy Director Corporate Engagement, CDP Europe:
"The scientific consensus on the need for urgent action on climate change has never been clearer. And the ambition of this decade will determine how well we protect our natural resources and avoid the worst impacts of global climate change. As policymakers and businesses continue to develop strategies for environmental protection and a low-carbon transition, the availability of reliable and comparable data will remain crucial. By disclosing to CDP in 2021, Rehm Thermal Systems GmbH has demonstrated its commitment to corporate environmental transparency and made an important contribution to an economy that works for both people and the planet."
For more information on the CDP, please visit https://www.cdp.net
www.rehm-group.com
Pulsar solderability test system determines how well molten solder will wet on solderable surfaces of electronic components.
Hentec Industries/RPS Automation, a manufacturer of selective soldering, lead tinning and solderability test equipment, is pleased to announce that Rand Technology has purchased two Pulsar solderability systems. The Pulsar utilizes the highly proven dip-and-look test method that is a qualitative type test performed by comparative analysis after specimens are dipped in a bath of flux and molten solder. An advantage of the dip-and-look method is since it is based on comparative analysis it can be performed rapidly by shop floor personnel with minimal training as well as requiring significantly lower capital investment then a wetting balance test system. The Pulsar solderability test system complies with all applicable solderability test standards including MIL-STD-883 Method 2003, IPC J-STD-002 and MIL-STD-202 Method 208.
www.randtech.com
www.rpsautomation.com
Danutek, a distributor and service provider in the SMT manufacturing industry, has added to its team of technical experts in Hungary to enhance its support in Eastern European territories with the appointment of a new Sales Engineer.
As the company expands, a more comprehensive portfolio of technical equipment is being adopted requiring high levels of technical knowledge to maintain. Gabor Homolya has joined Danutek Hungary Kft. with over 20 years’ experience within the SMT sector.
Having worked for leading names in electronics manufacturing sector, and with extensive technical knowledge, Gabor is a well-known figure within the industry and will be a welcome addition to the team in Hungary.
Csaba Berta, General Manager Danutek Kft. said: “Gabor is well known to Altus and Danutek so to have him join the company is a great asset. Not only is he a great salesperson but he has extensive knowledge and technical know-how within the SMT sector.
“With the installation of more varied and highly technical equipment in Europe, we must ensure all enquiries are supported. Gabor is the ideal person to ensure our customers receive the very best project support possible and will help to give key customers a better understanding and overview of our extensive portfolio of equipment. He will be responsible for assisting customers with product selection, implementation and serve as one of the team’s technical sales experts.
“Gabor has the same objectives as Danutek and that is to ensure customers not only receive the very best capital equipment on the market, but also receive a customer experience that is second to none.”
Gabor’s appointment ends a year of great success for Danutek. The company has gone from strength to strength and by adding to the team, Danutek Hungary Kft. can ensure it provides a first-class service, installation, commissioning, training and applications support for the entire product range.
www.altusgroup.co.uk
Mycronic AB (publ) has appointed Johanna Jarl Senior Vice President Human Resources and member of the Corporate Management Team, joining no later than March 10, 2022.
Johanna Jarl’s current role is as Vice President and Head of HR Infrastructure Division at AFRY, where she has also held other leading roles in HR, strategy and talent management. Previous to that Johanna worked at SSAB, most recently as Director Strategy & Integration SSAB Europe Division and at Accenture as management consultant in Talent & Organization. Johanna has a MSc in Business and Economics from Uppsala University.
“It is gratifying to welcome Johanna to Mycronic and the role of Senior Vice President Human Resources. Johanna has a solid international background from leading positions in HR and strategy at global corporations and her drive, skills and experience will constitute a great addition to the Corporate Management Team”, says Anders Lindqvist, Mycronic’s President and CEO.
TAIPEI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - German supplier of chemicals and materials used in making semiconductors, Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE), announced on Tuesday it is to invest 500 million euros in Taiwan over the next five to seven years, primarily in semiconductor technologies. Merck said it would be its largest investment in Taiwan since it established operations there in 1989. https://www.TAIPEI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - German supplier of chemicals and materials used in making semiconductors, Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE), announced on Tuesday it is to invest 500 million euros in Taiwan over the next five to seven years, primarily in semiconductor technologies. Merck said it would be its largest investment in Taiwan since it established operations there in 1989.reuters.com/technology/german-chip-chemical-supplier-merck-invest-500-mln-euros-taiwan-2021-12-14/
This week, at the 2021 International Electron Devices Meeting (IEEE IEDM 2021), imec, a world-leading research and innovation center in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, presents the successful co-integration of high-performance Schottky barrier diodes and depletion-mode HEMTs on a p-GaN HEMT-based 200 V GaN-on-SOI smart power integrated circuits (ICs) platform developed on 200 mm substrates. The addition of these components enables the design of chips with extended functionality and increased performance that takes monolithically-integrated GaN power ICs one step further. The achievement paves the way towards smaller and more efficient DC/DC convertors and Point-of-Load convertors.
GaN power electronics are today still dominated by discrete components driven by an external driver IC that generates the switching signals. However, to take full advantage of the fast-switching speed GaN offers, monolithic integration of power devices and driver functions is recommended. Imec has already successfully demonstrated the monolithic co-integration of a half-bridge and drivers together with control and protection circuits that are key to an integrated all-GaN power IC in one chip.
One of the main hurdles to boost the full performance of GaN power ICs remains finding a suitable solution for the lack of p-channel devices in GaN with acceptable performance. CMOS technology uses complementary and more symmetrical pairs of p- and n-type field effect transistors (FETs), based on the mobilities of holes and electrons for both types of FETs. However, in GaN, the mobility of holes is about 60 times worse than that of electrons. That means that a p-channel device, where holes are the principal carriers, would be 60 times larger than the n-channel counterpart and highly inefficient. A widespread alternative is replacing the P-MOS by a resistor. Resistor-Transistor Logic (RTL) has been employed for GaN ICs but shows trade-offs between switching time and power consumption.
“We have improved the performance of GaN ICs by using a combination of enhancement-mode and depletion-mode switches, called e-mode and d-mode HEMTS. By extending our functional e-mode HEMT platform on SOI with co-integrated d-mode HEMTS, we can now take the step from RTL to direct-coupled FET logic which is expected to improve the speed and reduce the power dissipation of the circuits,” said Stefaan Decoutere, program director GaN power systems at imec.
Another important component for co-integration on GaN power ICs is a Schottky barrier diode. Compared to their silicon counterparts, GaN Schottky diodes combine higher blocking voltages with reduced switching losses. “We have successfully extended our 200 V GaN-on-SOI e-mode HEMT GaN ICs platform with monolithically-integrated high-performance Schottky barrier diodes and d-mode HEMTs which brings us a step closer to smart power ICs based on GaN. This GaN-IC platform is available for prototyping through our multi-project-wafer (MPW) service,” adds Stefaan Decoutere. “Our platform is ready for transfer to partners. We’re looking for foundries, but also design houses and end-users. The next step will be to develop and release a 650 Volt version of the platform. Target applications for GaN-on-SOI technology include high-voltage power switching and power conversion, fast chargers for mobile phones, tablets and laptops, and on-board chargers for electric cars, and invertors for solar panel connections to the grid”.
NOTE announces that the company's sales in the fourth quarter of 2021 are expected to amount to at least SEK 745 million, which corresponds to a growth of at least 60%. In addition, the operating margin is expected to exceed the record margin in the third quarter of 9.4%. Both sales and earnings are expected to exceed the market’s expectations.
Demand for NOTE's services remains at record levels in all domestic markets, especially in Sweden, UK and China. The strong sales development, especially in the Industrial and Greentech customer segments, is expected to result in that both the operating profit and operating margin from ordinary trading in Q4 will reach the highest level so far for a single quarter.
NOTE has sent out an invitation to a Capital Markets Day in Stockholm on Thursday 16 December. The meeting starts at 1:00 p.m. The Capital Markets Day will also be broadcasted live. To watch the webcast, right click on the link here and choose open link. A recording will be available afterwards on NOTE's websitewww.note-ems.com. No pre-registration is required to watch the webcast. The presentations will be in English.
For more information, please contact: Johannes Lind-Widestam, CEO and President, tel. +46 (0)70 541 7222 Henrik Nygren, CFO, tel. +46 (0)70 977 0686
www.note-ems.com
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 13 (Reuters) - American chip manufacturer Intel Corporation (INTC.O) will invest 30 billion ringgit ($7.10 billion) in a new, state-of-the-art facility, Malaysian authorities said on Monday. The Malaysian Investment Development Authority, in a media invitation, said Intel Corporation had chosen Malaysia to expand manufacturing capabilities for its advanced semiconductor packaging technologies in the northern state of Penang.
Reporting by Liz Lee; Editing by Martin Petty Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Dec 9 (Reuters) - U.S. officials are considering discussing a Defense Department proposal this month to close regulatory loopholes that have allowed Chinese chipmaker SMIC (0981.HK) to buy critical U.S. technology, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-considers-banning-key-exports-chinese-chipmaker-smic-wsj-2021-12-10/
Dec 9 (Reuters) - A $52 billion bill aimed at bolstering the U.S. semiconductor industry will include funding for chip design activities, a U.S. commerce department official told Reuters, addressing concerns the funds would mostly support manufacturing. The CHIPS Act, which passed the Senate as part of a larger package of funding in June, is meant to reverse a longstanding trend in which most chip manufacturing capacity has shifted to Taiwan, Korea and other parts of Asia. Chip industry advocates had hoped the bill would become law this year, though U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said this week the bill could slip to 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-chip-subsidies-will-support-design-activities-us-commerce-official-2021-12-10/
Indium Corporation is pleased to announce two key personnel updates to its European technical team.
Cristian Tudor has been promoted to the role of Senior Applications Engineer and Ângelo Marques has been appointed Design for Excellence (DfX) Specialist in addition to his current role as an Applications Engineer.
“At Indium Corporation, we are proud to offer career opportunities that allow our employees to learn, grow, and find their perfect fit within the company,” said Brian Craig, managing director of Indium Corporation’s European operations. “I am proud of Ângelo and Cristian’s accomplishments and their ability to assist our customers across Europe.”
Marques’ expertise in automotive electronics, especially in DfX for stencils, PCBs, and complex components, continues to help Indium Corporation's customers shorten DV / PV (design validation / production validation) lifecycles and launch earlier into SOP (Start of Production) with optimized manufacturing processes with reduced defects and increased yields. In addition to his new role as DfX Specialist, Marques continues to provide technical support, share process knowledge, and make recommendations for the use of Indium Corporation’s materials in PCBA throughout Europe’s Latin region as an Applications Engineer. An Indium Corporation employee since 2017, Marques possesses over 25 years of automotive electronics experience in new product introduction and process optimization. He has a Six Sigma Green Belt and is an IPC 610 certified trainer.
Tudor joined Indium Corporation as an applications engineer in 2000. Based in Romania, he uses his 20 plus years of technical expertise to provide PCBA support and process knowledge in Europe’s east region. Tudor works on customer production lines, communicating face-to-face with production and engineering staff to optimize their processes. Tudor is a Certified SMT Process Engineer, earned his Six Sigma Green Belt from Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering, and earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Technical University Politehnica of Timişoara in Romania.
Improved automatic acquisition of large volumes of data contributes to increased throughput
Hitachi High-Tech Corporation ("Hitachi High-Tech") announced today the launch of two cutting-edge FE-SEM(1) models, the SU8600 and SU8700 (hereinafter, "this product line"), that feature new detectors, capabilities, advanced automation, and more. This class of instrumentation is used to observe, measure, define and analyze microstructures across a wide range of fields including semiconductors, life sciences and materials development. To be effective in such fields today, data-driven research and development requiring the acquisition of large data sets is necessary. Therefore, this product line has been designed to support the rapid acquisition of large, high-quality data sets and reduce the effort required by operators through the utilization of next-generation automation.
Background in the Development of the SU8600 and SU8700
FE-SEMs in general are powerful instruments that provide not only high resolution images, but also a plethora of analytical, compositional, and morphological information. These SEMs are used in a wide range of fields including nanotechnology, semiconductors, electronics, life sciences, materials science, and more. Thus, with today's ever expanding application fields, including Materials Integration(2), the need to acquire large amounts of data in a short amount of time with minimal input has become crucial. To address this need, Hitachi has re-envisioned and transformed the implementation of automated functions as well as the design of hardware components in order to support the acquisition of superb data in vast quantities with the utmost efficiency.
Features of the SU8700 and SU8600
The SU8600 utilizes an ultra-stable cold-field emission source to enable exceptional low-energy imaging for fine structural analysis as well as high-resolution observation of beam sensitive materials like polymers. Conversely, the SU8700 employs a Schottky field-emission source to better address analytical requirements requiring high probe currents such as EBSD(3) analysis on ceramics or metals.
This product line has the following key features:
- Automatic Data Acquisition
Traditionally, FE-SEM operators have been required to change and adjust observation conditions on case-by-case basis according to the object or analytical goal. The amount of time it takes to make these adjustments depends on the operator's proficiency and can lead to variations in data quality as well as throughput. Both the SU8600 and SU8700 now integrate functionality to automate many of these adjustment processes, creating simple, stable, high-throughput and repeatable operation.
Additionally, as the capability of equipment increases, so does volume of data required and manually collecting these substantial amounts of data can translate to more work for operators.
To address this point, the SU8600 and SU8700 can be equipped with an optional "EM Flow Creator" feature, which enables automatic data acquisition according to user-specific conditions and steps. This allows large-scale data sets to be acquired easily, efficiently, and automatically.
- More Information = Better Results
A multitude of signals can be obtained from almost any SEM, however, this product line permits the display as well as capture of up to six detector signals simultaneously, allowing operators to collect more information in less time.
Field of view (FOV) is important for maximizing data acquisition and resolution; therefore, the maximum number of pixels has been expanded(4) to 40,960 x 30,720 pixels, which is 64 times that of existing models(5)! This feature enables detailed evaluation of numerous regions of interest and localized microstructures using just a single image.
- Enhanced Signal Detection Capabilities
New optional detectors have been developed for the SU8600 to enhance the observation of topographical and cathode luminescence information. Also,
AIM Solder, a leading global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, is pleased to announce the implementation of the new AIM Specialty Materials website, which can be found at AIMspecialty.com. The newly designed website offers the ultimate user-friendly experience with easy navigation and functionality.
Created with the customer in mind, the site includes many features to help users quickly navigate all the products and services AIM Specialty has to offer. In addition to extensive product information, visitors will find Technical and Safety Data Sheets, troubleshooting guides, and applications advice.
“The new AIM Specialty website reinforces our commitment to deliver incredible experiences to our customers every day,” said Brian O’Neill, Business Line Manager Speciality Sales. “The launch will make it easier for our customers to access the information they need at the click of a button.”
Visit www.AIMspecialty.com for more information.
Joe Benz, Director of Operations at Intervala says “customers stop at the Koh Young AOI and run through the features, it gives them a warm and fuzzy confident feeling.” This is just one of the phrases the team at Intervala use in this latest case study proudly released by Koh Young, the industry leader in True 3D measurement-based inspection solutions. Intervala is a Pittsburgh-based EMS provider that prides itself on combining the latest innovations with decades of experience and knowledge to fuel their growth and deliver customer satisfaction.
The bond between Koh Young and Intervala has been solid from the start, plus the fact that both companies have similar outlooks and ideals has made that bond all the stronger. The case study covers many reasons that Intervala and Koh Young have become partners and that Intervala relies on Koh Young for all their inspection needs. It also covers the lengths that partners go to when help is needed.
Following a catastrophic flood at an Intervala facility on Christmas Eve, Koh Young received the call for help and responded immediately. Intervala’s first SMT line was back up and running in a new temporary location just five days after the incident. More lines were installed and running before the new year and within 13 days of the flood, all of Intervala’s inspection equipment was operating at full tilt again.
Intervala is an impressive business that really understands where value comes from in terms of using the data derived from their inspection systems to drive better process and business performance. You can read the hard numbers in terms of improvement, as well as understanding where Koh Young is able to deliver on every part of the engagement, now and in the future.
Joe Benz concludes, “the presence of Koh Young on the factory floor has been a real gamechanger, and for our customers it is a differentiator that gives them the confidence that we are able to deliver the quality and consistency they need and expect.” Read the full story at kohyoungamerica.com/case-studies.
To learn more about how our solutions boost your quality, visit us at the IPC APEX Expo in Booths 1717 (Koh Young booth), 1707 (IPC Factory of the Future Pavilion), or Booth 3815 (Poster Session on IPC-CFX) during 25-27 January 2022 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. You can register to attend the in-person conference and exposition at ipcapexexpo.org/registration/2022-registration-options.
Koh Young America is excited to reconnect and collaborate in-person, while ensuring COVID safety protocols are implemented and upheld for your health and ours. If you cannot attend the show, you can still learn more about our best-in-class inspection solutions at our regional website kohyoungamerica.com.
Productronics Assembly BV located in Weert (the Netherlands) has significantly expanded its production capacity and selected the BLC620i in-line vapor phase machine from IBL for their reflow soldering process.
One Stop Shop
The company was founded in 2017 by a dynamic team that build up its experience working at Philips Research and Philips Innovation Services. Productronics develops and manufactures electronics for different applications and sectors which allows them to offer their services as a One-Stop-Shop with maximum attention to the customer.
Thanks to the dynamic approach, the company has experienced tremendous growth in recent years and moved to a new location with a larger production hall, which they have equipped with new production machines including the fully automatic in-line vapor phase machine of IBL
Soldering Quality
One of the most important processes that determines both the durability and longevity of an electronic product is the solder quality.
“We have had many years of positive experience using the IBL vapor phase machines and this technology is without a doubt the best for our reflow soldering process," said Carlo Aan den Boom, Technical Director at Productronics. "Our choice of IBL is based on the quality construction and robustness of the machines that give us the long-term reliability that is indispensable for our production and is aligned with our vision. In addition, as a local IBL distributor, Smd-Tec is a very reliable partner that thinks with us and provides a professional service.”
The bases for the development of IBL machines is the focus on ensuring the best reflow soldering results through vapor phase where homogeneous heating in an oxygen-free environment ensures perfect results. Numerous patented technologies including a vibration-free transport system, Rapid Cooling System and Intelligent Profiling System make this a unique and low maintenance machine that can be used in both standalone and fully automatic inline versions.
More info on Productronics, Smd-Tec and IBL via www.productronics.nl | www.smd-tec.be | www.ibl-tech.com
Infineon Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. acquired Syntronixs Asia Sdn. Bhd., a Melaka-based electroplating company. Founded in 2006, Syntronixs Asia has a workforce of more than 500 people and has been a major service provider for Infineon since 2009. The company specializes in precision electroplating, a key process in the assembly process of semiconductors, which is required to ensure high quality and long-term reliability of Infineon’s products.
“Infineon is committed to taking the necessary steps to continuously enhance our global manufacturing footprint,” said Alexander Gorski, Executive Vice President, who is responsible for Infineon’s global Backend Operations. Dr. Thomas Kaufmann, Executive Vice President and COO of Infineon’s Automotive Division, said: “Through this acquisition, we have made another important step to strengthen the resilience of our supply chain”.
Infineon maintains 13 backend sites worldwide, the largest of them located in Melaka. The parties agreed not to disclose the purchase price.
infineon.com
Marko Gerlach appointed Chief Financial Officer
3D-Micromac AG, the industry leader in laser micromachining and roll-to-roll laser systems for the semiconductor, photovoltaic (PV), medical device and electronics markets, announces that its management board has appointed Marko Gerlach to the role of chief financial officer effective immediately. As CFO, Marko Gerlach is responsible for the areas of accounting and controlling at 3D-Micromac AG. The previous interim CFO, Frank Jäger, will remain with 3D-Micromac AG for a period of time to help ensure a smooth transition before leaving the company.
Marko Gerlach was born in 1980. He began his professional career in tax consulting and auditing. For approximately 10 years, he provided services to small- and medium-sized companies in the fields of annual audits, management consulting and all tax matters.
Since 2009, Marko Gerlach has held various management positions within the Jenoptik Group. He built up the group audit department and was responsible for this function. In this role, he supported numerous group initiatives in the areas of process optimization and corporate governance. In recent years, he was responsible for Jenoptik's operational accounting in Germany, which was centralized under his leadership.
„We are very pleased to appoint Marko Gerlach, an experienced financial expert, as chief financial officer. With his extensive expertise and leadership skills, we are certain to have a strong new member of our management board,“ stated Uwe Wagner, CEO of 3D-Micromac AG.
https://3d-micromac.com/
World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) expects the worldwide semiconductor market growth to rise from 6.8% in 2020 to an outstanding 25.6% in the year 2021, reports the European Semiconductor Industry Association (ESIA). The increase corresponds to a market size of US$ 553 billion. This will be the biggest step-up since a 31.8% increase in 2010, eleven years ago.
The semiconductor market overall was not negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Robust consumer demand pushed all major product categories to double-digit growth- rates, except Optoelectronics. The largest growth contributors are Memory with 34.6%, followed by Analog with 30.9% and Logic with 27.3%.
In 2021, all geographical regions are expected to show a double-digit growth. The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow 26.7%. Europe is expected to recover totally in 2021 and is expected to show a market increase of 25.6%. The Americas are expected to show a growth of 24.6%, and Japan 19.5%.
Worldwide semiconductor market growth is expected to grow further in 2022
For 2022, the global semiconductor market is projected to grow by 8.8% to US$ 601 billion, driven by a double-digit growth of the Sensors and Logic category.
All other product categories are also expected to show positive growth rates. All regions are expected to grow in 2022.
http://www.wsts.org/
The SMTA is seeking donations for the Charles Hutchins Grant and JoAnn Stromberg Student Leader Scholarship for the upcoming year. Both of these awards are made possible exclusively through donations by businesses and individuals.
The Hutchins Grant has been awarded annually since 1998 to a graduate-level student pursuing a degree and working on thesis research in electronics manufacturing, electronics packaging, or a related field. Similarly, the Stromberg Scholarship is awarded annually to a student pursuing a degree in electronics (or surrounding industry) and actively involved in the SMTA. Recipients are able to use the funds for the purchase of technical books and research materials, for participation in conferences related to electronics assembly and packaging, and for living expenses if necessary.
Through the generosity shown by dedicated members and chapters, the SMTA is able to continue its mission and help to inspire the next generation of engineers. Every gift helps and donations of all sizes are welcome – whether it's a one-time gift or a monthly contribution. Donations can be made online by visiting www.smta.org/donations.
If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Flaherty at ryan@smta.org.
Thermaltronics USA, Inc. is pleased to announce that LeeMAH Electronics has made the TMT-9000s the standard soldering iron at its Dallas, TX facility. Additionally, PCBASupplies.com is the vendor of choice for their source. Scott Fillebrown, Principal at Southwest Systems Technology, Inc. was the manufacturers’ representative.
LeeMAH Electronics is a global electronics manufacturing service company founded in 1971. The company offers manufacturing and test solutions to OEMs with high-mix and low-medium volume needs. LeeMAH utilizes the same processes and similar equipment and test sets in all of its locations to provide seamless migrations and hybrid solutions for its customers.
LeeMAH selected the TMT-9000S based on its safety and quality ratings including ISO 9000 & ISO 14000 and certifications in TuV, GS, NRTL and CE. Additional factors included price, ability to hold temperature settings and local stock through PCBASupplies.com.
Robert Smith, LeeMAH Plant Manager commented: “We are an AS9100 certified facility so we need a very accurate soldering station without spending a fortune. We found exactly that with Thermaltronics through PCBASupplies.com.”
The TMT-9000S is based on Curie Heat Technology which responds to the thermal demands of each solder joint by adjusting the power instantaneously, thereby meeting the exact requirements of the substrate component and solder material. The soldering and rework station offers high thermal recovery and performance with dual switchable soldering ports.
This equipment is autonomously capable of collecting and utilizing data for production processing, which is one of the most important factors necessary to meet the requirements of Industry 4.0 standards.
PCBASupplies is a supplier of Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) and final assembly products. The company aims to provide unique, hard to find, or new to market supplies for electronic manufacturing. For more information, visit www.PCBASupplies.com.
Southwest Systems Technology is the leading manufacturing resource for the Southwest. The team sells capital equipment and materials, and its sales engineers are trained in the latest industry processes and technologies. For more information, visit www.swsystems.com.
LeeMAH offers customer-focused strategies with its California and Texas locations that total more than 140,000 ft2. For more information about LeeMAH Electronics, visit www.leemah.com.
In addition to its award-winning hand soldering product line, Thermaltronics also provides an extended range of accessories to support both production and rework applications. Customers who wish to run free of charge trials on Thermaltronics hand soldering products are encouraged to contact info@thermaltronics.com. For more information, visit www.thermaltronics.com.
Jochen Hanebeck will take over as the new Chief Executive Officer of Infineon Technologies AG on 1 April 2022. This was decided today by the Supervisory Board. Hanebeck was reappointed for five years, his contract runs until 31 March 2027. He has been a member of the Management Board and Chief Operations Officer since 2016. He succeeds Dr. Reinhard Ploss, who has led the company as CEO since 2012.
“We are delighted to present Jochen Hanebeck, an outstanding expert of both the semiconductor industry and, of course, Infineon, for the position of Chief Executive Officer. The Supervisory Board, Dr. Ploss and Mr. Hanebeck will define the details of this change in the leadership of Infineon in the coming months,” says Dr. Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Infineon. “Jochen Hanebeck has already contributed significantly to Infineon’s profitable growth trajectory over many years in various leadership positions. With him as CEO, the company will continue its success in the undoubtedly demanding times ahead. We thank Dr. Ploss most cordially for his extraordinarily successful work at the helm of Infineon. He has led Infineon into the global top ten. Thanks to his visionary power, and equally his personal thoughtfulness, Infineon today is excellently positioned as a technology leader in global high-growth markets.”
“I’m very grateful for the trust of the Supervisory Board,” says Jochen Hanebeck. “Together with the Management Board team and all employees, I want to seize the opportunities that continue to present themselves to Infineon in the future, and make our customers successful in the marketplace. Our semiconductor solutions are central pillars for the major trends of electrification and digitalization of the world. It is an honor for me to take over an excellently positioned company from Reinhard Ploss.”
“With Jochen Hanebeck, the Supervisory Board has made a very good choice for the future leadership of Infineon,” says CEO Dr. Reinhard Ploss. “I have known Jochen Hanebeck for many years as a competent and reliable colleague. He is very familiar with our industry and its challenges, and I am proud that Infineon’s course will continue to be determined by a member of today’s management team in the years to come.”
Dr. Reinhard Ploss (born 1955) has been a member of Infineon’s Management Board since 2007 and Chairman since 2012. The strategic approach “Product to System” was established in the company under his leadership. In addition, the portfolio was expanded and completed through the successful acquisitions of International Rectifier and Cypress Semiconductor Corp. Dr. Ploss began his career with the company in 1986 as a process engineer.
Jochen Hanebeck has been a member of the Management Board and Chief Operations Officer since 2016. He was born in 1968 in Dortmund. He received a degree in electrical engineering from RWTH Aachen University. He has been with Infineon since 1994 (Siemens AG until 1999).
In 2022 Retronix will be celebrating a memorable 30 years of business excellence and innovation. With Scottish origins, Retronix was founded in 1992 by Director Tony Boswell when he spotted a niche market expanding in the electronics industry.
Celebrating this landmark birthday presents an opportunity to reflect on the milestones which have led us to reach three decades in business. Beginning in 1997, a breakthrough year for Retronix as we introduced Component Reclaim as a solution to obsolescence, allocation, and component shortage, the service remains at the forefront of our business. We have since continued to build on our suite of innovations launching our exclusive Laser Reballing Service in 1999, IC Counterfeit Test Services in 2006, Automated Retinning in 2012, and most recently Micro Device Hot Solder Dip in 2021.
Today Retronix operates globally and, our most recent milestone was our expansion into the USA with the launch of our state-of-the-art facility, located in Pflugerville, Texas. Our 30th birthday year marks an exciting time for us as our investment in people, premises, processes, and equipment accelerates at an exponential rate to meet growing industry demands.
Retronix will be exhibiting at the IPC APEX Expo, please come visit us at stand 2711.
ITW EAE is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Electrovert brand of products built in Camdenton, Missouri. Founded in October 1951 by Nicholas J. Fodor, Electrovert manufactures wave soldering, reflow soldering and precision cleaning equipment used in electronic manufacturing industries.
The Electrovert brand continues to be recognized as a global leader. All Electrovert’s wave, reflow, and precision cleaning machines are designed and built in Camdenton Missouri. The state-of-the-art applications, training, and demo center located in Camdenton includes all current models of equipment which are available for testing and demonstrations.
An employee luncheon was held at the Camdenton facility where Electrovert products are manufactured to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Electrovert brand. All employees gathered together for a group photo to commemorate the event.
Electrovert builds capital equipment that is used in the manufacturing processes of printed circuit boards. The machines are primarily used in the process that makes the solder joint between circuits and board, and the cleaning of the circuit board after the solder joint has been made.
Electrovert’s 70-year history involves many innovations and advancements which have resulted in growth. Electrovert introduced the concept of mass soldering to North America and followed that with development of the Lambda wave, which literally "shaped" the wave soldering process. Originally headquartered in Montreal Quebec Canada, the company added facilities in LaPrairie Quebec and eventually merged with Dee Electric as part of its acquisition by UK conglomerate, Cookson Group plc. This was a complex deal that took place from 1981 to 1983 and resulted in doubling Electrovert's manufacturing capacity with the addition of a large facility in Camdenton, Missouri, which remains its primary plant today.
“The loyalty and dedication of our employees and support from our local communities remains a key factor to our success and growth”, says Camdenton’s site manager Geoff Klein. “Circuit board assemblies are used in automotive, portable devices, medical, military and many other markets. Our customers demand innovative technologies built at the highest levels of quality and workmanship. Our employees understand the globally competitive environment that we compete in and every individual in our facility plays an important role in meeting the expectations of our customers.”
www.itweae.com
PVA, a global supplier of automated dispensing and coating equipment, is pleased to announce that it has patented its optical bonding software in Korea. With the new patent, the software is patented throughout the US, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Portugal and Spain, and now Korea.
PVA's focus on these types of software and hardware tools demonstrate the company’s commitment to developing technology to reduce setup times and take the guesswork out of process and application development for the growing display bonding market. This software feature combined with PVA’s Fluid Flow Vision enables the rapid setup of a critical assembly step for new bonding processes.
The optical bonding software greatly simplifies the bonding process by providing a system that alleviates the guess-work of creating perfect bond sequences from scratch, resulting in less waste and faster time to production.
One of the most crucial and challenging steps in the optical bonding process is the final physical mating of the two substrates (e.g. glass to screen). With this patented feature, the user is able to have complete control over the sequence of events (speeds, distances, dwells, etc.) during this critical bonding step on an actual part in production. Using a single button and visual feedback on-screen, the user easily creates a live bond sequence while the machine is simultaneously learning and recording everything quietly in the background.
After the bond sequence has been completed, control is automatically handed back over to the machine to finish the rest of the bonding process. This “learned” bond sequence is then safely stored and can be easily recalled or modified for even more precise tuning.
Within the countless factors that go into making a perfect bond, this sequence must be highly controlled and finely tuned in order to not cause material leakage, trapped bubbles, or other defects that would result in a bad part. Leveraging this new functionality, users can now rapidly prototype and make production ready bond sequences with ease, providing speed and consistency to a once slow and complicated step in the optical bonding process.
PVA manufactures turnkey solutions that help its customers improve their competitiveness. This is accomplished through engineering robust processes that introduce repeatable results that reduce waste, increase throughput and lower manufacturing costs.
For more information about PVA, please contact PVA at info@pva.net or (518) 371-2684.
The new Expert 10.6RS is a semi-automated rework station featuring a gantry system that allows precise positioning with navigation to any point on the printed circuit board (PCB). Pre-positioning is performed via the smooth-running XY gantry, while fine positioning and placement is fully automatic using proven Martin technology, providing a very repeatable process. With excellent accessibility to components anywhere on PCB, the system can rework small to extremely large sized devices.
This camera-supported system accommodates all rework processes, including de-soldering, site cleaning, automatic positioning and soldering. The proven hybrid under-heater (5300W) allows gentle heating of PCBs with dimensions up to 500x500 mm². Process control is achieved with an automatic profiler for both the top and under-heating modules. With a compact footprint and simple, intuitive software, this system is ideal for all your rework needs.
San Diego, CA - Automation Technical Services Inc, the parent company of Feeder Finger, is proud to announce the company has received a US Patent and a Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) agreement Internationally for their Cut Tape Feeder Solution for SMT feeders.
Kelvin Wiley, the President of Feeder Finger, stated the company is pleased with the outcome and excited to have the Patent Pending inscription changed to Patent #11,032,956 across the product line.
On June 8, 2021, the patent became official after several years of work with the patent office and various agencies. The timing is ideal for Feeder Finger to receive this patent protection as worldwide adoption has become more mainstream. Sales have steadily increased across the Juki, Hanwha, Yamaha products and now the newly released additions for Fuji and Europlacer.
Feeder Finger is an Internationally recognized brand specializing in products to help increase efficiency and productivity to new and older pick and place machines. The recent events around Covid 19 and the resulting chip shortages have driven demand for a product to handle cut tape seamlessly using existing feeders. Feeder Finger’s solution fills this requirement by providing a solution for cut tape across many of the top SMT pick and place machines and providing solutions for older machine feeders along with the new, at the same time, ensuring near 100% accuracy with near-zero chip loss. Recent sales have led to almost total conversions of 8mm feeders on the production floor.
To learn more about these products, visit https://feederfinger.com/.
Contact: Automation Technical Services Inc., 10459 Roselle Street Suite C San Diego, CA 92121 +1 (800) 971-1621 E-mail:Sales@feederfinger.com
South-Tek Systems announces Jens Bolleyer was appointed as the company’s CEO effective August 30, 2021. An experienced business leader, Mr. Bolleyer steps into the CEO role at South-Tek with significant experience in manufacturing businesses serving commercial & industrial plumbing and mechanical markets.
A Pfingsten Partners company, South-Tek Systems is on a path of continued growth through investments in people, facilities, new products, and strategic add-on acquisitions. “We are very pleased to welcome Jens to the Pfingsten family to lead our investment in Nitrogen and gaseous delivery systems,” said Tom Nugent of Pfingsten Partners. “His background and experience will provide leadership to an already great team.”
Mr. Bolleyer has 14 years of experience in driving business growth through innovation and is a proven producer in complex sales environments serving consumer, commercial and industrial markets, according to South-Tek. Prior to joining the company, Bolleyer was VP and General Manager of Eemax, Inc. and held numerous leadership positions at Elkay Manufacturing, Kohler and GE.
“I am here to make a difference for our employees and our customers by building on the rich tradition and history, and support South-Tek’s culture of customer focus and innovation,” stated Bolleyer.
Mr. Bolleyer earned an MBA in General Business and BBA in International Business from New Mexico State University.
www.southteksystems.com
Creates Breakthrough in Additively Manufactured Electronics (AME)
DragonFly IV enables manufacturing of new classes of High-Performance Electronic Devices (Hi-PEDs®) FLIGHT software provides end-to-end, complete design-to-manufacturing process for Additively Manufactured Electronics
Sunrise, Florida, Nov. 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nano Dimension Ltd. (“Nano Dimension”, Nasdaq: NNDM), an industry-leader in Additively Manufactured Electronics (AME), Printed Electronics (PE), and Micro Additive Manufacturing (Micro-AM), today introduces its new DragonFly IV printer and FLIGHT software platform. Nano Dimension is the leading provider of intelligent machines for the fabrication of AME. The new DragonFly IV system, combined with FLIGHT software, delivers new levels of quality, efficiency, and print resolution in the 3D printed electronics sector - providing increased flexibility to design any 3D geometry and create innovative new products. DragonFly IV is a Dielectric & Conductive-Materials Additive Manufacturing System aimed for fabrication of High-Performance Electronic Devices (Hi-PEDs®) by depositing the proprietary materials simultaneously, while concurrently integrating in-situ capacitors, antennas, coils, transformers, and electro-mechanical components. J.A.M.E.S GmbH from Munich, Germany, is a joint venture with Hensoldt and a DragonFly IV beta-customer. Its Chief Executive Officer, Andreas Muller, commented: “The DragonFly IV is a milestone within the evolution of AME technology. Nano Dimension’s latest system, combined with the new FLIGHT software, enables the completion of complex jobs like no other AME system before. The J.A.M.E.S electronic design engineers’ community will greatly benefit from better access to AME solutions enabled by the FLIGHT software platform and the first-of-a-kind collaboration of ECAD/MCAD 3D design and testing.” DragonFly IV 3D-AME Printer DragonFly IV delivers improved accuracy of traces, spacing, and vias, improved PCB product quality, and the ability to design and produce 3D Hi-PEDs® in a one-step production process. New capabilities include:
Integration with Nano Dimension’s new FLIGHT software Integration of 3D elements in PCB 3D designed Hi-PEDs® Support of HDI level elements 75µm traces; 100µm spacing; 150µm via Enhanced print quality, optimizing yield with predictable conductivity Low thickness variation <5%
“DragonFly IV is the latest innovation in our present line of AME products. Combined with the FLIGHT software, it expands the electronic & mechanical performance envelop of AME devices and the fabrication ability thereof” said Yoav Stern, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nano Dimension. “With the ability to leverage rapid and environmentally friendly additive manufacturing processes, customers can change and metamorphose form, fit, and function. DragonFly IV will enable agile and rapid customization and personalization, as well as allows for the innovative structuring of electronics in the third dimension. Nano Dimension is bringing a completely new design and fabrication paradigms shifts to the electronics industry.” FLIGHT Software Package
Nano Dimension’s new FLIGHT software suite provides a comprehensive first-of-a-kind ability to incorporate ECAD designs into real 3D MCAD designs, as well as intelligent verification, slicing, and job control solutions. FLIGHT enables the 3D design of electrical and mechanical features in 3-dimensions while ensuring that the new product designs comply with the system’s requirements and can then proceed directly to fabrication on the DragonFly IV.
The Flight Software Suite consists of 3 components:
1-FLIGHT Plan: Allows designers to develop viable 3D AME using both existing 2D design data, and novel 3D data. Tests show that this reduces the 3D AME design time by up to 10 times.
Integrates 3D MCAD and ECAD capabilities for 3D Electro-Mechanical design Imports existing designs from major ECAD systems...
We are a Nation of Great Innovation
By Jim Scott, Customer Support Manager, Dynamic EMS
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended nearly every aspect of life, from the personal (how people live and work) to the professional (how companies interact with their customers, how customers choose and purchase products and services, and how supply chains deliver them).
However, within Dynamic EMS, we can see how crisis will create significant new opportunities for growth, although this varies significantly by market segment.
At Dynamic EMS, we primarily operate in the traditional Electronics Manufacturing Service Provider (EMS) segments of aviation, communications and computing, energy, industrial, healthcare and sciences, and safety and security.
For Dynamic EMS, the most relevant today, as we move into the next chapter in our COVID-19 journey, is the movement behind sensor technologies and their applications associated to the medical sector.
Working in high reliability market segments means quality and reliability are paramount. Our in-house QMS system ensures our customers have complete traceability throughout the product build and conform to required industry certifications.
Dynamic EMS has been serving the Healthcare and Life Science markets for over 15 years and we have a solid understanding of the requirements needed to meet this evolving market sector. As such, our manufacturing facility is certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 13485.
The medical electronics market is expected to witness strong growth in the next five years, mainly due to the rising incidents of chronic diseases; increasing adoption of medical imaging, monitoring, and implantable devices; rising expenditure on healthcare across the world; and a growing elderly population.
The miniaturization of sensors and the adoption of MEMS technology have opened new application areas for sensors, thereby surging the demand for these sensors. The rising demand for ventilators, respiratory systems, and other life support systems due to COVID-19 has facilitated the growth of various sensors
Medical Meets IoT at the Right Time in the Right Way
Pre COVID-19, both the medical market and IoT held equal interest for companies like Dynamic EMS who became aware of the potential opportunity for growth and development that sat within.
The ageing population and increasing life expectancy, increasing adoption of IoT-based smart medical devices, escalating demand for portable medical devices and wearable electronics, growing use of radiation therapy in diagnosis and treatment of diseases and existing favourable healthcare reforms and financial assistance by governments for senior citizens, are some of the prominent factors for the growth of the medical electronics market globally.
Two Markets Collide and Consolidate. Medical and IoT
In terms of trends within a specific segment, the consolidated market of medical and IoT, for Dynamic EMS, we are seeing the trends in medical wearable devices for remote patient monitoring emerging, not only as a medical device, but also as a health and well-being aid for fitness enthusiasts.
The global COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for digital reinvention and adoption of healthcare technology solutions. Again, we are seeing IoT applications in Medical/Healthcare. We also see healthcare providers and payers look to blockchain for better trial data management.
Blockchain technology also ensures medical records and electronic health records (EHRs) maintain personal privacy and regulatory compliance.
Looking for Longevity – Taking Certainty from Uncertainty
Many businesses simply cannot operate as they have in the past. What made a company successful historically may no longer be possible as we move forward. Channels may have radically shifted to accommodate new needs or work around new constraints. A stable regulatory context may have changed, potentially creating opportunities that never existed before.
KIC is pleased to announce that it has hired Wesley Ueoka as R&D Manager based in San Diego. Mr. Ueoka has worked in the defense industry for more than 20 years developing several innovative military technologies.
Ueoka will be responsible for all R&D at KIC, leading the company’s efforts to optimize the entire production line. Electronics manufacturing is moving into an era requiring intelligent use of large amounts of data in order to run a flexible, efficient and successful manufacturing operation. KIC is at the forefront of this trend providing customers an easy path along this ‘smart factory’ learning curve.
Ueoka earned his Bachelor of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a focus on Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He previously worked for Trex Enterprises for more than 18 years, most recently in the role of Director of Software Development.
Ueoka commented, “I enjoy the opportunity to work in the commercial industry where R&D is a crucial part of the ongoing success of the organization and hope to be part of the reason why KIC remains as the best in the business for a long time.”
Move toward the future with full line connectivity, flexible production, data analytics and real-time insight, making sure to include your ovens and wave solder machines.
www.kicthermal.com
Photon steam aging system provides accelerated life testing simulating elongated storage conditions for high reliability applications.
Hentec Industries/RPS Automation, a leading manufacturer of selective soldering, lead tinning and solderability test equipment, is pleased to announce that Micross Components has purchased a Photon steam aging system. The Photon steam aging system is used for accelerated life testing to simulate elongated storage conditions for high-reliability applications. These steam aging systems complement the Odyssey component lead tinning machines specifically designed to perform component re-tinning, tin whisker mitigation, gold removal and BGA de-balling for high reliability and military application in accordance with all relevant GEIA-STD-0006, MIL-PRF-38535, MIL-PRF-38524E and ANSI-J-STD-002 standards.
www.micross.com
www.rpsautomation.com
Acquisition lays groundwork for a breakthrough: Microchips placement as part of additively manufactured electronics solution
Nano Dimension Ltd. (Nasdaq: NNDM), an industry leader in Additively Manufactured Electronics (AME) / 3D-Printed Electronics (PE), and Micro Additive Manufacturing (Micro-AM), announced today that it has signed and closed a definitive agreement to acquire Essemtec AG (“ESSEMTEC”, https://essemtec.com/en/) based in Lucerne Canton, Switzerland.
ESSEMTEC’s product portfolio is comprised of production equipment for placing and assembling electronic components on printed circuit boards (PCBs). They are a leader in adaptive highly flexible surface mount technology (SMT) pick-and-place equipment, sophisticated dispenser suitable for both high-speed and micro-dispensing, and intelligent production material storage and logistic system. Its products are equipped with a sophisticated software package which makes extensive and efficient material management possible.
ESSEMTEC’s equipment and software have been having impact with customers since their first machine was introduced. As their high-tech solution can be adjusted quickly and easily to meet wide ranging requirements, they are able to respond to all manner of customer needs, particularly in high-mix-low-volume production environment. Their portfolio of products will continue to be available to the thousands of organizations that have called themselves a customer of ESSEMTEC, while also being part of the AME revolution that Nano Dimension is driving with its existing technology.
ESSEMTEC financial highlights:
12 months ended 12/31/2020 revenue was $17.2 million; gross margin was 60% 8 months ended in 08/31/2021 revenue was $15.4 million; gross margin was 60% Backlog (signed purchase orders) as of 09/17/2021 was approximately $6.9 million Transaction outline:
Nano Dimension will pay ESSEMTEC shareholders a total sum, in cash, ranging between $15.1 million to $24.8 million $15.1 million will be paid upon closing An additional amount of up to $9.7 million will be paid over 14 months based on a pre-agreed performance-based formulas.
Franz-Xaver Strueby, Chief Executive Officer of ESSEMTEC, commented, “It is an exciting combination of two leading technology leaders serving the PCB and wider electronic industry segments. The combination of Nano Dimension’s strength in the Americas with ESSEMTEC’s strong presence in Europe will enhance both product lines. Additionally, I believe that the merger of the technologies will yield enormous influence and transformational momentum in the world of 3D printed electronics and assembly. The ESSEMTEC team, as well as me personally, are looking forward to continuing our journey as part of the combined teams of ESSEMTEC and Nano Dimension.”
Yoav Stern, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Nano Dimension, shared, “ESSEMTEC’s scientists and engineers and other team members, all of whom joined Nano Dimension upon closing of this transaction, are leading experts and industry veterans in machine building, software, mechanical automation, and robotics. They are going to continue to be led by their present management crew, supported by Ziki Peled, COO of Nano Dimension.”
Mr. Stern added, “ESSEMTEC’s present products fit Nano Dimension’s PCB and PCB assembly markets, as well as the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) verticals which we serve. As such, we hope to leverage the distribution channels and go-to-market efforts of both organizations. In parallel, our mutual vision is to merge the technologies of our micro-electronic 3D-fabrication machines for Hi-PEDs® (Hi-Performance Electronic Devices) with ESSEMTEC’s fuller suite of in-fabrication-process-equipment-assembly capabilities.”
“No less important”, Mr. Stern said, “is our intention to use our newly acquired deep learning based artificial intelligence technologies from our DeepCube acquisition to become the “robotic brains” for ESSEMTEC systems.
AIM Solder, a global manufacturer of solder assembly materials for the electronics industry, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jennifer Fijalkowski to the position of Technical Marketing Engineer. A critical link between AIM and the PCB assembly industry, this position plays a key role in developing and optimizing the company’s technical marketing initiatives.
Ms. Fijalkowski obtained her B.S. from the University of Rhode Island in Chemical Engineering and is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt. Prior to her role as Technical Marketing Engineer, she interned as a SMT Process Engineer, where she analyzed various reports regarding solder paste printing and coauthored, "Comparison of Aperture Designs, Solder Pastes, Nanocoatings and Print/Inspection Systems," published in Circuits Assembly Magazine.
“We are pleased to welcome Jennifer to our technical marketing team,” said Tim O’Neill, Director of Product Management. “Jennifer is a skilled engineer, well-versed in the SMT Process and fully prepared to support AIM’s products and services. I am confident that her expertise and enthusiasm will strengthen AIM’s position as a leading technical resource to the electronics industry.”
www.aimsolder.com
MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions, a world leader in the production of electronics soldering, sintering and bonding materials, has announced a cooperation with STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, on a key sinter technology for Electric Vehicle inverter assemblies, designed to significantly increase vehicle efficiency and range, and lower production costs.
Sinter technology is changing EV inverter assembly with pressure sintering providing a significantly lower thermal resistance, superior power cycling and mechanical reliability over conventional techniques. ST is offering its STPAK™ package for automotive traction inverters for assembly directly onto the heatsinks through sintering using ALPHA® Argomax® silver sinter paste. The ALPHA Argomax sinter paste, formulated using highly engineered silver particles, has been specially developed for low-pressure sinter die and package attachment. The paste creates a strong attachment through silver metallic bonds, offering physical strength, unsurpassed electrical conductivity and optimal thermal properties resulting in long-term reliability improvement.
“The collaboration between ST and MacDermid Alpha to develop and refine advanced sintering technology has been extremely effective in producing the perfect combination – STPAK package sintered with ALPHA Argomax“, said Edoardo Merli, Power Transistor Macro-Division General Manager and Group Vice President of STMicroelectronics Automotive and Discrete Group.
OEMs manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) confirmed that the latest drivetrain with sinter technology resulted in 10% improvement in driving range with an overall inverter efficiency of 93%.
“This unique attach process provides an unparalleled level of flexibility, reducing the overall number of power discretes needed and enabling significant cost savings “, said Julien Joguet, Director of Marketing – Power Electronics at MacDermid Alpha. “ALPHA Argomax sinter package and die attach technology, which has already been deployed in more than 2 million electric vehicles, enables manufacturers to produce efficient and reliable electric vehicle powertrains, a key factor in the wider adoption of electric vehicles “
For more information on sinter technology, please visit the MacDermid Alpha website.
PDR, a manufacturer of BGA rework systems, test and X-ray inspection systems since 1985, is pleased to announce that Jack Harris has joined the company in the role of North American Sales Manager. His decades of experience in the board repair business representing other leading manufacturers make him a natural choice to replace Dan Kelsey, who is retiring after a long and successful career in the electronics assembly business.
Dave White, President of PDR stated: “The appointment of Jack Harris to the PDR family of global sales professionals is indicative of his alignment with PDR’s core values, mission and vision of the future. Jack’s appointment as North American Sales Manager is indicative of his professionalism, strength of character and technical acumen to help guide and serve customers in our industry when addressing challenging rework and X-ray applications.”
Harris comes on board at PDR with more than 35 years of experience in the industry, having served in the capacity of both independent representative and factory sales management executive over the course of many years. His experience, proven track record and commitment to serving customers is only surpassed by his ability to work hand-in-hand with top tier representative organizations to achieve successful sales outcomes.
A graduate of the University of Texas-Austin school of business, Harris brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to this position and is looking forward to bringing PDR’s technology to new customers and supporting existing customers. He is located in the Dallas area and has served as the Vice President and President of the SMTA Dallas Chapter.
For more information about PDR, visit www.pdr-rework.com or call PDR in the U.S. at 530-676-6262 or in the United Kingdom at +44 (0)1293 614 000.
Koh Young, the industry leader in True3D™ measurement-based inspection solutions, will be featured on a FREE panel debate on effective inspection and test strategies for printed circuit board assembly on 09 November 2021 at 10:30am EST. Join Joel Scutchfield, General Manager of SMT Business Operations at Koh Young America for this enlightening discussion about improving reliability and increasing first-pass yield with the latest inspection and test innovations.
Koh Young pioneered True3D inspection over 20 years ago with the goal to create a zero-defect future. Today, our systems leverage our proprietary AI engine and deep machine learning to convert measurement data and inspection results into knowledge and autonomous adjustments to increase productivity, improve quality, and reduce costs.
“The drive to improve factory performance and production quality is not limited to the printed circuit board line,” commented Joel Scutchfield, featured panelist and Head of SMT Sales at Koh Young America. “There are overarching benefits when automated inspection is introduced to final assembly. An AOI, for example, can reduce scrap, minimize inefficiencies, and shrink costs.”
Register for FREE here or use this link https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_W2FcgVbzQlmaayQVaaexlw. The day after the panel has been completed, the replay will be available on demand at http://bit.ly/2JWRGCo.
Visit Koh Young at Hall A2 Booth 377 at the highly anticipated productronica 2021 trade fair in Messe München on November 16-19, 2021 in Munich, Germany. Koh Young is excited to reconnect and collaborate in-person, while we implement and uphold COVID safety protocols for your health and ours. If you cannot the show, you can still learn more about our best-in-class inspection solutions at our regional website www.kohyoungamerica.com.
What do you do when the existing industrial park in which your own factory is located suddenly has to make way for state housing construction? And immediately. A short story from the Shenzhen Special Administrative Region.
Aaron Zhang, Managing Director of SCHURTER Electronics (China) Ltd. was faced with exactly this problem in April this year. His factory in GuangMing (Shenzhen) had to move. As quickly as possible.
40 objects inspected
Aaron Zhang immediately set out to find a new suitable location. He visited more than 40 properties within a very short time. After about 2.5 months, the time had come. In BaoAn, the westernmost district of the Shenzhen Special Administrative Region in Guangdong Province, he found what he was looking for: two floors in a modern industrial park with a total of 5,538 m2. It was a perfect fit! Just a few days later, the rental contract was signed.
Layout and labelling
SCHURTER Electronics (China) produces input systems with resistive and PCAP touch technology, as well as EMC filters. A well-considered layout of such a production facility has an enormous influence on the process and ultimately the product quality. Efficient room layout and placement of the individual production lines were sketched out with thought and care. The same applied to the labelling, lighting both inside and out.
Less than 2 weeks
By the end of September, all the preliminary work had been done. Aaron Zhang and his staff were able to start the move. It took less than two weeks until production could be resumed at the new location on 8 October 2021. All employees worked hard during the entire factory move, even working overtime on holidays. A Herculean achievement! Made in China.
The new address
SCHURTER Electronics ShenZhen Ltd.
Floor 4th/5th, Building No.1, JiaDa Industrial Park,
HongHu East Road, YanChuan Community, YanLuo Street,
BaoAn District ShenZhen City, P.R.C.
Postal Code: 518105
Dymax, manufacturer of rapid curing materials and equipment, proudly announces PVA as a new distributor of Dymax materials for North America. This agreement involves the distribution of Dymax innovative adhesives, maskants, and conformal coatings.
PVA is a global supplier of automated dispensing and coating systems with nine locations throughout North America. PVA automated systems are commonly used to apply Dymax materials to a variety of applications including printed circuit boards, medical devices, consumer electronics, and more.
The new partnership bridges the gap between robotics and formulations, bringing customers a single source for automated dispense, coating, curing, and materials solutions. “Our relationship with PVA will help expand our reach to critical OEM manufacturers in the medical device, telecommunications, and electronics industries that may not be aware of Dymax’s 40 years of experience creating innovative formulated light-curable materials,” commented Jason Maupin, Chief Commercial Officer for Dymax.
Backed by significant technical expertise, PVA’s global application team can seamlessly support onsite implementation, and in conjunction with Dymax’s extensive knowledge of the light-curing industry, offer a complete manufacturing process to companies. Together, this alliance builds upon the Dymax mission to make its customers more capable and efficient.
dymax.com
Saki collaborates with ASM Assembly Systems to advance adoption of Smart Factory technologies and boost quality, productivity & process optimization.
Collaboration with ASM Assembly Systems advances adoption of Smart Factory technologies to boost quality, productivity & process optimization
Saki Corporation, an innovator in the field of automated optical and X-ray inspection equipment, proudly announces its partnership with the SMT Solutions Team ASMPT. The two technology leaders are cooperating to enable seamless machine connectivity between Saki’s inspection and measurement systems and ASMPT’s pick-and-place machines using IPC Connected Factory Exchange (CFX). The partnership provides customers with access to powerful production line solutions that offer “plug & play” machine-to-machine connectivity and are IIoT / Smart Factory enabled.
The collaboration between Saki and ASMPT aims to promote and advance the execution of the Smart Factory concept and provide manufacturers with state-of-the-art, Industry 4.0 technology solutions that boost quality, productivity, and process optimization.
“Saki welcomes the partnership with ASMPT”, said Tatsunori Muroya, Chief Sales Officer at Saki Corporation. “Through our collaboration, we provide our customers with the necessary tools and solutions to seamlessly implement Industry 4.0 best practices that drive the realization of smart factory concepts. It is great to see how our partnership with ASMPT delivers tangible benefits to our joint customers by enabling ‘plug & play’ data exchange capabilities between our respective IPC-CFX-compliant and qualified machines and systems.”
Sven Buchholz, ASMPT´s Vice President Portfolio Management for the SMT Solutions Segment, added: “We are very happy about the long-standing synergistic and collaborative relationship that we have with Saki. We look forward to further strengthening our partnership to help our joint customers cost-effectively boost productivity, improve quality, unlock data-driven insights and enhance vendor- independent operations by automating or optimizing manufacturing processes.”
www.sakicorp.com/en/
SAN JOSE, CA ― October 2021 ― Naprotek, LLC, a leading provider of high-reliability, quick-turn electronics manufacturing, has completed the acquisition of SemiGen, Inc., a privately held company based in Londonderry, NH. This increases Naprotek’s capabilities to include advanced RF/Microwave products, assembly, and test services and expands its reach across the United States.
Founded in 2009, SemiGen provides products and services to the RF/Microwave community across markets including Defense, SATCOM, Space, and Advanced Communications. Their products include passive and active semiconductor components ranging from attenuators, capacitors, diodes, filters, and resistors to complex thin film circuits. Their manufacturing services span from RF/Microwave and PCB assembly to performance testing and in-house ion beam foundry.
“We are excited to expand Naprotek’s capabilities and geographical reach with highly engineered products and services from SemiGen,” said Daniel Everitt, President and CEO of Naprotek. “SemiGen brings deep technical expertise in RF/Microwave technologies, aligning perfectly with Naprotek’s core offering, and the sum of our teams is truly greater than its parts. Our customers may now leverage full-service offerings across RF/Microwave microelectronics, SMT, hybrid assembly, and semiconductor products. This is a very important step in our growth strategy and was meaningfully informed by our customers’ feedback and technology roadmaps.”
Tim Filteau, President of SemiGen, commented, “I'm excited to work with the Naprotek team and to continue to lead SemiGen. Together Naprotek and SemiGen offer a unique combination of technical skills, products, manufacturing services, and technology solutions. This acquisition will enhance growth and enable innovation for our customers.”
Naprotek, which was acquired by Edgewater Capital Partners in December 2020, is strategically growing its capabilities in high-quality, technically differentiated electronic technology solutions to better serve its customers and their high-reliability applications. Naprotek’s sophisticated and rapid engineering change management process, commitment to quality, and personalized customer service are essential elements when time-to-market is critical.
“We are thrilled to welcome SemiGen and its team into the Naprotek platform and broader Edgewater portfolio of companies. We plan to continue to add additional differentiated technology capabilities to the Naprotek platform to better service our customers within the high-reliability markets,” commented Pete Ostergard, Partner with Edgewater.
Koh Young Technology, the industry leader in True3D™ measurement-based inspection solutions, announces its executive committee has appointed Joel Scutchfield as General Manager and Head of SMT Sales at Koh Young America effective October 20, 2021. He will assume day-to-day leadership of the Company, as well as continue to dedicate his expertise in developing tactics and strategies to improve sales. Juan Arango, who had been the General Manager at Koh Young America has resigned to pursue outside interests at provider of intelligent machines for the fabrication of Additively Manufactured Electronics (AME). We greatly appreciate the foundation he laid for our future and we wish him success.
“We have the utmost confidence that Joel is the right person to build on the momentum at Koh Young America,” JD Shin, Chief Sales Officer at Koh Young Technology. “He is a seasoned leader with considerable experience working within the electronics manufacturing market, operating effectively, and delivering value to shareholders. We are lucky to have him as the next KYA GM.”
Before joining Koh Young America nearly seven years ago, Joel worked at major manufacturing companies like Texas Instruments and United Technologies Corporation, before transitioning to equipment suppliers Panasonic Factory Automation and Omron Inspection Systems. He earned his Bachelor of Science from the Purdue University School of Polytechnic Science and Technology. With his background, Joel is focused on helping manufactures improve quality control and process optimization across a growing set of industries including printed circuit board assembly, machining, and semiconductors. To further promote the industry, Joel is a member in good standing with SMTA.
Commenting on his appointment, “I am thrilled to take the helm of this deeply respected branch and work with colleagues who do extraordinary work every day in support of our mission. JD has been a true champion of mine, and I sincerely appreciate his support. Koh Young has a great business model and talented team, which uniquely positions it to capitalize on the changing landscape. As the industry evolves, we are positioned with solutions to help electronics manufacturers efficiently manage their production, maximize their yields, and achieve a smart factory.”
Koh Young will take part in the upcoming SMTA International Expo 3-4 November 2021 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minnesota and you can offer Joel congratulations in booth 3319. As the Premiere Sponsor for SMTA International, Koh Young America is excited to reconnect and collaborate in-person, while ensuring COVID safety protocols are implemented and upheld for your health and ours. Register to attend the exposition at smta.org/mpage/smtai. If you cannot the show, you can still learn more about our best-in-class inspection solutions at our regional website www.kohyoungamerica.com.
Ventec International Group Co., Ltd. (6672 TT), is pleased to announce that it has finalized an asset purchase agreement with Holders Technology (AIM: HDT) in Europe on October 21, 2021. The transaction completes Ventec’s acquisition of a range of PCB assets owned by Holders Technology’s German & UK operating subsidiaries. As part of Ventec’s continued ambitious strategic investment plans to further expand its strong market positioning and technology leadership, the investment boosts Ventec’s value creation in Europe and strengthens its leading position in the PCB design and manufacturing marketplace.
Under the terms of the asset purchase agreement, Ventec will integrate some of Holders Technology’s specialist materials into its current portfolio of PCB base material solutions. The complementary product lines, which will provide immediate benefits to Ventec customers, include entry and backing materials for drilling and routing applications, lamination accessories (release films) and copper foil for lamination applications. From 1st October 2021, Ventec officially took ownership of the fully tooled and equipped manufacturing site for back-up and entry material located close to Ventec’s Central European Hub in Kirchheimbolanden, Germany, with specialist employees transferring to Ventec as part of the agreement.
“The acquisition forms an integral part of our global growth strategy,” said Mark Goodwin, COO Europe & Americas of Ventec. “5G, the Internet of Things, vehicle electrification and advanced LED applications are just some of the driving forces of the increasing demand for reliable, high-quality PCB base materials. With the acquisition of some of Holders Technology’s specialist material solutions and expertise, we are now even better positioned to implement our long-term growth strategy and to offer a one-stop-shop for our diverse range of customers from industries such as automotive, industrial, medical and mil/aero. This will be of great benefit to customers who rely on Ventec as a trustworthy provider of highly reliable PCB base materials for their demanding applications."
Ventec International Group Co., Ltd. (6672 TT) is a world leader in the production of polyimide & high reliability epoxy laminates and prepregs and specialist provider of thermal management and IMS solutions. Further information about Ventec’s solutions and the company’s wide variety of products is available at www.venteclaminates.com and/or by downloading the Ventec APP.
Company Expanding Offerings for Range of Wafer Types and Sizes,
Driving Advances in Compound Semiconductor Market
H-Square Corporation, a leading supplier of automated microelectronics manufacturing and handling equipment, is sharpening its market focus to develop new technologies in the key areas of robotics, automation and intelligent software tools. This effort is being driven by the company’s seasoned leadership team: Helen Lin, CEO; Steve Hausle, vice president of sales and marketing; Myron Moreno, general manager; and Karl Gartland, manager of product development and engineering.
H-Square recently shipped multiple units of its WS300M automatic wafer mover/sorter for 300mm wafers, which can process 200 wafers per hour. Currently, the company is developing a customized version of the robotics-based system for a leading semiconductor equipment maker currently pursuing a new role as a foundry for the burgeoning virtual reality (VR) market. The WS300M and other products, such as the company’s non-contact 300mm Bernoulli handheld tools, have enabled H-Square to tap into the 300mm space.
“H-Square has long been known for our industry-standard wafer-handling technology. Our products are in virtually every substrate manufacturing facility in the world,” said Lin. “Now, we’re at the cusp of a new era, looking to develop innovative new solutions that leverage our proven expertise, while we continue to deliver the wafer- and substrate-handling products our customers know and trust for existing and emerging markets.”
A key target for H-Square’s substrate-handling business is the burgeoning compound semiconductor market, which is expected to grow by nearly US$12 billion between 2021 and 2025. Customers in this space using H-Square’s wafer-handling technology are seeing as much as 95% less wafer breakage, and the company looks forward to building on its success in this and other served markets.
Hausle, whose prior experience includes executive stints with Corning, Inc.’s Precision Glass Solutions business, noted, “Compound semiconductor manufacturing today is where the silicon industry was decades ago, performing wafer handling and transfer largely by hand – clearly not ideal for preventing damage or breakage. Our goal is to help the compound semiconductor industry transition to automated handling, just as we have done with the silicon industry over our 40-year history.”
https://www.h-square.com/
Ryder Industries, investing in China’s manufacturing base since 1991, is positioned to meet the needs of a world seeking advanced technologies to tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow
With a history spanning 30 years of inward investment in manufacturing in China, Ryder Industries is continuing its commitment with further expansion of its Inland campus in Xinfeng. Having completed construction work on two new factory buildings, the project is now moving into the next phase: fitting out both factories with electrical and network infrastructure and other essential building services, before completing the commissioning and installing state-of-the-art automation ready to begin production.
Obviously, the initial planning of this project began well in advance. However, given the current high demand for manufacturing services, and high-tech products for consumer, industrial, and medical markets in particular, the timing is perfect. As the world adapts to new patterns and new demands, Ryder is ready to respond.
There is a clear need both for more capacity as well as more advanced capabilities, and the new factories are poised to deliver both.
“While one building is going into immediate use, given this year’s pressing rise in demand, the second is ready to handle the continuing growth that we expect in the near future,” explains Eric Winkler, Founder and Chairman of Ryder Industries. “The two buildings have the same floorplan and are sharing infrastructure as well as common engineering and supply-chain connections, maximising the expansion of our resources which, ultimately, we place at our customers’ disposal.”
By investing in the new buildings, Ryder is also expressing confidence that China will remain a competitive and powerful manufacturing base for the long term. This can be seen from one perspective in the ongoing massive adoption of automation throughout China’s manufacturing base. Ryder is among the leading companies that are investing vigorously in new and advanced technology, and “labour factor productivity” is rising fast.
Another, of course, is the rising levels of education and high-value skills among the Ryder’s workforce. “Our people have always been our treasured asset as Ryder developed individuals’ careers and well-being in tandem with its corporate capabilities.” agrees Henry Wu, Ryder Industries CEO. “Year by year they continue to participate in career training, typically twice as much as our competitors, acquiring new skills and becoming increasingly adept at adding value to the business. This is important as market demands continue to change and the type of automation deployed becomes increasingly advanced and highly automated.”
The Inland plant was designed to “smart green” principles and the latest build sees the installations updated to 2021 technology and expanded: ground source climate control, solar electricity and hot water, process energy recovery and rainwater harvesting. Care for the environment has been a guiding principle for current practices and future plans. “With our wide-ranging in-house capabilities, including design services as well as plastic moulding, mould-making, surface-mount assembly, test engineering, and box-build, we can bring our skills to bear on this aspect in many ways, from sustainable product design to continuously studying our processes to minimise energy demand and water waste,” adds Henry Wu.
In addition to the extra capacity and advanced capabilities planned for the two, new, multi-storey Inland plants, Ryder’s coastal campus in Shenzhen is also moving forward. The transition into a new Advanced Manufacturing Hub will develop in the coming years. Finally, Ryder is continuing to strengthen its “Made in Thailand” solution that brings extra locational flexibility and resilience to the to the whole supply chain.
With the first new Inland factory ready to begin operations imminently, Ryder Industries now has 14 permanent buildings in China and is excited to conti...
Third quarter
Order intake amounted to SEK 1,242 (739) million, up 68 percent Net sales decreased 8 percent to SEK 986 (1,068) million. Based on constant exchange rates, net sales decreased 9 percent EBIT declined to SEK 106 (348) million and EBIT margin was 11 (33) percent Earnings per share were SEK 0.82 (2.71)
January–September
Order intake amounted to SEK 3,272 (2,822) million, up 16 percent Net sales increased 16 percent to SEK 3,341 (2,889) million. Based on constant exchange rates, the increase was 21 percent EBIT rose to SEK 845 (684) million and EBIT margin was 25 (24) percent Earnings per share were SEK 6.66 (5.29)
“During the third quarter, order intake showed a positive trend, with an increase of 68 percent, while a significantly less advantageous product mix for Pattern Generators led to reduced sales and EBIT. We announced an acquisition within High Volume, which strengthens and broadens the division’s product portfolio and enables it to offer its customers more complete and attractive solutions. We also announced a divestment within Global Technologies, which will enable the division to focus on and invest in markets that are strategically more relevant. Both transactions are expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022,” says Anders Lindqvist, President and CEO.
Outlook 2021 It is the Board of Directors’ opinion that consolidated net sales for 2021 will be at a level of SEK 4.5 billion, based on prevailing exchange rates, including the completed acquisition.
CEO comments
During the third quarter, order intake showed a positive trend, with an increase of 68 percent, while a significantly less advantageous product mix for Pattern Generators led to reduced sales and EBIT. We announced one acquisition within High Volume and one divestment within Global Technologies during the quarter. These transactions are expected to be completed during the fourth quarter of 2021 or the first quarter of 2022. Through the acquisition of Shenzhen Huan Cheng Xin Precision Manufacture Co., Ltd, High Volume strengthens and broadens its product portfolio and has the opportunity to offer its customers more complete and attractive solutions. The divestment of Automation Engineering, Inc will enable Global Technologies to focus on and invest in markets that are strategically more relevant for Mycronic.
After a downturn in 2020, the market for photomasks for displays has still not returned to pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, the semiconductor market shows a strong trend, creating favorable conditions for the SLX mask writer. Pattern Generators received orders for six mask writers during the quarter. The division delivered two systems, which was as many as in the same period last year. However, the product mix was less advantageous, since the preceding year included the delivery of a Prexision 800 Evo, our most advanced mask writer. At the customer’s request, the delivery of an SLX announced earlier was moved from the third to the fourth quarter.
High Flex received many customer inquiries during the third quarter and secured a higher number of orders, but of smaller size. While demand for MYPro products continues to be at a high level, customers are also increasingly interested in the MYSmart product line, with its various dispensing solutions.
High Volume’s market was stable during the quarter and the division is focused on offering competitive and intelligent automation solutions that help customers to reduce labor costs and raise the quality of production.
Within Global Technologies the integration of atg L&M, which was acquired at the end of the second quarter, is proceeding according to plan. The Chinese market, where customers are implementing significant expansion plans, was strong for systems for electrical tests of bare board PCBs. Sales and production ramp up of a new machine generation that was launched in the first quarter have gone well.
eeMAH Electronics Team members with their new VectraES wave soldering machine.
A deep freeze in February burst a pipe at LeeMAH Electronics manufacturing facility in Texas. This natural disaster was turned into an opportunity to rearrange the production floor for better manufacturing process flow. It also led to the decision to install a new Electrovert VectraES wave soldering machine to replace the existing selective soldering system. The new in-line wave soldering machine allows for much higher throughput at a better overall cost to LeeMAH to keep up with their increasing production demand. An added benefit is that the new wave machine allowed LeeMAH to switch to a new solder alloy. With the clear return on investment realized at the Texas plant, the plan is to also have the California plant switch over to the new solder alloy as well.
“The new VectraES was up running great, very quickly with no issues at all. The in line wave soldering machine has easily been able to keep up with production and results in more consistent soldering throughout the entire lot”, said Bob Smith, LeeMAH Plant Manager.
The Electrovert® VectraES™ wave soldering machine is designed for low-to-medium mass board assemblies in a high volume production soldering environment that requires fast changeover, process flexibility, and system reliability. The VectraES with its extensive list of features utilize technologies that provide complete process flexibility and process control. Features such as ServoJet™ fluxing, forced convection preheat, and UltraFill™ solder nozzles provide board assemblers the capability to process the most difficult soldering applications in the most demanding environments. A new Flux Flow Monitor provides an accurate method of verifying repeatability of the flux flow rate and flux volume on a board-to-board basis.
LeeMAH Electronics is a global electronics manufacturing service company offering manufacturing and test solutions to OEMs with high-mix and low-medium volume needs. They manufacture PCBs for all different types of equipment and can meet the most complex requirements for customers in the most demanding industries. LeeMAH utilize the same processes and similar equipment and test sets in both of their facilities in Texas and California to provide seamless migrations and hybrid solutions to customers. For more information visit www.leemah.com
ITW EAE announces a new extended partnership agreement with Sincotron to represent and distribute Vitronics Soltec soldering equipment in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania beginning November 1, 2021. This agreement is an expansion of Sincotron’s representation of ITW EAE’s product line which already included MPM printers, Camalot dispensers, and Electrovert soldering and cleaning equipment.
“Sincotron has provided superior representation for MPM, Camalot and Electrovert in the Nordic region,” said Frank Van Erp, EMEA Sales Director for ITW EAE. “We are very fortunate to have this first-class, technically experienced team represent the full range of ITW EAE electronics assembly equipment. Sincotron’s sales team is one of the best in the business and can be counted on to serve all of our customers well.”
“Our suppliers are all well renowned and carefully hand-picked professionals in the field of electronics,” said Pehr Nordman, Managing Director of Sincotron. “Vitronics Soltec is a pioneer in soldering technology with a reputation for cutting edge technology. We look forward to adding this product line to our line of high-quality products.”
For over 50 years Sincotron operations have been based on reliability, stability, and most of all on the long-term relationships with customers and suppliers. They offer clients a wide selection of electronics products varying from production materials, tools, and individual machines to entire production lines. Sincotron works closely with customers to understand their operations to ensure they get products that perfectly fit their needs. They also offer excellent product training to ensure that clients get the most use from the products they buy.
www.itweae.com
NOTE's CFO Henrik Nygren has decided to retire and will leave the company in connection with the 2022 Annual General Meeting. Henrik Nygren has worked at NOTE since 2006. “During his time as CFO, Henrik has been a strong contributor in developing NOTE to the successful company it is today. Henrik has been a valued colleague and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Henrik for his work and excellent accomplishments during his time at NOTE”, says Johannes Lind-Widestam, CEO and President.
Henrik Nygren will be succeeded by Frida Frykstrand, NOTE's Corporate Accounting Manager and Treasurer. Frida has a master's degree in economics and has worked for NOTE since 2013. “Frida has been a part of NOTE's finance team for a number of years and is well acquainted with our successful business model and follow-up. By appointing Frida as CFO, we will continue to have a strong management for further development of NOTE's operations while at the same time ensuring a smooth transition”, says Johannes Lind-Widestam, CEO and President.
For more information, please contact: Johannes Lind-Widestam, CEO and President, tel. +46 (0)70 541 7222 Henrik Nygren, CFO, tel. +46 (0)70 977 0686
Altus Group a distributor of capital equipment for the electronics industry, has launched a recruitment drive to expand its sales support departments. The announcement follows a successful year as Altus report a phase of growth following increased orders from existing customers, and new product introductions which have boosted the company’s comprehensive portfolio of products.
New job opportunities include a Sales Manager for the region of Ireland and a Junior Sales Executive for the UK. With an exceptional team of experienced staff already on board, the company is building on the foundations built over two decades by expanding and strengthening its skillset even further.
Mike Todd, Altus Quality and Operation Manager said; “We are investing in the future and want to attract the best sales support talent, who will thrive in a successful, diverse and longstanding business like Altus.
“We are looking for a new Sales Manager in Ireland. The ideal candidate will have a background in mechanical or electronics engineering, be pro-active with a proven track record in sales, and have the skills to manage and support customers, as well as develop business within the region.
“Another important role that is available is the position of Junior Sales Executive. They do not need to have had previous experience within the electronics sector, we are looking for someone who can engage with new prospective customers, identify new opportunities and represent the company.
“We are looking for capable individuals who have the skills we need to move our business to the next stage of growth. As a progressive company, we continue to add proficient staff to our team. This is a great opportunity for ambitious people to be part of a thriving business that is an undisputed leader in its field.”
If you are looking to be a part of a successful company now is the time to apply. Interested candidates should contact sales@altusgroup.co.uk
www.altusgroup.co.uk
India's huge population and potential economic growth have attracted investments from foreign IT enterprises, such as Samsung, Netflix, and Oppo, while local large enterprise groups such as Tata and Reliance have been pushing for innovations across industries in India with increasing investments as well. India, being the second-largest smartphone market in the world, is the cradle of smartphone innovation. Tata Motors is test-piloting its super application Tata Neu among Tata employees and the app will be available for commercial use in a few months, according to Times of India. Reliance Industries, Paytm, SBI, and Adani Group also revealed similar plans. Economic Times also believes the India market is large enough to allow the co-existence of at least 3-4 supper apps, citing analysis at Bank of America Besides super apps, a survey conducted by CMR in 2020 showed that cameras are the most valued feature of a smartphone by 65% of the users in India. And 64% of them prefer the front-end camera more than the back-end one. Having noticed such demand, China-based handset brand Oppo has set up a camera lab in Hyderabad, India to integrate AI technologies into picture-taking and design specific solutions to meet users' demand for quality stills or live photos. Oneplus and Samsung also set up multiple innovation centers in India. While 5G is still at the nascent stage in India, Reliance became the largest telecom operator in India and the second largest in the world within just 3-4 years by building up its businesses into the digital and communication industries. The group later announced its plans to reach zero-carbon emissions by 2035 and will construct four giga-factories locally. It will also devote to the development of clean energy, including solar power, power storage batteries, and fuel cell batteries. In line with the Indian government's goal, Reliance's clean energy business is expected to widely receive subsidies from the government. Company chairman Mukesh Ambani has said they aim to lower the production costs of green hydrogen power to US$1 per kilogram within 10 years. In order to achieve that, Reliance will need to lower the costs of energy used to produce hydrogen power, making its new giga-factories an essential part of the project. With its long cultivation in India and support from the government, Reliance is expected to grow a strong presence in not only the local energy sector but also the domestic digital and communication sectors in the next ten years. Credit: DIGITIMES
The new construction and conversion of the SCHURTER Group headquarters in Lucerne has been completed. A short review as well as facts and figures about the project illustrate the scope of the project in an impressive way.
Since 1947, the SCHURTER headquarters have been located on the Werkhofstrasse in Lucerne. The steady growth of the group was massively hampered by spatial limitations in the following decades. Growth at the Lucerne location was no longer possible with the current building situation.
Project " Weitsicht"
In the fall of 2018, planning began for the conversion and new construction of the headquarters under the project name "Weitsicht". The goal was to start construction in January 2020 after receiving all permits. For the construction phase itself, a duration of around 18 months was expected, which could be met. The nationwide lockdown in spring 2020 did not even affect the work. On the contrary: "Weitsicht" was able to proceed at full speed.
An enormous challenge during this conversion was to maintain production at all times and to meet the needs of the construction workers and the company's own employees.
Facts and figures
• Building owners: SCHURTER AG
• Construction management: S+B Management AG
• Construction period from February 2020 to September 2021
• Gained area: around 3,000 m2
• Costs: around 23 million CHF
• No accidents during the entire construction period
• Construction under operation. Production could always run.
• Energy optimization (windows, facade insulation, heat recovery)
The ceremonial inauguration took place in strict compliance with COVID-19 regulations on September 16 and 17.
Our thanks go to the understanding neighbors and the employees of SCHURTER AG for their patience.
schurter.com
Technology enables state-of-the-art onshore advanced packaging foundry services
SkyWater Technology (NASDAQ: SKYT), the trusted technology realization partner and Deca Technologies (Deca), a leading provider of advanced electronic interconnect technology, today announced an agreement for Deca’s second generation M-Series™ fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) technology with Adaptive Patterning® within SkyWater’s advanced packaging facility in Florida. The companies are endeavoring to establish the first high volume FOWLP capability in the U.S. to bring proven solutions for single and multi-die packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration capability for chiplets through 2.5D and 3D implementations.
Deca’s first generation technology changed the game with high volume production for leading mobile applications and is well-known for enabling exceptional board-level reliability, end-customer quality and electrical performance. Deca’s unique Adaptive Patterning with mask-less laser direct imaging delivers high-density design rules and high production yields in a cost-effective miniaturized format. Deca’s second generation FOWLP technology includes 2 µm RDL features combined with industry-benchmark 20 µm bond pad pitch and targets advanced mobile devices, high-performance computing (HPC), high-end networking, artificial intelligence (AI), and edge computing as well as high density 3D integration technology in medical and defense applications. Cliff Sandstrom, Deca’s vice president of technology development, stated, “This is an exciting time for the industry as SkyWater invests in Deca’s Gen 2, delivering a cutting-edge packaging technology which is competitive with current industry leaders including advanced silicon interposers. With multiple customers designing into Gen 2, we look forward to working closely with SkyWater to successfully bring these new products to market.”
Dr. Brad Ferguson, SkyWater Florida senior vice president and general manager, added, “Through this collaborative work with Deca, we look forward to reaching another milestone in the realization of our vision for state-of-the-art domestic advanced packaging foundry services. We’re proud to lead the onshoring of this key technology and expect it to serve customer demand in numerous markets. Deca’s powerful integration platform nicely complements our Technology as a ServiceSMmodel for customers driving leading-edge device architectures that require advanced electronic interconnect solutions.”
www.skywatertechnology.com
PCB maker Zhen Ding Technology Holding will begin production of BT and ABF substrates at its factories in China in 2022, according to industry sources. Zhen Ding will start small-volume production of BT substrates at its factory in northern China in the third quarter of 2022, with volume production to begin in the following quarter, the sources said. For ABF substrates, Zhen Ding will undertake trial production at its factory in southern China in the fourth quarter of 2022 and begin volume production in 2023, the sources noted. With capital expenditure of NT$14.317 billion (US$513 million) in the first half of 2021, Zhen Ding is developing and expanding production capacity for FPCs (flexible printed circuits), IC substrates, PCBs used in miniLED backlight units, SLPs (substrate-like PCBs) and automotive PCBs, the sources indicated. For PCBs used in miniLED backlight units particularly, Zhen Ding kicked off production in the third quarter of 2021 and expects shipments to fast grow along with increasing adoption of miniLED backlighting, the sources said. Zhen Ding has reported consolidated revenues of NT$15.451 billion for September, increasing 6.41% on month and 33.50% on year, those of NT$41.622 billion for the third quarter of 2021, rising 39.75% on quarter and 29.76% on year, and those of NT$98.581 billion for January-September, growing 29.58% on year. Jay Liu, Taipei; Adam Hwang, DIGITIMES
YXLON International, a company of the Swiss tech holding Comet Group, is pleased to announce the appointment of FHP Reps as its representative throughout Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas.
“We are very excited to add YXLON to our line card,” stated Keith Favre, President of FHP Reps. “David and I are very selective in the companies we represent; we only want the best-in-class products and support for our customers. YXLON fills a hole in our product offing with their full line of X-ray products, and we are excited to bring them to our market.”
FHP provides best-in-class equipment, consumables and services to the electronics manufacturing industry. Unlike many rep firms however, FHP does not specialize in just equipment or supplies, but focuses on providing solutions.
YXLON stands for quality assurance for all types of cast parts, tires, electrical and electronic components, turbine blades, welded joints and a lot more. The company’s product portfolio includes X-ray systems for installation in radiological inspection envelopes, universal X-ray inspection systems on the basis of fully shielded devices, as well as solutions specific to individual customers. Whether in manual, semi, or fully automated operation, our inspection systems are ideal for deployment in research and development and can be integrated into any production process.
For more information about YXLON, visit www.yxlon.com.
For more information about FHP’s products and services, contact Keith Favre at (719) 238-2747 or visit www.fhpreps.com
STI Electronics, Inc., a full-service organization including engineering, contract manufacturing and training services announces the acquisition of a new Laser Marking System.
STI Electronics, Inc. is committed to bringing customers the latest, most advanced technology. One of the most recent additions to STI and its menu of services is Laser Marking using the Fancort LCD10C. Stickers fall off and ink fades, but laser marking provides a permanent mark that will stand the test of time.
Laser marking works by using a focused beam of light to mark the surface of a material. When the beam interacts with the material’s surface, it alters the material’s properties and appearance. This concentrated beam targets only a specified area, allowing the laser marking machine to create precise, high-quality, high-contrast marks that are easy to read or scan on virtually any surface. This feature makes laser marking ideal for applications where accuracy and permanency are critical to success.
Additional benefits include: essential, keeps track of products, improves quality, minimizes counterfeiting, eco-friendly, clean, affordable, energy efficient, easy to read.
All work performed using Fancort Industries LCD10C eliminations cost and downtime, provides permanent identification, complies with federal law, results in clean processing with minimal contamination, and connects parts to the Industrial Internet of Things.
Contact STI Electronics, Inc. at https://stiusa.com to find out more about laser marking and how we can help you.
Innovations from sensor and measurement technology sought
The AMA Association for Sensor and Measurement Technology (AMA) invites researchers and developers to apply for the AMA Innovation Award 2022. The search is on for innovative research and development results in sensor and measurement technology. The deadline for entries is January 26, 2022.
Individuals and development teams are invited to apply with innovative research and development solutions that demonstrate recognizable market relevance. The AMA Innovation Award carries prize money of 10,000 euros. In addition, companies can apply for the special "Young Enterprise" award if they have been on the market for no longer than five years, employ fewer than 50 people and generate annual sales of less than 10 million euros. The winner in this category will receive a free exhibition booth at SENSOR+TEST 2022.
For 22 years, the prestigious AMA Innovation Award has been presented to the developers themselves and not to the institutions behind them. The jurors from universities, research institutions and companies place particular emphasis on scientific achievement, the degree of innovation of the development and the expected opportunities in the market.
"We invite creative minds from Germany and abroad to apply and present their own developments to a broad and interested audience of experts," says jury chairman Andreas Schütze of Saarland University. "We are looking forward to applications from well-known companies and institutions as well as from newcomers, who can additionally apply for the special category 'Young Enterprises'."
Conditions of participation and tender documents for the AMA Innovation Award 2021 and the special category 'Young Enterprise' as well as brochures with the award winners and all applications from previous years are available free of charge at: https://www.ama-sensorik.de/en/science/ama-innovation-award/ .
Deadline for entries is January 26, 2022, and the nominations and special award winners will be announced at the AMA press conference on March 10, 2022. The winners of the AMA Innovation Award 2022 will be honored at the opening ceremony of SENSOR+TEST on May 10, 2022 in Nuremberg.
AMA Association for Sensors and Measurement (AMA) – linking innovators – is the network of the key industry for technical innovations. With its 450 members from industry and science it is the primary contact for sensor and measuring technology. With its detailed industry directory, it provides a comprehensive overview of the products and services. The AMA cultivates an innovation dialog with all participants of the innovation process at the leading trade fair SENSOR+TEST, at community stands of leading international fairs, and at the SMSI 2023 science conference.
Test Research, Inc. (TRI), test and inspection systems provider for the electronics manufacturing industry, has certified two AOI solutions IPC-CFX compliant.
“At TRI, we strive to keep updated and even ahead of industry standards. As part of these ongoing efforts, we are pushing forward with technology that enables connected factory for our customers. Our R&D department, FAE teams and sales teams work hand in hand to enable a seamless connection with other vendors in accordance with the IPC – CFX standards so our solutions provide the maximum benefit to our customers.” said Jim Lin, Vice President of TRI.
TRI has validated the recently released 3D AOI TR7700Q SII and the 3D AOI TR7700 SIII Series as IPC CFX-compliant. The AI-powered 3D AOI TR7700Q SII is a high accuracy, high-speed platform, up to 57cm2/sec, equipped with multiple 3D technologies and flexible algorithms to achieve precise inspection. The TR7700 SIII Series delivers optical and blue-laser-based true 3D profile measurement for the highest automated defect symptom coverage possible.
Realize your production line's potential with TRI's PCBA Test and Inspection solutions and Industry 4.0 data-driven management system, YMS 4.0. TRI's systems are designed to interoperate with other manufacturing equipment to minimize downtime, optimize production quality, and reduce operator workload.
http://www.tri.com.tw
Abercynon and Cardiff collaborate to provide power electronics assemblies to MIV programme
TT Electronics, a global provider of engineered technologies for performance critical applications, today announced that they have been awarded a contract to support the UK MOD’s Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) programme. The joint award from Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) and Rheinmetall Landsysteme (RLS) will see the TT Electronics Abercynon and Cardiff facilities work together to provide complex high-reliability power electronics assemblies to the Boxer vehicles which will be produced in RBSL Telford.
The contract, worth over £5million, is centred around the development of two types of primary power assemblies to be provided to RBSL over the next 10 years.
TT Electronics will lead the design, production and delivery of the battery control units enabling increased efficiency of the vehicle power management system, as well as the command display units providing signalling and communications functionality on every Boxer vehicle. This award demonstrates evidence of the MIV programme’s initiative to work with and support UK suppliers. Furthermore, the supply chain in place to provide materials to TT Electronics for this programme is also exclusively UK-based.
“TT has a long-standing history of supporting the UK Defence industry and in particular military land vehicles. Our team therefore have a real appreciation for just how important it is to maintain the highest possible standards for critical programmes like this. This latest contract with Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land and Rheinmetall Landsysteme represents an exciting opportunity for us to demonstrate what TT does best.” said Ken Kelly, General Manager, TT Electronics, Abercynonfacility.
“We are immensely proud to have secured our spot within the MIV supply chain. Supporting our Armed Forces with innovative technology solutions is something we’re extremely passionate about. Playing our role in modernising their capability is exactly the type of challenge that we thrive on. This award concludes months of hard work by our dedicated Abercynon and Cardiff teams and we’re now looking ahead to the next steps, eager to support this programme with the best service, value and products.” said Ben Sutton, VP/GM, TT Electronics, Power Solutions.
Nationwide campaign will take place in October
PRIDE Industries today announced its participation in National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM). Established by Congress in 1988, NDEAM is celebrated every October as a way to raise awareness of disability employment issues. It’s also a time to reflect upon and recognize the many and varied contributions of America's workers with disabilities.
“As the nation’s leading employer of people with disabilities, we embrace NDEAM as a way to spread the message that people with diverse abilities are valuable contributors to a vibrant and productive workforce,” said Jeff Dern, President and CEO of PRIDE Industries. “60 percent of the workforce in our fast-growing organization has a disability. Every day, we prove the value of an inclusive workforce model through our operational success across multiple industries. We show company leaders that if we can do it, so can they.”
Throughout the month, PRIDE Industries will share employee and customer success stories to demonstrate the social impacts and business benefits of inclusive hiring. And it will encourage its customer network of over 300 organizations to promote their support of an inclusive workplace to generate awareness. For more than 55 years, PRIDE Industries has worked to create an inclusive world where people of all abilities have equal access to achieve their employment goals. In recognition of its many successes in this area, PRIDE Industries was recently recognized as a 2021 Top Disability-Friendly Company by DIVERSEability Magazine and as a 2021 Leading Disability Employer by the National Organization on Disability (NOD).
“We stand for normalizing workplace inclusion,” said Vic Wursten, Chief Rehabilitation Officer. “That’s why we offer training, internships, and the job support needed for success. Our industry-leading, people-centered programs enable individuals to have long, productive careers, whether working at PRIDE Industries or with one of our many corporate partners. And because we also provide a wide range of business services—including facilities management, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain management—we’re able to offer a broad spectrum of career opportunities to thousands of people with disabilities.”
In addition to serving the employment needs of people with disabilities, PRIDE Industries also provides career and support services to military veterans, former foster youth, and trafficking survivors. The organization also partners with companies both large and small to instruct executives, managers, and employees about how to cultivate a successful inclusive workplace.
“We encourage employers and employees in all industries to learn more about how to participate in National Disability Employment Awareness Month,” said Dern. “And we urge them to visit www.dol.gov/NDEAM to find important information and get ideas about how to support people with disabilities.
Several new procedures covering Ball Grid Array component re-balling and inspection have been added to the popular online guidebook developed and written by Circuit Technology Center. This free online guidebook contains 92 step-by-step procedures, is complete with illustrations and videos, and follows popular IPC standards.
The latest version of the guidebook can be viewed here: https://www.circuitrework.com/guides/guides.html
Analysts, investors and media are invited to the presentation of Mycronic’s third quarter. The presentation will be held on October 21, at 10:00 a.m. The report is published on October 21, at 8:00 a.m. and will, together with the conference call slides, be available on www.mycronic.com.
Anders Lindqvist, CEO and Torbjörn Wingårdh, CFO will present the company’s development. The presentation is held as an audio web cast and a telephone conference. After the presentation, which is held in English, a Q&A session will follow.
Dial in details and audio web cast In order to participate by phone, dial one of the numbers below. Please dial in five minutes prior to the start of the presentation.
Sweden: +46 8 566 427 04 UK: +44 333 300 9270 United States: +1 631 913 1422, PIN: 50212021#
Link to web transmission: https://mycronic-external.creo.se/211021
In order to ask questions, you must call one of the telephone numbers above. A recording of the presentation will also be posted on Mycronic’s website.
For additional information, please contact: Sven Chetkovich Director Investor Relations Tel: +46 70 558 39 19 sven.chetkovich@mycronic.com
CalcuQuote customers will benefit from the inclusion of NAC Semi, a global electronic component design service and distributor, into the CalcuQuote ecosystem designed for electronics contract manufacturers.
“NAC Semi is pleased that we found CalcuQuote. We were introduced to them by one of our EMS customers. We are eager to have our component inventory data included on their platform. In today’s market finding new reliable component sources is at the top of every one’s priority list,” says Joe Sanders, VP of Strategic Sales for NAC Semi. “Whether customers are looking for alternates or just a new reliable source for an existing part on their AVL, CalcuQuote on-line BOM quoting tools help NAC meet them and solve their component sourcing needs.”
EMS companies will have access to a diverse inventory of components from both catalog houses as well as large fulfillment distributors through the partnership with NAC Semi. With NAC’s specialization in solutions for selling and demand-creation distribution services, CalcuQuote customers can expect an enhanced but mutually beneficial partnership, allowing customers another resource for accessing the components they need in real-time.
“NAC Semi fills an important need for many of our customers and we are excited to be moving the EMS industry forward together. Their ability to provide further component sourcing is crucial, especially amidst the current component shortage,“ says Chintan Sutaria, President and CEO of CalcuQuote. “Supply chain digitization and transparency are a win-win for everyone, because they create a more connected partnership, improves agility and increases efficiency.”
www.nacsemi.com
www.calcuquote.com
You will have heard about Anders Electronics, as leaders in Display and Embedded technology, but did you know that we have a geographical landscape with offices, logistics hubs, manufacturing locations, and customers that cover the globe including emerging geographies for the electronics industry?
There has never been a time, where the importance of localisation with the ability for global reach has been more important.
Zoom, Teams, Skype, to name but a few connectivity technologies have demonstrated how we can connect across the globe at the flick of a switch, but we have also witnessed the acceleration of globalisation over the years. Combine this with the ability to link to a local network to exchange best practice methodologies and share knowledge, and you’ve got the makings of a very powerful cultural exchange for excellence.
Localisation
Whether you are a customer in Finland, or Australia, the Anders experience is a consistent one. Think of the successful ‘glocal’ brand that you know, for example, Aldi and Lidl have brought the standard for German precision and organisation to our high-street, but have customised their offering to meet local needs, and demographics. This is the balance of bringing the experience enjoyed by customers, whilst being flexible and adaptable to meet local requirements.
Our customers and manufacturing partners will receive the same level of support through business development, engineering, supply chain, operations, and quality regardless of geography. In fact, as we have European, and Asian offices, we can speak to our customers in their local language, culture, and time zone evolving our long-term partnerships over the years
Engaging one of our local offices and team members enable our customers and manufacturing partners to gain access to local insights, market knowledge, and achieve their business goals via close collaboration.
When selecting your display and embedded partner to bring new design concepts to life, it is important that you choose a partner for the long-term, who can showcase their vast experience in the industry to help customers integrate the best technologies and successfully launch products to the market with a global network coverage.
Our Office Locations
When we say the word office, it conjures images of people at their desks and siloed as they work through their to-do list. Our offices are quite different. Whether you enter our offices in the UK, EU, or Asia, you’ll be presented with individuals and teams who are very passionate to help your design team to deploy display or embedded technologies to life to ensure its fit for purpose and complies with any regulatory requirements it may have, particularly if its applications have special environmental needs to be taken into consideration, or it sits within a high reliability industry e.g., medical.
UK London and Witney: 1952
Our offices have creative spaces, where our business development, engineering, and quality teams will meet to whiteboard a particular challenge and discuss the latest innovation in display and embedded technologies that will be beneficial for our customers. Over the years, we have been helping customers overcome design challenges with solutions that enables them to succeed in their chosen market.
As a company, we often take part in our global exchange network, to bring our teams together to leverage off one another and to take innovative solutions to our customers. Lessons learnt and knowledge sharing is part of our day to day.
EU
Italy: 2002
Italy is the one of largest economies in the EU and one of main export countries worldwide, designing high end home appliances, machinery, automobile, medical and industrial products. Due to major universities and research centres in Italy companies are constantly looking into innovative design concepts and opportunities to deploy solutions that will set them apart of competition.
Netherlands: 2021
Rehm Thermal Systems invites you to a Careers Day on 17 October
Smartphones, aeroplanes, cars, pacemakers: The quality of Rehm Thermal Systems can be found in many different products. For more than 30 years, the Blaubeuren-based company Rehm has been a technological leader for high-quality, durable electronics. Would you like to become part of this success story too? Would you like to get off to a flying start professionally, start an apprenticeship or a dual study programme with a future or reorient yourself? Get to know Rehm Thermal Systems – during the Careers Day on 17 October 2021, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the company premises in Blaubeuren-Seissen, Leinenstraße 7!
As a specialist with more than 30 years of experience in the field of thermal system solutions for electronics manufacturing, Rehm Thermal Systems is positioned worldwide and has made a name for itself internationally with high-quality mechanical engineering. During the Careers Day on 17 October, the company will be presenting its wide range of entry-level opportunities – whether as a specialist or manager, as an apprentice or as a dual student. “We’re looking forward to a successful Careers Day with many interested individuals seeking to discover more about us, our company and our career opportunities – and we’re looking forward to meeting qualified future employees,” emphasises Joachim Erhard, HR Manager at Rehm. This year's Careers Day at Rehm Thermal Systems will focus on the various entry-level opportunities, particularly in the specialist areas of software, service, production and application. The diverse training and dual study opportunities in the technical and commercial areas will also be presented.
Rehm Thermal Systems in Blaubeuren-Seißen is hosting a career day on 17 October (Image: Rehm Thermal Systems).
Have we piqued your interest? Come by on 17 October 2021 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on the company premises of Rehm Thermal Systems, Leinenstraße 7, 89143 Blaubeuren-Seissen. Take advantage of this opportunity and talk to the various experts and HR professionals directly on site about career entry and development opportunities at Rehm. You are also welcome to bring along current application documents and discuss them with the HR Team.
The Rehm Team is looking forward to your visit!
You can find our current job offers online at https://www.rehm-group.com/karriereportal/stellenangebote.html. Interested parties can also apply for a job directly online at Rehm via this page.
As interest increases for new portfolio additions, Heller, Essemtec and Asscon, Altus Group a leading distributor of capital equipment for the electronics industry, is expanding its team to support its growing customer base.
Following a successful year and with business continuing to grow within the electronics sector, Altus has welcomed Steve Leake who joins the sales support team. With a focus on PCB assembly reflow and electro mechanical processes, he will provide assistance to customers interested, in particular, on Heller, Essemtec and Asscon which have all proved exceptionally popular since their introduction this year.
“We are thrilled that Steve has joined the team,” said Mike Todd, Altus Technical Operations Manager.
“Many reading this may have come across the surname when working with Altus as Steve is Tony Leake’s son who has been associated with us in an after sales capability for some time. It is great to be able to keep it in the family and have both Steve and Tony available to share their knowledge with our customers.
“Steve brings with him bags of enthusiasm and has already visited several customers prior to joining us formerly in September which is a show of the character of Steve. For us it was a no brainer to bring him onboard as we focus to the future and growing our after sales support infrastructure to support the growing activities and installations in the UK and Irish electronics market.”
With its long-term strategy for growth, Altus, continues to make intelligent investments in both brand and equipment expansions, and human capital growth by increasing staff levels to meet its growing customer base and future plans.
www.altusgroup.co.uk.
Class is in session once again as Indium Corporation offers a new round of its successful test for industry professionals to measure their surface mount technology (SMT) knowledge. Organized by Dr. Ron Lasky, senior technologist, the test offers prizes—and bragging rights—to those who get a high score.
Designed to reinforce—or improve—foundational SMT knowledge for industry newcomers and veterans, the free test features 10 multiple-choice questions. Based on the number of correct results, respondents will be ranked from President’s List (for those who achieve a perfect score) down to Repeat the Course (for those who score three or fewer correct responses). The test can be accessed on Dr. Lasky’s blog and Indium Corporation’s LinkedIn account.
“I am excited for the opportunity to bring the SMT IQ test to our friends in the industry,” Lasky said. “As a college professor, I know that the lessons learned in the classroom can create a strong foundation for professional success. I hope all participants study hard and have fun.”
Five lucky participants will be randomly selected to win a $25 digital gift card. Respondents will have to provide their email address when completing the survey in order to be eligible.
If potential test takers are looking to brush up on their SMT knowledge prior to taking the test, visit Dr. Lasky’s blog at www.indium.com/blog/dr-ron-lasky.php.
Dr. Lasky is a senior technologist at Indium Corporation, as well as a professor of engineering and the director of the Lean Six Sigma program at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., U.S. He has more than 30 years of experience in electronics and optoelectronics packaging at IBM, Universal Instruments, and Cookson Electronics. Dr. Lasky has authored six books, and contributed to nine more, on science, electronics, and optoelectronics, and has authored numerous technical papers. Additionally, he has served as an adjunct professor at several colleges, teaching more than 20 different courses on topics ranging from electronics packaging, materials science, physics, mechanical engineering, and science and religion. Dr. Lasky holds numerous patent disclosures and is the developer of several SMT processing software products relating to cost estimating, line balancing, and process optimization. He is the co-creator of Surface Mount Technology Association’s (SMTA) SMT Process Engineering Certification program and exams that set standards in the electronics assembly industry worldwide. Dr. Lasky was awarded the Surface Mount Technology Association’s (SMTA) Technical Distinction Award in 2021 for his “significant and continuing technical contributions to the SMTA.” He was also awarded SMTA’s prestigious Founder’s Award in 2003.
Leading distributor of capital equipment for the electronics assembly industry, Altus is strengthening its team of engineers in Ireland with the announcement of a new Senior Applications Engineer to support the growing customer base in the region.
Michal Ostrykiewicz has joined the company with over two decades of experience in the electronics manufacturing industry. He will play a key role in heading up the aftersales and sales support structure within Ireland, and will be a key point of contact for customers within the region.
Joe Booth, Altus CEO said: ‘’I am delighted that Michal has chosen to join our team and think that he will have a bright and long future within Altus supporting our activities in the region. He has all the attributes that we look for in a hire culturally, as well as a deep and broad technical background to offer value to our current and prospective partners.
“Michal truly understands our customer’s perspective having been served by Altus and our competition in the past during previous employment. We are looking forward to building on our already illustrious list of partners in the region and Michal will be just the man to support that.”
With over 20 years of experience within the industry, Michal joins from BorgWarner, a leading supplier of advanced electrification technologies for electric and hybrid vehicles. With knowledge in automation and integration processes, and experience in project management and new system implementation, Michel will be a huge asset to Altus and the Irish division.
www.altusgroup.co.uk
Mycronic’s Global Technologies division has divested Automation Engineering, Inc. (AEi) to Singapore-based ASM Pacific Technology.
AEi, which was acquired by Mycronic in 2016, develops, manufactures, and sells innovative and market leading solutions for precision Camera Module Assembly and Test (CMAT) systems used in electronics products. AEi provides a comprehensive product portfolio of fully-automated active alignment solutions, used to assemble camera modules and to measure and verify quality during volume production. The equipment is modular and adapted to customer requirements. The largest customer segment is the automotive industry.
“Our goal has been to find an owner with an existing broad offering towards the automotive industry, who in addition has a technological leadership position in active alignment solutions for camera and sensor assembly and thus can leverage AEi’s technology and know-how. We believe we have found such an owner in ASM Pacific Technology,” says Michael Chalsen, Sr VP Global Technologies at Mycronic.
“We greatly look forward to continuing to develop AEi’s global market and technology leadership position together with ASM Pacific Technology and enabling full line solutions for the automotive and adjacent markets,” says Jean Marc Peallat, General Manager, AEi.
The transaction is expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2021 or first quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
www.mycronic.com
SMTA is pleased to announce, Mohamed El Amine Belhadi, Auburn University, has been selected as the recipient of the 2021 JoAnn Stromberg Student Leader Scholarship.
The SMTA Awards Committee selected Mohamed for his committed leadership in the SMTA. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate from the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering at Auburn University. Mohamed currently serves as President of the SMTA Auburn University Student Chapter and has been involved with the chapter since 2019. Through his leadership the chapter was able to establish stronger relations within the College of Engineering to further promote chapter activities both on and off campus. Mohamed expanded membership within the chapter and also within the officer team, establishing and filling three new roles. He has strived to work more closely with other SMTA chapters, committees, and programs, as well as use his connections through SMTA to help fellow students find jobs and internships.
The $3000 JoAnn Stromberg Student Leadership Scholarship, given in honor of the nearly 30 years of service dedicated by former Executive Administrator, JoAnn Stromberg, was established following her retirement in 2015. The purpose of this scholarship is to encourage students to take on more leadership opportunities and strengthen the connection between students and the electronics industry.
The Stromberg Scholarship is awarded annually to a full-time student pursuing a degree in electronics and actively involved in the SMTA. The scholarship is intended for the purchase of technical books and research materials, for participation in conferences related to electronics assembly and packaging, and for living expenses if necessary.
The award will be presented in person at the 2021 SMTA International Conference, November 1-4, 2021 in Minneapolis, MN, USA.
The nomination period will be available early next year for 2022 candidates. Consider making a donation to the scholarship by visiting https://www.smta.org/scholarship/.
Please contact Saniya Pilgaonkar, scholarship@smta.org or +1-952-920-7682, with questions.
SMTA – A Global Association Working at a Local Level
SMTA is an international network of professionals who build skills, share practical experience and develop solutions in Electronics Manufacturing (EM), including microsystems, emerging technologies, and related business operations.
Yamaha Robotics Factory Automation section has appointed Growskills Robotics as its distributor in Portugal. The move strengthens support for enterprises seeking to modernise their processes using the Company’s portfolio of robots for light industrial applications.
“With experience in education and training, as well as sales and support, Growskills Robotics can show the market how our technologies transform key metrics like quality, delivery, and productivity,” said Jumpei Ninomiya, Yamaha FA Sales Manager for Europe. “Together, we can help customers automate and improve the performance of numerous processes that involve component picking, placement, packaging, and light mechanical assembly.”
Growskills in Matosinhos
“We are looking forward to a successful and rewarding collaboration with Yamaha, using flexible, affordable robots to overcome the challenges that face manufacturing and logistics companies,” said António Fernandes, General Manager, Growskills Robotics. “The Yamaha portfolio addresses inline and standalone applications, and enables end-to-end automated solutions that are fast, reliable, and scalable.”
The Yamaha portfolio includes SCARA and cartesian, multi-axis robot arms, and single-axis robots, featured for use in environments from small factories and workshops to laboratory cleanrooms. There is a wide selection of SCARA robots, including the competitively-priced YK-XE series that offers arm-length options up to 710mm and load capacity from 4kg to 10kg. In addition, Yamaha’s LCMR200 programmable high-speed linear conveyor modules handle workpiece transport and are quieter and more flexible than conventional belt-and-roller conveyors. The RCXiVY2+ system simplifies adding vision capabilities and connects directly with the RCX340 robot controller for efficient performance with minimal latency.
SMTA is honored to announce Yi Zhou, a graduate student at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has been selected as the winner of the 2021 Charles Hutchins Educational Grant.
The SMTA Grant Committee selected Zhou’s project entitled "Mechanical and Ka-Band Electrical Testing of 5G/mm-wave Wearable System-on-Package Designs." She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 2017, and a Master’s degree in 2019 from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta. Her master’s research explored Mechanical and High-Frequency Electrical Study of Printed, Flexible Antenna under Deformation. She is the current president of the Georgia Tech Student Chapter of SMTA. She is also an avid clarinet player and was a part of concert band at Georgia Institute of Technology.
The Charles Hutchins Educational Grant was established in memory of past SMTA president, educator, mentor, and industry colleague, Dr. Charles Hutchins. The $8000 grant has been presented annually since 1998 to a full time graduate-level student pursuing a degree and working on thesis research in electronics assembly, electronics packaging, or a related field.
The award will be presented in person at the 2021 SMTA International Conference, November 1-4, 2021 in Minneapolis, MN, USA.
The SMTA will begin accepting applications for the 2022 Charles Hutchins Educational Grant in early 2022. View details at the website: https://smta.org/page/hutchins-grant
Please contact Saniya Pilgaonkar, hutchins@smta.org or +1-952-920-7682, with questions.
The FactoryLogix Platform to Consolidate and Synchronize Systems that Support Operations by Amplifying Productivity to Reinforce L3Harris’ Customer Commitments
Aegis Software, a global provider of Manufacturing Execution Software (MES), has signed an enterprise agreement with L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX) to support 20 manufacturing sites and more than 5,500 end users with the Aegis’ FactoryLogix® platform.
The platform will consolidate IT systems by digitizing and optimizing manufacturing data to help streamline operational processes. A key advantage of the suite of manufacturing software is the enhanced visibility into productivity and quality metrics.
“Our priority is to provide solutions that meet the critical needs of our customers and Aegis will help us do this across the selected sites,” said Byron Green, Vice President, Global Operations, L3Harris. “We are always looking to invest in technology that supports continuous improvement and innovation, while helping us remain agile and deliver more quickly in a safe and secure manner.”
“We are honored that our twelve-year relationship serving L3Harris has now moved to an enterprise-level agreement. Aegis is excited to work with L3Harris at this level and see the efficiencies, cost savings, and operational excellence the FactoryLogix platform will bring to their enterprise,” stated Jason Spera, CEO and Co-Founder of Aegis Software. “Our modern IIoT-based MES platform, proven experience in the defense and aerospace industry, and rich domain expertise are why leading companies, like L3Harris, consistently turn to Aegis.
FactoryLogix is a holistic and modular IIoT-based MES platform that delivers leading-edge technology with easily configurable modules to support and execute a discrete manufacturer’s strategy towards Industry 4.0. FactoryLogix manages the entire manufacturing lifecycle: from product launch to material logistics, through manufacturing execution and quality management, to powerful analytics and real-time dashboards. This end-to-end platform is helping companies accelerate product introductions, streamline processes, improve quality and traceability, reduce costs, and gain greater visibility for competitive advantage and profitability.
Contract electronics manufacturers Prism Electronics have announced their acquisition by FC Group Invest Ltd.
With the co-founders and directors of the Cambridgeshire-based company retiring, ownership has been passed to the Swedish-UK investors who aim to continue the manufacturer’s sustained growth. “As part of our succession planning, we wanted to ensure Prism’s future would be in good hands. We’ve taken our time to identify FC Group Invest as the right people to take the business forward” said David Aspinall, co-founder and current Managing Director of Prism Electronics.
Prism Electronics was established in 1991 when David and fellow electronics expert, Richard Walton, formed the company through a management buy-out of the manufacturing division of their then employer. Then in its infancy, Prism Electronics has since developed to be one of the leading names in UK contract electronics manufacturing, delivering printed circuit board assemblies for many specialist and high-tech products. David added “We’re confident Prism will prosper with the support of FC Group Invest, who have exciting plans for the future. The fact that Prism has continued to grow during a global pandemic is testament to the quality of our services and dedication of our team.”
Based in Sweden and the UK, new owners FC Group Invest have extensive experience in the mergers and acquisitions of profitable businesses and aim to ensure the company continues its sustained growth. Fredrik Johansson, co-founder of FC Group Invest, said “My colleagues and I are delighted to have acquired a company with such a highly skilled workforce and first-class reputation. Our business plan is about continuity and stability, followed by development and growth.” Directors David Aspinall, Richard Walton and Richard Vyse will all remain with the business for a transition period to ensure a smooth handover.
In 2017, the Prism Electronics team was joined by Dave Dawson whose 30-year experience in semiconductor manufacturing led to him becoming General Manager in 2020. Dave will continue to lead the business day-to-day and work with the new owners to ensure it thrives. “It’s clear FC Group Invest share our pride in the manufacturing and engineering excellence we deliver to our partners. I strongly believe our team can look forward to very exciting and positive times ahead” states Dave.
From their base in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, Prism Electronics produce printed circuit board assemblies and other electronics used within products in areas including instrumentation, medicine, transportation, communications, security, telemetry and industrial applications.
In addition to manufacturing, they work closely with clients to develop and test solutions and ensure their electronics deliver outstanding performance and durability.
Further announcements on future plans and Prism Electronics’ continued investment in its capabilities are anticipated in 2022.
More details can be found at https://www.prism-electronics.com/
RoodMicrotec N.V., an independent company for semiconductors supply and quality services, announced that the Court of Appeal has given a verdict in the legal proceedings as announced in the press release on August 7, 2019. The Court of Appeal ratified the verdicts of the Subdistrict Court of Zwolle and sentenced the debtor to bear the costs of appeal.
https://www.roodmicrotec.com
Investments over the past 18 months support continuing technology advancements and business growth at the electronics design and contract manufacturing center near Rochester, NY
September 24, 2021 – Z-AXIS, Inc. (www.zaxis.net) has added more than $1.2 million worth of equipment for electronic product assembly services at its factory near Rochester, NY over the last eighteen months. The purchases increase throughput and support continuous quality improvement in the company’s manufacturing processes for surface mount technology (SMT) and mixed-technology printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies as well as box builds and wire and cable assemblies.
They include:
An upgraded and expanded production line for manual and automated insertion of through-hole components in mixed-technology PCB assemblies. The company added a Universal Instruments Radial 88HT automated through-hole insertion machine, 30-foot adjustable extruded aluminum board handling rails, custom LED task lighting, CAM software with electronic assembly instructions for each station, and a conveyor to transport boards through inspection after wave solder and depaneling. An upgraded robotic IC programmer. A Xeltek SuperBot 5e robotic integrated circuit programmer replaces an earlier model, with speeds three times faster and an ability to reliably handle the latest fine-pitch IC packages. An Ersa VersaFlow 3/45 Selective Soldering System. This high-end system increases throughput and quality for soldering mixed-technology PCBAs. Offline programming and rapid change-over support Z-AXIS’ high-mix manufacturing business. A HydroJet in-line board cleaning system. The new board washer effectively and efficiently removes solder flux from PCB assemblies, including those with high-density SMT components such as ball grid arrays (BGAs). An environmental chamber for Environmental Stress Screening (ESS). Adding to the existing burn-in chambers, ESS expands the company’s burn-in capabilities with temperature cycling from -70C to +175C. New automated equipment in the custom wire and cable assembly department. This includes a second low-pressure injection molding machine for cable over-molding, a Panduit CP Series ferrule crimp press, a Kingsing KS-W66 Series heavy duty rotary cable stripper, a Gamma Mark III Plus heat shrink label printer, and a CableEye continuity tester. A Haas TM-2P Horizontal Mill in the machine shop. The new mill enables faster machining of jigs and fixtures for production use, as well as prototype enclosures and other components for the company’s box build services.
“Continuous re-investment in our manufacturing capabilities is essential for contract manufacturers to stay ahead of changing PCB technology and anticipate our customers’ next requirements,” said Michael Allen, president of Z-AXIS. “These investments improve our capacity, throughput and quality. At the same time, they improve employee satisfaction by automating the dull and boring jobs, making it easier for our team to do great work.”
The investments are aligned with the company’s long-range plan to continue to add capabilities to its agile, responsive, high-quality manufacturing services at its 32,000 square foot design and manufacturing center in western New York. About Z-AXIS Z-AXIS, Inc. (www.zaxis.net) provides quality design, prototyping and contract manufacturing services for complex electronic products and electromechanical assemblies. Services include electronic design and printed circuit board (PCB) layout, PCBA manufacturing, box builds, and wire and cable assemblies. The company offers fast design turnaround, competitive NRE charges, rapid production and low freight costs from its ISO 9001:2015 certified design and manufacturing facility that is located near Rochester, Syracuse and Buffalo, New York. The company also designs, manufactures and sells commercial, industrial and medical power supplies under its Bear Power Supplies brand.
AI technology deployed at endpoint drives faster time to market for asset-intensive industries
MicroAI™, the pioneer in edge-native artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) products, announced that it has integrated its MicroAI AtomML™ technology with the Renesas RA Microcontroller (MCU) product line. The collaboration with Renesas, a global leader in microcontrollers, brings machine learning to MCUs and, with MicroAI, the ability to train machine learning models directly in the embedded environment—a first for the industry.
Asset owners and manufacturers of industrial, commercial and consumer systems and devices are now able to quickly adopt Edge AI into their machines by utilizing the MicroAI-powered MCUs. This allows for intelligence to be embedded at the source of the data, enabling lower connectivity, cloud, and operational costs while expediting time to market for AI-powered solutions. Embedding MicroAI provides next generation intelligence for machines and IoT devices.
“We are excited to work with MicroAI to support its technology on our MCUs,” said Mohammed Dogar, senior director of global business development, Renesas. “The industry has been asking to bring more insight and intelligence into the performance of their assets closer to the source of the data, and, working with MicroAI, we have a solution.”
MicroAI is a sophisticated patented machine learning algorithm that lives directly on a machine or IoT device, providing asset owners and manufacturers with deep insight into the behavior, health and performance of their equipment/devices. For example, robotic welding arms across the automotive assembly lines or greenhouse gas efficiency in agriculture. Asset owners and manufacturers often face unexpected downtime and static maintenance schedules, which create unnecessary costs and avoidable service hours. Lack of visibility into asset performance means they can react only when a problem occurs.
By creating more visibility into the operations of manufacturing lines, specifically what is causing both unplanned downtime events and nuisance events, asset owners and manufacturers can make adjustments to reduce those events to keep operations running smoothly.
“Companies around the globe have been asking for predictive insight into how their assets are performing, behaving and being utilized to increase the productivity of the equipment they deploy,” said MicroAI chief executive officer Yasser Khan. “Working with Renesas, MicroAI is delivering that capability by utilizing our technology to bring machine learning to MCUs, providing the ability to train machine learning models directly in the embedded environment.”
For more information about MicroAI, please visit www.micro.ai
For more information about MicroAI solution on RA MCUs, visit https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/microcontrollers-microprocessors/ra-cortex-m-mcus/ra-partners/one-tech-microai-atom
It is with great sadness that Indium Corporation announces the passing of Chairman William (Bill) N. Macartney III on September 14, 2021.
Macartney leaves behind a company he served loyally for more than 50 years. Macartney joined in 1967 and was named President in 1970. He was named Chairman in 2017.
Over these many decades, the Indium Corporation has enjoyed consistent, steady growth and significant market expansion. Under Macartney, Indium Corporation grew from approximately 20 employees to nearly 1,200 today and from one facility in Utica, NY, USA to 14 modern and ever-expanding facilities worldwide.
“The hallmarks of Bill’s leadership were his devotion to the people who worked for him, his caring for community, and his commitment to customers who have relied on Indium Corporation to provide outstanding products that have truly impacted the world,” stated Greg Evans, CEO.
“Bill believed that materials science changes the world and he made that a fundamental element of the culture of Indium Corporation,” said Ross Berntson, President and COO. “He provided the platform for our team to continuously look for the next technological advancement.”
Appointment of a new chairman will be completed at the discretion of the board of directors. Evans remains as CEO and Ross Berntson as President and COO.
Transition Automation, Inc. today announces that it has selected PDMTech Services as its exclusive representative for Permalex Edge Metal Squeegee and Universal Squeegee Holder Systems as well as advanced Batch SMT Printers for the territory of Canada. PDMTech Services, founded by Paul Morin, is a highly skilled service business that focuses on SMT printer service, spare parts and preventive maintenance throughout Canada. Transition Automation, Inc. has long enjoyed a significant role supporting Canadian SMT manufacturing and this new representation allows Transition to further the mission to advance North American SMT quality and production yield.
Transition Automation, Inc. is a worldwide leader in the manufacturing and distribution of Permalex® Edge Metal Squeegees, holder systems and advanced SMT printing systems. Founded in 1989, Transition Automation, Inc. continues to advance the state of the art in surface mount solder paste printing by innovating the critical and high-cycle squeegee component of the SMT assembly process. Transition Automation products are utilized for mission-critical automotive, avionics, industrial controls, satellite and other high-value industries that need high uptime and low machine interruption. The company sells its products internationally via exclusive distributors and in the USA directly and online via an advanced e-commerce platform. Transition Automation Headquarters are located at 5 Trader Circle, Building D, Tyngsboro, Ma 01879 USA; Phone: 978-649-2400; E-mail: mjc@transitionautomation.com; Web: www.metalsqueegees.com
Following consultation with Altus Group, Alchemy Technical Consulting Ltd., leading provider of turnkey tailor-made solutions, has invested in state-of-the-art pick-and-place technology from Essemtec. Capital investment in the ‘Puma’ will increase capacity for the company and ensure high precision production to meet today’s demanding electronics environment.
Having used Essemtec’s Paraquada SMD pick-and-place machine previously, Alchemy is leveraging the next-generation Puma platform for its many benefits. Puma is the world’s best high speed pick-and-place solution which can also be used in ultra-flexible, rapid prototyping developments. With different modules available the system can grow with the customer’s requirements for performance and processes.
Jamie Hyslop, Alchemy Technical Consulting Managing Director said: “We are delighted to add a new pick and place system capability to our production environment to support our growing production requirements.
“Having used the Essemtec FLX and then the Paraquda thereafter, it made a lot of sense for us to invest in Essemtec and their trusted solutions. The latest of the range, and the 4 spindle Puma system, offers us higher throughput capabilities but with the same level of flexibility which is what we need in our high mix, low volume manufacturing setting. An added bonus was that we could reuse the existing feeders that we have as well as use the upgraded HyQ feeders if the application requires it.”
Puma offers many advances; as well as high speed placement and dispensing in a single pass through, it also has linear motors and a mineral cast frame, providing exceptional speed, stability, and accuracy making it perfectly suited for Alchemy’s requirements. It also features upgraded feeder technology and the latest GUI all adding to its innovative capabilities.
Tony Sweetman, Altus Sales Manager added: “I have really enjoyed this project with Jamie and the team at Alchemy. It is great to see more Essemtec installations in the UK and Ireland now that we are supporting them in these regions.
“Alchemy is the perfect fit for the Essemtec’s equipment due to their high mix, low volume and large component range. For many sites in the UK and Ireland, specifically small OEMs and CEMs, pure speed of placement is less of a priority than quick changeover and feeder count and in that area, Essemtec are quite difficult to look past. I would like to Congratulate Jamie and the Alchemy team, we are looking forward to working more closely with them in the future.”
For help or advice on the latest capital equipment advancements contact Altus Groupwww.altusgroup.co.uk
The Nomination Committee for Mycronic’s 2022 Annual General Meeting has been appointed in accordance with the instructions for the Nomination Committee as decided by the 2021 Annual General Meeting.
The Nomination Committee comprises: Henrik Blomquist, Bure Equity Patrik Jönsson, SEB Funds Thomas Ehlin, The Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Patrik Tigerschiöld, Chairman
The Nomination Committee represents 46.9 percent of votes and shares as of 31 August, 2021. Shareholders who wish to submit proposals to the Nomination Committee are welcome to contact the Nomination Committee. In order for the Nomination Committee to be able to consider a proposal, it must be received well in advance of the Annual General Meeting.
Contact Nomination Committee: Mycronic AB Nomination Committee Ann Borgström Box 3141 183 03 Täby Sweden
For additional information, please contact: Patrik Tigerschiöld, Chairman via Ann Borgström, +46 8 638 52 68, e-mail: ann.borgstrom@mycronic.com
Sven Chetkovich Director Investor Relations Tel: +46 70 558 39 19, e-mail: sven.chetkovich@mycronic.com
The information in this press release was published on September 16, 2021, at 08:00 a.m. CEST
Indium Corporation’s Chris Nash, senior product manager, PCB assembly solder paste, will participate in a Global SMT & Packaging debate on solder paste technology on Oct. 26 at 7:30 a.m. San Francisco/10:30 a.m. New York/3:30 p.m. London/4:30 p.m. Paris.
Solder is a critical interconnection material in the electronics manufacturing process. This panel will seek to provide a fundamental guide to all the characteristics that continue to make solder the interconnection of choice for today’s PCB assemblies. This will include paste types, powder sizes, the role of flux chemistries, and temperature, among other topics.
The debate will be followed by a live Q&A session.
For more information or to register for the debate, visit https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Ht8mgzJWT-GHn77-acnQiA.
If you’re looking for more technical content from Indium Corporation experts, register for an upcoming InSIDER Series webinar and view recordings of past sessions at www.indium.com/webinar.
Nash is the senior product manager for Indium Corporation’s PCB assembly solder paste. With an intimate understanding of customer needs and challenges, he works closely with the company’s R&D team to deliver fully scaled, launched, marketable product solutions for the PCB assembly market. Nash also provides comprehensive technical advice in the selection, use, and application of solder paste and flux to electronics assembly customers throughout the world. He is responsible for ensuring the product line is poised for future growth to best meet the needs of existing and potential customers. He joined Indium Corporation in 2005. He has authored several process and technical guidelines, and has presented at numerous industry forums and conferences. He is a member of the SMTA and participates in the occasional IPC standards development committee. Nash has a bachelor’s degree from Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY, U.S. He is certified as a Six Sigma Green Belt from Dartmouth College’s Thayer School of Engineering and is a Certified SMT Process Engineer.
www.indium.com
Photon steam aging system provides accelerated life testing simulating elongated storage conditions for high reliability applications.
Hentec Industries/RPS Automation, a leading manufacturer of selective soldering, lead tinning and solderability test equipment, is pleased to announce that El Paso Industrial Supply has added a Photon steam aging system to its line-up. The Photon steam aging system is used for accelerated life testing to simulate elongated storage conditions for high-reliability applications. These steam aging systems complement the Odyssey component lead tinning machines specifically designed to perform component re-tinning, tin whisker mitigation, gold removal and BGA de-balling for high reliability and military application in accordance with all relevant GEIA-STD-006, MIL-PRF-38535, MIL-PRF-38524E and ANSI-J-STD-002 standards.
www.epis-usa.com
KYZEN, the global leader in innovative environmentally friendly cleaning chemistries, announces that Debbie Carboni, Global Product Line Manager, Electronics, has been chosen to receive the Excellence in Leadership Award from the Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA).
“I am both honored and humbled to receive this award,” Carboni said. “When I first joined the SMTA more than two decades ago, I was the youngest person in the room and thought SMTA was a group of people gathering to fill a 60-minute rubber chicken dinner meeting. Little did I know that my experience with this organization would help me achieve many of my personal and professional goals, and it evolved into a community filled with ball games, golf outings, fishing trips, panel discussions, public speaking tutorials, white papers, certifications and colleagues who are more like family than co-workers. This community is filled with people who truly want to help others succeed.”
This award honors SMTA members who stand out as strong leaders in the Association, showing exceptional dedication to the SMTA, serving as a leader at the national, international, and/or chapter level. The individual’s involvement has enhanced the association, expanded programs, or made a significant impact to achieve the SMTA mission. Debbie was selected as the 2021 recipient of this award due to her dedication to the success of the SMTA for more than 20 years. She has demonstrated her leadership as VP Expos on the Board of Directors, a speaker, a member of several committees and more. Most recently she has been instrumental in reviving the Philadelphia Chapter and mentoring the officer team.
“With my 20+ years with the SMTA, I have met great leaders and friends. I have learned more about printing, design and reflow than I ever thought I would want to know. I have had the honor of sharing some of my knowledge of PCB cleaning with others around the globe at various SMTA events. I enjoy seeing each year’s young professionals who are eager to both learn and share their knowledge with our community and look forward to seeing one of them be selected in the future. This is the heart of the SMTA, and it makes leadership easy,” Carboni commented.
She added that she first joined the Association for networking and to learn about other processes, but over the years she came to enjoy it and has made many friends that feel like family. She added that the SMTA is a part of who she is today. One of her crowning achievements was when then-President Jeff Kennedy asked if she would run for the Board. While she had never considered an elected position, she went for it with the goal of making a difference. She realized that she could give back to those who had given her so much. She applied her passion and sense of fun to her numerous roles within the Association and has helped strengthen and broaden the Association’s goals over the years.
Tanya Martin, CMP, Executive Director of SMTA, said, “Debbie brings fun and passion to the chapter and SMTA. The SMTA thanks Debbie for her many valuable years of service.”
“Much gratitude to the SMTA community for selecting me as this year’s recipient,” Carboni concluded. “I am truly appreciative and will treasure this for many years.”
SMTA has recognized exceptional individual and corporate members for their immeasurable contributions to the association since 1994. Debbie is dedicated to preserving the traditions of the association and maintaining high standards of professionalism in the industry. She will be recognized during SMTA International this November 1-4, 2021 in Minneapolis, MN.
www.kyzen.com
Circuit Technology Center announces it has enhanced its component-level modification services capability with the addition of a robotic hot solder dip (RHSD) machine dedicated to the lead-free processing of components for applications that require refinishing with lead-free solder for RoHS compliance. The refinishing of numerous component types is supported, including fine pitch QFP’s, SOIC’s, QFN’s, BGA’s and various other component types.
Typical applications for lead-free, RoHS compliant robotic hot solder dip include refinishing component leads, particularly after removal and salvage from circuit boards, and the flushing of excess solder from salvaged BGA’s and other bottom-terminated components. Additional applications include the removal of contamination, oxidation, and the removal of tin-lead solder from BGA devices when re-balling from tin-lead to lead-free, RoHS compliant solder. RoHS compliance can be confirmed post-processing via in-house x-ray fluorescence (XRF) technology.
“We have seen a significant increase in customer requests inquiring about the removal and salvage of hard-to-source SMT devices and BGA devices due to industry supply chain issues and component shortages," says Andy Price, Sales Manager at Circuit Technology Center. "This added capability and flexibility in our robotic hot solder dip department complements our existing substantial capacity to support selective device salvage and allows us to support our customers with high speed, reliable refinishing of salvaged devices with either RoHS compliant solder or tin-lead solder.”
www.circuitrework.com
Incap estimates that its revenue, operating profit (EBIT) and adjusted operating profit (EBIT) for 2021 will be significantly higher than in 2020. The increase in the revenue and operating profit estimate is driven by improved visibility related to the customers' forecasts and the company's own assessments of the business development.
The estimates are given provided that there are no major negative changes in the coronavirus pandemic situation, currency exchange rates or in component availability.
Previously the company estimated that its revenue, operating profit (EBIT) and adjusted operating profit (EBIT) for 2021 will be clearly higher than in 2020.
Incap’s Business review for January–September 2021 will be published on 27 October 2021.
www.incapcorp.com
Stealth company incubated by blockchain unicorn Bitfury Group and global nanoelectronics R&D center imec
AI semiconductor startup Axelera AI announced today that it has successfully closed a seed investment round of $12 million. The round was led by emerging technologies leader Bitfury and joined by global nanoelectronics R&D center imec and deep-tech venture capital funds Innovation Industries and imec.xpand. The funding will support the company’s development of an industry-defining product powering AI applications at the edge.
Axelera AI was incubated by Bitfury Group in 2019, formerly operating as Bitfury AI until the company came out as an independent entity this year. Building on its extensive research and development focused on integrating world-class hardware and software technologies for edge and cloud-to-edge enterprise solutions, Axelera AI has also joined forces with imec since early 2020 to develop groundbreaking computing architecture for high-performance AI. Headquartered in the AI Innovation Center of the High-Tech Campus in Eindhoven, Axelera AI also has R&D offices in Leuven (BE) and Zurich (CH). The company has already recruited an elite team of more than 20 senior engineers and developers from world-leading AI companies and research centers, including Intel, Qualcomm, IBM, and imec.
“With our launch as a new independent company and the closing of this investment, Axelera AI is now claiming its place as a significant player in the global AI sector,” said Fabrizio del Maffeo, CEO and co-founder of Axelera AI. “Our extraordinary team merges complementary expertise in software development, image processing, dataflow architecture, in-memory computing, algorithms and quantization with a proven track record of business success, and we look forward to building on our extensive R&D, introducing new solutions across the globe in the next few years.”
“Bitfury has a proven track record of incubating and bringing game-changing technologies to market,” said Valery Vavilov, CEO and co-founder of Bitfury Group. “We can look no further than LiquidStack, the emerging leader in two-phase liquid immersion cooling for the world’s most intensive computing applications, and Crystal Blockchain, the most advanced blockchain analytics platform for digital asset compliance. We could not be more excited to support the launch of Axelera AI, which is bound to accelerate the development and delivery of critical AI solutions for across global markets. “Over the years imec has been researching custom circuits and novel architectures for efficient AI using in-memory compute, algorithms and quantization”, said Diederik Verkest, Program Director for machine learning at imec. "We are proud that after working together with the Bitfury Group, we can leverage and contribute this expertise to ensure Axelera AI develops and brings the best possible product to the edge AI market."
Axelera AI is a unique Dutch start-up on a journey to deliver a disruptive AI chip that will accelerate the application of AI at the ‘edge of IOT’,” according to Sander Verbrugge, Partner at Innovation Industries. “Affordable AI compute power operating at low power is essential to unlock the full potential of AI in our everyday lives. We are proud to be part of this journey and to support this world-class team achieve its ambitions”.
“Axelera AI has brought together a stellar team and, as such unites several distinct in-memory compute efforts from across Europe under one roof. We very much look forward to working with Fabrizio and his team and helping them to achieve their ambitious goals by leveraging imec.xpand’s cross-border, value-add platform and network,” said Cyril Vančura, Partner at imec.xpand.
Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) and Rheinmetall Landsysteme (RLS) have jointly awarded a contract, worth over £5m, to TT Electronics to supply power electronics assemblies for the British Army’s new Boxer vehicles.
TT Electronics will lead the design, production and delivery of two primary power assemblies for Boxer vehicles over the next 10 years, as part of the UK MOD’s Mechanised Infantry Vehicle (MIV) programme. These products will enable efficient power management of the battery control unit and provide signalling and communications functionality for the command display units featured on every Boxer vehicle.
TT Electronics will recruit a team of six specialists for the peak of production, including a dedicated programme manager. The company will also recruit a further two apprentices to grow its early careers community.
TT Electronics will invest in specialist test equipment to optimise process efficiency and deliver service excellence as well as making an investment in a custom factory layout to drive world-class delivery for the entirety of the programme.
Ben Sutton, Vice President and General Manager at TT Electronics (Power Solutions), said:
“We are immensely proud to have secured our spot within the MIV supply chain. Supporting our Armed Forces with innovative, differentiated solutions is something we’re extremely passionate about. Playing our role in modernising their capability is exactly the type of challenge that we thrive on.
This award concludes months of hard work by our dedicated Abercynon and Cardiff teams and helps us further cement our long-standing partnership with RBSL and RLS. We’re now looking ahead to the next steps and eager to ensure we support this programme with the best service, value and products available.”
The MIV programme aims to support and enhance the UK supply chain. As such, RBSL and RLS are part of a MIV Joint Procurement Team, which has engaged suppliers in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This contract is the latest in a series of supplier contracts for the MIV programme.
Click here for images to support this news release.
The SMTA is proud to honor the 2021 “Members of Distinction” award recipients who have shown exceptional dedication to the association and the electronics manufacturing industry.
The association’s highest honor, the Founder’s Award, recognizes members who have made exceptional contributions to the industry, as well as support and service to the SMTA. This year, the organization selected David Raby, STI Electronics, Inc., to receive this prestigious award. A member since 1985, he has provided skilled leadership as a past President and Board member, an officer in the Huntsville Chapter, and an ambassador. SMTA and the electronics industry have benefited immensely from David Raby's contributions over the years.
The Member of Technical Distinction Award recognizes individuals who have made significant and continuing technical contributions to the association. This year the Awards Committee selected Ronald Lasky, Ph.D., P.E., Indium Corporation, as the recipient of this award. Dr. Lasky has presented numerous technical papers at SMTA conferences, is a co-founder of the SMTA Certification Program, and is a member of the Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium Technical Committee.
The Excellence in Leadership Award honors strong leaders who continue to support and elevate the association. The 2021 recipient of this award is Debbie Carboni, KYZEN Corporation. Debbie has been dedicated to the success of the SMTA for over 20 years. She has demonstrated her leadership as VP Expos on the Board of Directors for six years, as a prolific speaker for many years, and as an active member of the Expo and Women’s Leadership committees. Most recently she has been instrumental in reviving the Philadelphia Chapter and mentoring the officer team. The SMTA thanks Debbie for her many valuable years of service.
The Excellence in International Leadership Award recognizes members who have provided outstanding support and leadership to the SMTA's international members, chapters, or educational programs. The recipient selected for this award is Mei Ming Khaw, Keysight Technologies. Mei Ming has been a prominent leader in the SMTA Penang Chapter for many years as well as working with headquarters to bring their programs to a global audience. She formerly chaired the technical committee of the South East Asia Technical Conference on Electronics Assembly and also helped organize the annual expo in Penang for many years.
Keysight Technologies received the SMTA+ Corporate Partnership Award this year. As a global member, Keysight Technologies has shown support at every level of the association from supporting chapter and board leadership positions to technical contributions for conferences, committees, and most importantly their willingness to share technical knowledge with others in the industry. They embody the SMTA mission by encouraging employees to become members, attend meetings and share their knowledge. Keysight Technologies is most deserving of this honor.
SMTA has recognized exceptional individual and corporate members for their immeasurable contributions to the association since 1994.
XJTAG, a leader in JTAG boundary scan test solutions, is pleased to announce it has signed a distribution agreement with Nohau Solutions AB of Malmö, Sweden.
“We are delighted to become the distributor of XJTAG® test solutions for Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland,” said Mikael Johnsson, Nohau Solutions’ CEO. “XJTAG has been delivering boundary scan systems to the electronics industry for over twenty years, and we firmly believe they are the right company to provide the highly efficient test, debug, and programming solutions that our clients demand. XJTAG has great hardware and software, and the training and technical support they offer is very highly regarded.”
XJTAG is a suite of cost-effective, user-friendly software. Some of the tools are optimised for high-volume factory environments, while others provide the ideal solution for helping R&D engineers with prototype bring-up.
Simon Payne, CEO of XJTAG, said, “It’s great that Nohau Solutions has joined our global distribution network. They have provided professional solutions to Europe’s embedded industries for many years and have a deep understanding of how to deliver the right system for their clients’ needs. We are looking forward to working closely with them to provide a first class service to clients in the region.”
This agreement demonstrates the strong synergy between the two companies – both focus on delivering the highest quality and most effective solutions. “Quality, usability, and cost-effectiveness are shared goals,” commented Simon Payne. “We both strive to help companies boost their efficiency and drive quality improvements. Our boundary scan solutions help electronics manufacturers and developers find assembly faults quickly, and give access to debugging methods that can be invaluable, especially when clients are working with BGAs; and the ultra-fast programming solution can really boost productivity.”
XJTAG delivers test solutions worldwide to most market segments, including aerospace, automotive, telecoms, consumer, defence, industrial, medical, IT, etc.
Companies based in the Nordic counties can request a free 30-day trial of the XJTAG development system by contacting www.nohau.eu or www.xjtag.com
Prospective Outlook is Expected with a Series of Acquisitions Earlier
TIME Interconnect Technology Limited (the "Company ", Stock Code: 1729, with its subsidiaries collectively referred to as the "Group") is pleased to announce details of the increase in the shareholding in the Company by controlling shareholder, Mr. Lo Chung Wai Paul, a non-executive director of the Company and the Chairman of the board of directors of the Company.
On 10 September 2021, Mr. Paul Lo acquired the entire issued share capital of Datatech Investment Inc. (a substantial shareholder holding 204,930,000 shares (the "Shares") of the Company) through Lacosta Harness Limited ( a company direct wholly and beneficially owned by Mr.Paul Lo) from Mr. Kwong Ping Man at a total cash consideration of HK$109,637,550.00 (the "Acquisition"). Immediately after the Acquisition, Mr. Paul Lo is deemed to increase his interest from 1,175,070,000 Shares to 1,380,000,000 Shares, which represents an increase from approximately 63.85% to approximately 74.98% of the total issued shares of the Company as of now. The increase in the shareholding recognises his confidence in the prospects and intrinsic value of the Company as well as his long-term commitment towards the Company.
Meanwhile, the Group has regularly reviewed its own business and strived to seize any business opportunities and made regular strategic deployments to expand its business in order to cope with the impact of global economic changes, pandemic and potential trade wars.
On August 31, 2021, Time Interconnect Investment Limited, a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, completed the acquisition of GPIM Group Marketing Limited and its subsidiary. ("GPIM Group"). The acquisition provides the Group with an attractive opportunity to expand and diversify the Group's business and investment portfolio, and enhance its income sources and long-term development potential. Taking into account the vigorous development of the automotive and electric vehicle markets, the acquisition has helped the Group to enter new business areas. In the past few years, China has remained the world's largest auto market and auto producer. As the Chinese government has launched certain industry plans that focus on technological improvements, fossil fuels are expected to be exhausted soon in the future. Large Chinese companies have announced their initiatives to develop electric vehicles and/or autonomous driving technologies. In October 2020, the State Council set a goal and stated that by 2025, the sales of new energy vehicles in China will reach 20% of the total sales of new vehicles. In view of this, the management noted that one of the major customers of the Group cooperated with automobile manufacturers to launch the first electric vehicle model named after the customer's brand. The Group believes that the automotive wiring products can help the Group to provide this major customer with a broader product portfolio, and to step in new business sectors by enriching the Group's business portfolio and broadening its unique customer base, which can capture opportunities brought by the booming electric vehicle market.
The Group also acquired Linkz Cables Limited. on June 30, 2020, which has created synergy by integrating the R&D resources of the Group and GPIM Group by utilizing rich knowledge and existing production facilities to deliver reliable and high-quality products to its customers. Since the autonomous driving technology of smart cars usually requires reliable and high-speed data transmission, the Group can produce new smart car products that can meet the highest standards and specifications with the technical support of Linkz Cables Limited. In addition, GPIM Group production facilities are close to the Group's existing production facilities in Huizhou. As a result, the efficiency of GPIM Group 's management operations can be optimized through the local management of the Group.
Mr. Paul Lo,
The KYZEN team is excited to announce the launch of its latest project within their Tech 2 Tech by KYZEN program: Tech 2 Tech Packages. After Tech 2 Tech celebrated its first successful anniversary, the team wanted to find a way to improve on the program by providing content on a larger scale. To achieve their goal, KYZEN examined 50+ unique 15-minute technical sessions and bundled relevant content together into convenient packages for viewers to enjoy.
These educational packages were handpicked by the KYZEN Clean Team and targeted to answer questions regarding various cleaning processes. The packages are separated into two segments with the viewer in mind: Electronics Assembly Cleaning and Metal Finishing.
Within the Electronics Assembly section, packages on topics related to stencil cleaning, a series on cleaning basics, electronics concentration monitoring and much more can be found. In the metal finishing section, there are topics such as metal cleaning basics, vacuum degreasing basics, and even a series on metal cleaning process bath life. Each package includes question and answer sheets from each video along with relevant technical articles.
As the Tech 2 Tech series continues to flourish, more topics and videos will be added to the library. The KYZEN Clean Team recommends visiting the Tech 2 Tech page that hosts the packages, past sessions, and also upcoming Tech 2 Tech sessions often as updates are made regularly. To get a better understanding of what a Tech 2 Tech session is like, view their newest commercial!
URtech Manufacturing, a North American provider of end-to-end Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS), is pleased to announce the certification of its Canada facility’s Quality Management System to AS9100D. With this milestone, together with its ISO9001 and ISO13485 certifications and ITAR registration, URtech’s Canada facility has the appropriate, consensus-driven quality benchmarks to serve the aviation, space and defense industries.
“We have enhanced our QMS (quality management system) by integrating key process requirements for our Defense, Aerospace, and Avionics customers with our MES (manufacturing execution system),” stated Michael Wallace, VP of Business Development & Customer Programs. “This allows us to efficiently provide component traceability, assembly traceability, FAI reporting and other critical device record keeping activities for these mission critical accounts.”
AS9100 is an aerospace standard based on the ISO 9001 quality system requirements, adding more stringent requirements specific to the aviation, space and defense industries. The standard takes the requirements of ISO 9001 and supplements them with additional quality system requirements, which are established by the aerospace industry in order to satisfy DND, DOD, NASA and FAA quality requirements.
The new AS9100D revision to the standard adds additional requirements addressing detailed process descriptions and the risks and opportunities associated with their operation; outside interested third party influences; human factors; and professional ethics.
URtech manufactures and integrates electronics for a diverse range of end markets, with each industry having specific quality and traceability requirements. The company has manufacturing sites in Toronto, Canada, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a global supply chain team located in Shenzhen, China managing its mechanicals, PCB and custom component supplier community for non-ITAR accounts. For more information, visit www.urtechmfg.com
Israel-based smart visual inspection company Kitov.ai will participate in a virtual conference being presented by the Israel Economic Mission in Mexico in conjunction with the government of the city of León in the state of Guanajuato.
The virtual conference will take place on September 13 and 14. Kitov.ai will give a presentation on September 13 as part of a segment on manufacturing and automotive technologies.
“This conference is a wonderful opportunity to bring our advanced automation technology to Mexico,” said Adam Tabor, chief operating officer and co-founder of Kitov.ai. “Our technology makes it easy to inspect automotive assemblies with hundreds of inspection points, from the location of fasteners and presence of microchips to connectors and surface finishes. To simplify the machine vision programming steps, Kitov’s Planner software program with AI functionality collaborates with the system designer, resulting in fast design cycles for solving complex inspection problems using machine vision and robotic technology.”
The Israel Commercial Office in Mexico City is part of the Foreign Trade Administration, an agency of Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry. The office’s objective is to promote, improve, and facilitate trade and investment between Mexico and Israel in different sectors. It works to develop strategic bilateral partnerships, identifying new and attractive opportunities for collaboration in business and bilateral trade through business seminars, delegations, exhibitions, and other tailored services.
Kitov.ai systems can be deployed into disparate inspection applications in various markets, including the high-end electronics, automotive, defense, aerospace, and medical device industries. For more information, visit www.kitov.ai or email Corey Merchant at: corey.merchant@kitov.ai.
Meir Polack, Managing Partner of ARTNET PRO Has announced that his company has decided to terminate the agreement with ALTIX to market, sell, and service their equipment in North America, Vietnam and Thailand, the Fareast region.
When making the announcement, Mr. Polack said, “we are very disappointed that we have to cancel this agreement. After almost three years of representing and promoting the DI product made by Altix, we felt that Artnet and Altix did not share the same vision for the future. Thus, it was time for us to move on and pursue other options available in the market today.”
Artnet will keep providing our worldwide customers with the best equipment available in the market and with professional value services at the best prices in the market.
www.artnetpro.com
Operations Manager Dr. Thorsten Meyer himself uses the new space at Peters to park his bike.Photo by Axel Küppers
There is now a new covered parking area for two-wheelers on the premises of Lackwerke Peters in Kempen. A metal construction company has built a shelter on a paved area especially for bicycles and e-bikes. This way, Peters not only supports the environmentally friendly mobility option among the 160-persons workforce at the Lower Rhine site, but also takes account of the need for safety.
"With e-bikes, there is always a residual risk that a lithium-ion battery can ignite due to design errors, technical defects or improper handling," says Dr Thorsten Meyer, Operations Manager of the chemical company. That is why the storage area was deliberately built at a sufficient distance from the warehouse and laboratory stocks of the full-range supplier of coating materials for electronics. In terms of orientation, the metal roof protects the two-wheelers not only from rain, hail and wind, but also from strong sunlight and thus heat, which can support spontaneous combustion of the batteries.
Since more and more employees are switching to e-bikes, Peters now offers not only car drivers but also two-wheelers with electric drives an appropriate, spacious and protected area for their bicycles. "But mopeds, motorbikes and scooters can also be parked there," says Dr Meyer, who himself cycles to work from Tönisvorst, eight kilometres away, as often as he can. Every day, between 15 and 20 two-wheeled vehicles of employees are parked there. The bike station can easily accommodate more than twice that number.
Soon, the company Rox will ensure that the bike parking area is illuminated with LED spotlights to provide safety during the upcoming dark season. The management team with Dr Meyer, his deputy Stefanie Barian and Ralf Georg is now making sure that the old barrel hall and the areas in front of the social building are no longer used as parking space for two-wheelers. "This will settle in, the added value will quickly be recognised," says Ralf Georg who is responsible for the maintenance of the operating facilities at Peters.
"Cycling to work" has always been a high priority at Lackwerke Peters, emphasises Stefanie Barian. Since the beginnings, the company has supported the Germany-wide campaign of the same name launched by the German National Cyclists’ Association and the health insurance company AOK and aimed at encouraging people to leave their cars behind and get on their bikes in a healthy and environmentally friendly way. In times of climate change and resource-saving energy use, Peters as a bicycle- and e-bike-friendly employer is committed to this message more than ever. Cycling is part of workplace health promotion. "With this parking space, we have now created another low-threshold offer to motivate employees to cycle," says Managing Director Ralf Schwartz. After all, cycling not only stands for climate protection, health, exercise and fitness, but also for fun and quality of life.
www.peters.de
STI, a full-service organization providing electronic contract manufacturing, training, consulting, laboratory analysis and prototyping, is pleased to announce that it was highlighted in this month’s Madison Chamber - District 5 Spotlight. Owner David Raby is a District 5 resident.
STI has more than 50 employees and offers training, laboratory analysis, advanced research and development, microelectronics assembly (class 1000 cleanroom environment), prototyping, and small to medium volume PCB contract assembly for the electronics industry. David Raby and his family live in District 5, and STI is located on Palmer Road in Madison.
STI was chosen in 1998, 1999, 2008 and 2009 as one of the fastest growing companies in the country by INC 500 Magazine and was selected by the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce as the 2000 Small Business of the Year in the Business Services Category. STI was also a finalist in the Alabama Manufacturer of the Year in 2008 as awarded by Alabama Technology Network and Business Council of Alabama.
The Madison Chamber of Commerce is an institution of leadership and an advocate for its members and the community. It enables member businesses with affordable and effective strategies to build relationships, establish credibility, engage new audiences and leverage opportunities for growth.
Read more about STI Electronics in the September District 5 Newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/e6wjyvCZ.
To work together with STI to engineer a better future, call 256-461-9191 or visit www.stiusa.com.
Totech, the Moisture Sensitive Device (MSD) handling & storage specialist and member of the ASYS Group, has launched a new corporate brand identity, redesigned logo, and updated website.
As part of the rebranding, the company name changes from Super Dry Totech to simply Totech with a tagline of 'Smart storage & Logistics'. This name change is part of Totech’s strategy to accommodate their ever-widening range of capabilities, to enable them to expand upon their services and to help customers identify with the brand in the marketplace.
The refreshed visual brand identity better represents the core purpose of the company and its products. The icon at the beginning of the new corporate logo represents a stack of SMD component reels, the preferred component packaging for today’s manufacturers. The letters of the Totech name then represent the journey of these reels through the Storage & Logistics process.
Of course, Totech is able to offer customers multiple options for safe component storage and logistics and this is where product brands will differentiate the products.
Super Dry will continue to be the recognised brand of the leading Dry cabinets in the market. Dry Tower is the automated storage and material logistics solution which the company continues to grow with ASYS. LTS is a long term storage as a service offering, allowing manufacturers to forward purchase and safely store (and test) large quantities of components, off site. Smart Connect Software Solutions groups the Totech software solutions which enable connectivity & allow manufacturers of any size to comprehensively maintain control of all their component inventory and particularly their moisture sensitive devices
Each of these business sectors is represented by one of the colours in the new colour cube brand marking, which sits alongside the ASYS Group branding.
“We have grown our business significantly over the last few years. Our brand relaunch represents the natural evolution of that transformation,” said Jos Brehler, Totech CEO. “Today, Totech offers customers a whole range of the highest quality, innovative Dry Storage and Logistics Solutions for the safest storage of (Moisture Sensitive) Devices. It’s imperative for our brand to reflect this and the tremendous value we bring.”
He continued, “While visually this is a significant change, our core beliefs haven’t changed. Our team of dedicated professionals will continue to enable our customer's success. We will continue to provide the same, or better, level of professionalism that they have always experienced”.
https://www.totech.eu
PCE-EDU announces a pair of upcoming classes on the Printed Circuit Engineering Professional curriculum, a new weeklong program on printed circuit engineering layout based on current technology trends.
The 40-hour course was developed by leading experts in printed circuit design with a combined 250 years of industry experience and covers more than 65 major topics ranging from design to materials and fabrication processes. Upcoming workshops take place online September 20-24 and October 18-22, respectively, from 8 AM – 5 PM PDT each day.
The five-day course covers basics of the profession, materials, manufacturing methods and processes; circuit definition and capture; board layout data and placement; circuit routing and interconnection; signal-integrity and EMI applications; flex PCBs; documentation and manufacturing preparation; and advanced electronics (energy movement in circuits, transmission lines, etc.).
The curriculum also provides ongoing reference material for continued development in the profession. The course references general CAD tool practices and is vendor-agnostic.
The course includes a 400-page workbook and an optional exam with a lifetime certification recognized by the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA).
The instructor, Mike Creeden, CID+, has 44 years of industry experience as an educator, PCB designer, applications engineer and business owner. As technical director of Design Education at Insulectro, he helps OEMs and fabricators achieve design success for best material utilization. He has served as a Master Instructor for the CID+ IPC Designer Certification program, was a primary contributor to the CID+ curriculum, and founded San Diego PCB Design, a nationally recognized design service bureau.
IDTechEx has recently launched the new version of their market research report on solid-state batteries - “Solid-State and Polymer Batteries 2021-2031: Technology, Forecasts, Players”. This report identifies key players within the market; discusses manufacturing challenges and how companies are addressing limitations; explores lithium metal as a strategic resource; as well as providing 10-year forecasts in terms of capacity production and market size; and much more.
This article explores the history of solid-state batteries and looks ahead at regional development, sharing some of the research from the new report.
The History of Solid-state Batteries
The 1970s saw the first application of solid-state electrolytes as primary batteries for pacemakers, where a sheet of Li metal is placed in contact with solid iodine. The two materials behave like a short-circuited cell and their reaction leads to the formation of a lithium iodide (LiI) layer at their interface. After the LiI layer has formed, a very small, constant current can still flow from the lithium anode to the iodine cathode for several years.
Fast forward to 2011 where researchers from Toyota and the Tokyo Institute of Technology have claimed the discovery of a sulphide-base material that has the same ionic conductivity of a liquid electrolyte, something unthinkable up to a decade ago. Five years later, they were able to double that value, thus making solid-state electrolytes appealing for high power applications and fast charging. This and other innovations have fuelled research and investments into new categories of materials that can triple energy densities of current Li-ion batteries.
In 2015, Volkswagen got a 5% stake in QuantumScape, Dyson acquired Sakti3, Bosch acquired SEEO and Johnson Battery Technologies sold its solid-state batteries to BP. In 2017, Bosch gave up SEEO and was selling the company, and Dyson abandoned the technologies of Sakti3, but interest in solid-state batteries did not disappear. Ford, Samsung and Hyundai invested in Solid Power, with the latter also partnering up with BMW. Renault, Mitsubishi and Nissan invested in Ionic Materials. In 2020, there was lots of further interest in solid-state batteries, such as the newly developed solid-state batteries based on argyrodite electrolyte by Samsung, and a further $ 200 million investment by Volkswagen on QuantumScape. Besides the companies forementioned, Honda, Fisker, Panasonic, CATL were also getting involved in the market.
Regional Development
Solid-state batteries have had strategic importance in multiple countries and regions. For instance, Germany has earmarked 1 billion Euros to support a consortium looking to produce electric car battery cells and there are plans to fund a research facility to develop next-generation solid-state batteries. In the UK, a 30-month collaborative project, "PowerDrive Line", will develop a lithium-based solid-state battery for EVs and PHEVs, and establish a pre-pilot line for this solid-state battery cell technology. From May 2018, the Japanese government has created a new research entity known as the Consortium for Lithium Ion Battery Technology and Evaluation Center (Libtec) to push forward with research into solid-state batteries. In South Korea, the 3 largest battery manufacturers, SK Innovation, LG Chem, and Samsung SDI, are promoting joint research on next-generation battery fields - including solid-state batteries. US solid-state battery companies have attracted investment from Asian and European battery vendors, car makers and venture capitals.
Interests are heavily driven by the electric vehicle market and regional convenience is an important consideration for the next stage of commercialization, especially based on the current situation with COVID-19 affecting consumers’ purchasing decisions, lifestyle and influencing globalization. This will lead to further consolidation and partnerships,
Austin American Technology (AAT) is pleased to announce that it has further expanded its brand into South America by adding Envoy Imp. Com. e Rep. Ltda. as its new representative / distributor in Brazil. Envoy has been representing SMT solution companies in Brazil for more than 28 years. The company is headquartered in Sao Paulo and has a north branch office in Manaus.
Justin Cody Worden, Director of Business Development, commented: “With our international footprint continuing to grow at an all-time rate, we knew it was necessary for Austin American Technology to partner with the right representation in Brazil. With the addition of Edwin Costa and his team at Envoy Imp., AAT now has a top tier group of engineers and service representation covering all of Brazil.”
Envoy was looking for a strong American company capable of providing a complete machine cleaning solution for the electronics industry in Brazil. They were referred to AAT and quickly realized their synergy.
Edwin Costa is in charge of Envoy as Master Business Administrator with extensive experience in developing companies in the Brazilian market. Costa commented: “Our team is very excited to start promoting and selling AAT’s products. Envoy has an important differential because we provide the complete solution: an extraordinary AAT machine and the KYZEN chemistry. The result will be a happy customer and this is our primary goal.”
For more information about Envoy, call (55 11) 3742 5050 or visit www.envoy.com.br
To learn more about any of Austin American’s products, visit the new online demo room: https://www.aat-corp.com/new-aat-demo-room
For more information about Austin American Technology, please visit www.aat-corp.com
The IGBT market, strongly driven by EV/HEVs, will reach US$8.4 billion by 2026.
Extracted from: IGBT Market & Technology Trends report, Yole Développement, 2021
OUTLINE:
Market forecasts : With US$8.4 billion by 2026, the IGBT market will get a 7.5% growth between 2020 and 2026. IGBT modules segment will represent 81% of the total market in 2026 during the same period, boosted by EV/HEVs adoption. More than 80% of the market will be focused on the 600V-1,200V nominal voltage ranges by 2026. Technology trends: At the system level, new IGBT voltage levels are covering new voltage ranges: EV inverter move from 400V to 800V, PV inverter move to 1,500V for example. Analysts also see lot of technical innovations: new generation of IGBT dies, higher efficiency, lower cost for IGBT devices… IGBT packaging is looking for high reliability, lower cost, lower inductance electrical interconnections. In parallel, IGBT is taking advanced of SiC packaging development. At the wafer level, analysts see the 300mm IGBT wafer manufacturing trends and a shift to MCZ silicon material. Supply chain: IGBT main manufacturers are spread all over the world, but Yole sees also an important growth of Chinese IGBT manufacturers, both foundries and IDMs. All major players are investing into IGBT manufacturing capacity increase… The ranking of main IGBT suppliers remains almost unchanged. The top 3 is, in the order, Infineon Technologies, Mitsubishi Electric and onsemi (1).
“With high growth expected for IGBTs, driven mainly by e-mobility, the supply chain is adapting its strategy and investing massively”,asserts Ana Villamor, PhD. Technology & Market Analyst, Power Electronics & Compound Semiconductors at Yole Développement (Yole).She adds: “IGBT is key for numerous power electronics applications. Strongly pushed by EV/HEVs adoption, at Yole, we announce a 7.5% CAGR from 2020 to 2026 to reach US$8.4 billion at the end of the period”. In addition to EV/HEVs, discrete IGBTs and IGBT power modules can be found in applications like industrial motor drives, wind turbines, photovoltaic installations, trains, UPS , EV charging infrastructure and home appliances. In 2020, the largest IGBT market segments were industrial applications and home appliances. They were closely followed by EV/HEVs, which represented a market of US$509 million in 2020 and which will grow with an impressive 23% CAGR between 2020 and 2026. This is due to the transition from ICE vehicles to EV/HEVs, which is being strongly driven by governments’ targets for CO2 emissions reductions. This transition is further accelerating, due to President Biden’s action plans for the USA as well as the recent EU climate initiative in which all new cars registered in Europe from 2035 will be zero-emission. Therefore, the EV/HEV segment share will more than double by 2026. “Charging infrastructure is also impacted by government decisions as the deployment of chargers is crucial for the expansion of electric vehicle uptake,” explains Abdoulaye Ly, Technology & Market Analyst, Electronic Power Systems at Yole. “Although charging infrastructure is still a small market for IGBTs, it is expected to increase by more than 300% in the coming five years.” Released today, the IGBT Market & Technology Trends report from Yole, contributes to the understanding of the overall ecosystem, its latest innovations and the strategy of leading power electronics companies. Including market trends and forecasts, supply chain, technology trends, technical insights, and market segmentations, take away and outlook… This study delivers an impressive overview of the power electronics industry with a special focus on IGBT market segment. The main IGBT manufacturers are spread all over the world, with historical big players in Europe, USA and Japan. The largest IGBT manufacturers including Infineon Technologies, Littelfuse, Fuji Electric… offer both discrete IGBTs and IGBT power modules.
Revenue, Bookings and Profitability for First Nine Months of 2020 / Show Year-on-Year Improvement ASM Pacific Technology Limited (“ASMPT”, “the Group”) (Stock Code: 0522) announced its results for the third quarter and the nine months ended 30 September 2020. ASMPT is a leading global supplier of hardware and software solutions in the manufacturing of semiconductors and electronics. ASMPT’s technologies enable its diverse range of customers to create a wide range of semiconductor and electronic products and services for the digitally-enabled world.
Despite the challenging global economic conditions, ASMPT achieved growth in revenue and profit for the first nine months of 2020 (9M 2020) versus the same period in 2019 (9M 2019), with bookings growth an especially encouraging sign.
9M 2020 Group Review
Revenue for 9M 2020 was HK$11.97 billion (US$1.54 billion), an increase of 4.7% versus HK$11.43 billion (US$1.46 billion) for 9M 2019. The Group’s consolidated profit after taxation for 9M 2020 of HK$624.7 million also represented a 56.0% increase over 9M 2019.
ASMPT benefited from several areas of opportunity, from the radical shift to Work-From-Home arrangements this year that drove demand for personal computing and connectivity devices, to accelerating 5G infrastructure deployment and device upgrades driving strong capacity and technology demand for the company’s solutions - from die and wire bonders, through to Advanced Packaging (AP) and System-in-Package products.
The increase in adoption of ASMPT’s wide range of AP solutions was especially strong for high-performance computing (HPC) devices for data centres and 5G-related applications. This resulted in 9M 2020 revenue for AP tools already equalling AP revenue for the whole of 2019. Moreover, ongoing global trade tensions saw domestic China-based companies engaged in more localized production. Consequently, ASMPT’s China business registered a 9M 2020 revenue increase, compared with 9M 2019.
Q3 2020 Group Review
ASMPT’s Q3 2020 revenue was HK$4.27 billion (US$550.7 million), with consolidated profit after taxation at HK$233.9 million, 5.2% higher than Q3 2019 but 36.0% lower than Q2 2020.
Bookings growth was encouraging. Notably, Q3 bookings (HK$4.52 billion (US$583.1 million)) represented increases of 12.4% (YoY) and 23.5% (QoQ) respectively, bucking the historical trend of Q3 bookings coming in lower than Q2’s. Q3 bookings were the second highest this quarter as compared with previous Q3 bookings (the record was Q3 2018).
While ASMPT’s Q3 2020 gross margin of 32.9% declined 182 bps YoY, this was due mainly to weaker gross margin from its Semiconductor Solutions and SMT Solutions Segments, but mitigated by stronger gross margin from its Materials Segment.
Mr. Robin Ng, Chief Executive Officer of ASMPT said, “ASMPT’s business continues to demonstrate resilience and momentum. We achieved revenue at the higher end of our guidance for Q3, with a strong bookings growth momentum throughout 2020 indicating healthy demand for our products and services, and possibly an improving business sentiment overall.
While gross margins were still slightly impacted, ASMPT has continued to focus on cost reduction efforts to streamline operations and improve overall profitability.”
Segment Highlights
The Semiconductor Solutions Segment experienced broad-based demand this quarter, including die and wire bonders, possibly indicating that customers are increasing their capacities amidst improving market conditions. The IC/Discrete Business Unit benefited from increased Work-From-Home arrangements driving strong demand for related computing solutions, while the ongoing 5G Infrastructure rollout globally, especially in China, was another driver. Its Optoelectronics Business Unit saw sustained demand from general lighting and conventional display applications, with growing opportunities in Mini LED and Micro LED applications.
Extracted from:
• Status of the Memory Industry 2020 report, Yole Développement, 2020
• YMTC 3D NAND Flash Memory report, System Plus Consulting, 2020
• NAND Quarterly Market Monitor, Yole Développement, 2020
• DRAM Quarterly Market Monitor, Yole Développement, 2020
• 3D NAND Memory Comparison 2019 report, System Plus Consulting, 20
In the long term, NAND and DRAM market revenues are expected to grow up to US$82 billion and US$95 billion respectively, by 2025. Yole Développement (Yole) announces a 11% CAGR for the NAND market and 7% for the DRAM one, between 2019 and 2025. Market status per technology: NAND and DRAM account together for the main part of the overall stand-alone memory market, with 96% market shares in 2019. Other memory technologies represent only about 4% of memory business. 3D XPoint is poised to grow in datacenter applications. China is entering the NAND business with aggressive plans, whereas China DRAM developments continue to advance. COVID-19 outbreak: The DRAM revenues will be growing modestly, about 5% in 2020. From the NAND side, market figures are much better with about 35% of revenue growth. 2020 DRAM ASP is directly impacted, announce Yole in its memory report and Q2 2020 memory monitor, around -9% from 2019, although growing on a quarterly basis starting from Q1 2020. NAND ASP started growing earlier in Q4 2019. On a yearly basis, the NAND ASP will grow 6% in 2020. TO DOWNLOAD THE PRESS RELEASE: ENGLISH
“Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, which negatively impacted the smartphone and automotive industries, but spurred demand for server and PC memory for stay-at-home activities, 2020 is expected to be a year of recovery,” asserts Simone Bertolazzi, PhD, Technology & Market analyst, Semiconductor, Memory & Computing, at Yole Développement (Yole). “At Yole, we see the beginning of a new era of prosperity for the memory industry.” Driven by important megatrends such as mobility, cloud computing, AI and the IoT , the stand-alone memory market has experienced extraordinary growth over the past decade. However, this exciting growth period ended in Q4-2018 when both the NAND and DRAM markets started experiencing oversupply caused by weak demand. This included lower-than-expected smartphone sales and a slowdown in datacenter demand. Inventory levels increased for memory suppliers and their OEM customers, with ASP ($/Gb) declining by more than 49% in 2019. Meanwhile, combined DRAM and NAND revenue reached ~$106B, down 34% from 2018. In 2019, significant DRAM and NAND capex cuts initiated a market recovery that began in late-2019, and which has continued in 2020.
In this context, Yole and its partner System Plus Consulting investigate disruptive memory technologies and related markets to point out the latest innovations and underline the business opportunities. In this regard, both companies combine their technology and market expertise and propose deep added value collection of reports and monitors: • A market and technology report, titled Status of the Memory Industry 2020 co-authored by the Yole’s Memory team. This 2020 edition gives a comprehensive overview of the stand-alone memory market, including NAND, DRAM, NOR, 3D XPoint, (NV)SRAM, and more as well as detailed technical roadmaps, an overview of the memory activities all around the world, the competitive landscape and strategies of the leading memory companies. This report gives a breakdown of the memory market from a system point of view, detailing present and future memory needs for servers, smartphones, personal computers, enterprise/client SSDs, and vehicles. Taking into account the COVID-19 outbreak, Yole’s analysts reveal a complete review of the industry and future trends. • The structural, process & cost analyses from System Plus Consulting: 3D NAND Memory Comparison 2019 and YMTC 3D NAND Flash Memory. This latest report is based on a complete teardown analysis of the 3D NAND Memory de...
Tom Forsythe discussed his nomination for President of SMTA and Barry Maybank and Naim Kapadia discuss the new, multi-million Smart Factory iniative for British EMS companies.
Guests this week are Tom Tattersall from MicroCare, who will discuss the recent sale of the company to Capital Partners and Tom Riciardelli for Selectech, who will educate us all on the technology behind ESD flooring.
Choosing the right design partner to navigate the software, hardware, patenting and NPI of a new product introduction can make a significant impact on it’s success. How has design changed in recent months and how is it meeting the challenges in a post-COVID world.
By 2030 it is predicted that electronics will account for 50% of the cost of the average car. To meet the industry’s increasing reliance on electronics, IPC have, for the first time, updated two of their key Standards documents in unison to incorporate Addendums for automotive electronics. The IPC J-STD-001-GA and the IPC-A-610-GA.
Two great conversations with Bob Willis and Bob Doetzer on the challenges and opportunities for training engineers and operators during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trevor Galbraith interviews two US miltary contractors about the expectations and ramifications of this new piece of legislation.
SEMICON WEST is the latest major trade show to go virtual. Trevor Galbraith interviews David Anderson, President, SEMI Americas about how it will work and what exhibitors and visitors can expect.
Guests this week included: Aubrey Thomposon and Craig Lax from Septillion about counterfeit avoidance with IPC and their recent investment by Boeing Corporation. Chintan Saturiafrom CalcuQuote on the importance of cloud-based RFQ systems in real-time. Gene Weiner from Weiner International on the Coronavirus and Supply Chain Disruptions.
Join our Tech Talk Thursday to hear what companies in the SMT Manufacturing industry are doing to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guests this week include:
Jon Hanson and Farid Anani from Computrol, Inc. in Meridian, Idaho, USA talk about the challenges faced in building parts for respirators and COVID-19 test kits. Richard Boyle from Henkel Electronics discusses supply chain shortages with Isolpropyl (IPA) David Raby from STI Microelectronics discusses the steps necessary to protect engineers on the production line and keep critical manufacturing running. And finally, Keith Bryant will review the latest new Troubleshooting book from Jim Hall and Phil Zarrow.
Trevor Galbraith drops in on the WNIE 2019 show in Stoneleigh, UK. Here are his takeaways from the show.
I’ve known Phil Zarrow and Jim Hall for many years. Phil, Jim, and what they describe as their brothers, operate ITM Consulting, a consulting and advisory firm for the electronic assembly located in Springfield, TN. Phil and Jim also produce a question and answer program, answering technical assembly-related questions in an equally valuable and humorous manner. As you will hear, Phil and Jim, while taking their customer’s problems seriously, don’t take themselves too seriously, which is one of the things I love about them.
Reliability Matters is a podcast on the subject of reliability of circuit assemblies. Reliability "best practices" and success stories are discussed. This podcast features interviews with experts in the electronic assembly industry.
All electronic production segments which effect product reliability are on the table. This includes contamination, coating, cleanliness assessment, inspection, building for harsh environments and more.
Keith Bryant and Michael Setash (Aegis Software) take viewers along the CfX and the Hermes/CfX lines at IPC APEX Expo 2019.
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Collins Aerospace's Doug Pauls chaired the IPC committee to implement a new cleanliness testing specification. IPC J-STD001-G Amendment 1 which is now active. Doug explains the new requirements of this standard and provides suggestions on how to comply.
Reliability Matters is a podcast on the subject of reliability of circuit assemblies. Reliability "best practices" and success stories are discussed. This podcast features interviews with experts in the electronic assembly industry.
All electronic production segments which effect product reliability are on the table. This includes contamination, coating, cleanliness assessment, inspection, building for harsh environments and more.
Episode 5 features an interview with Dr. Craig Hillman of DfR Solutions. The theme of this episode is design for reliability. Dr. Hillman expresses some interesting views on circuit assemblies for space and automotive applications and as well as battery reliability.
Reliability Matters is a podcast on the subject of reliability of circuit assemblies. Reliability "best practices" and success stories are discussed. This podcast features interviews with experts in the electronic assembly industry.
All electronic production segments which effect product reliability are on the table. This includes contamination, coating, cleanliness assessment, inspection, building for harsh environments and more.
■ Fisnar’s F4000 Advance series
Fisnar’s F4000 Advance series of benchtop dispensing robots
Fisnar’s new robotics collection signifi-cantly upgrades Fisnar’s existing F4000N range with enhanced product features and the addition of three completely new models, plus multiple size variations to accommodate customers’ diverse spec-trum of dispensing requirements. The core function of all F4000 Advance benchtop dispensing robots is to ensure precise fluid placement and positioning. When configured with a syringe, cartridge or valve system, F4000 Advance robots achieve the highest level of positional accuracy and repeatability. Additional features include a USB port for data transfer and back-up, program selector switch and fluid purge button.
The F4000 Advance supporting software is user friendly and enables the creation of complex dispensing routines - such as dots, lines, circles, arcs and fills – that can be set up and operational using the included teach pendant. Fisnar’s proprietary programming software is Microsoft Windows based and gives users the opportunity to import DXF files into the robot program, allowing dispense lines or dots to be quickly created from the imported CAD data in the software. This reduces programming time for com-plex dispense patterns, or when there is a high number of dispense positions.
The F4000 Advance robot platform has been designed to accommodate a range of bolt-on robot accessories, easily attached to its modular connectivity back-panel. Robot accessories are excellent tools for improving efficiency even further and options include input/output (I/O) expan-sion module, auxiliary rotation axis, CCD Camera vision system, remote operation box, height sensor, tip alignment module and a tip adjustment kit.
www.fisnar.com
■ Yamaha Motor’s Premium Printer YSP10
Yamaha Motor Launches New Premium Printer YSP10
Yamaha Motor Europe announces that it will launch the new premium printer YSP10 on May 1, 2019. This high-end solder paste printer is compatible with full automation of changeover work and delivers the world’s fastest level tact time. The YSP10 is the successor to the YSP, a high-end printer which featured 3S heads and stencil suction mechanism as standard equipment. The YSP10 has been newly designed and developed from the ground up in order to enable full auto-mation of production changeover work, which occupies the most working hours in printing processes. In addition to existing automatic program changeover and Print Stability Control (PSC) systems, full auto-mation of changeover work is achieved by including the new automatic push-up pin exchange, automatic stencil replacement, and automatic solder transfer functions (all of which are optional). In addition, the cycle time (including stencil cleaning) has been improved by 20% compared to previous models. Other enhancements include compatibility with a wider range of circuit board sizes and the new cleaner head achieving a significant reduction in cleaning paper consumption volume.
www.yamaha-motor-im.eu
Introducing innovative lead-free cored solder wire
ANA TRADING has introduced a solder wire manufactured by Nihon Almit., Co Ltd. that can triple the lifetime of soldering-iron tips, saving replacement costs and reducing down-time to raise productivity against standard lead-free alloys. Combined with high soldering temperatures, the high tin content of ordinary lead-free solders accelerates iron (Fe)-leaching from hand-soldering or robotic-soldering tips. Trials show that replacement rates can be 300 percent higher compared to soldering with market standard lead-free solder alloys, raising costs and incurring unwanted down-time. To overcome this challenge, ANA offers Almit’s anti tip-erosion cored solder wire, LFM-48M. This innovative alloy contains additional trace elements that offset tin activity and inhibit oxida-tion, reducing iron leaching to maintain tip condition for longer.
www.anatu.
Mike Konrad is President and CTO of Aqueous Technologies and the host of the Reliability Matters podcast. This episode of Reliability Matters features an interview with Failure Analysis Investigators.
Reliability Matters is a podcast on the subject of reliability of circuit assemblies. Reliability "best practices" and success stories are discussed. This podcast features interviews with experts in the electronic assembly industry.
With the rapid expansion of IOT, many circuit assemblies are now functioning in unfamiliar environments, many of these environments are harsh. Additionally, many new electronic applications control critical systems such as automotive electronics. This webinar focuses on the influence contamination plays on reliability of circuit assemblies, particularly when operated in harsh environments.
Several contamination-related failure mechanisms are presented including electro-chemical migration (dendritic growth, parasitic leakage) and conductive anodic filament (CAF). Methods to determine how clean is clean enough are discussed.
Mike Konrad is President and CTO of Aqueous Technologies and the host of the Reliability Matters podcast. This episode of Reliability Matters features an interview with Failure Analysis Investigators.
Reliability Matters is a podcast on the subject of reliability of circuit assemblies. Reliability "best practices" and success stories are discussed. This podcast features interviews with experts in the electronic assembly industry.
Changing a customer's mindset is often difficult. When a process is working well, we often resist changing the process, even if the change provides a better result. This is the "Good is the Enemy of Great" syndrome. My guest, Wendy Casker of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory tells of us how she introduced a "better process" to her space customer.
JUKI expand their component storage tower capacity by daisy-chaining towers. JUKI also introduced a new material registration system that links to the ERP system, storage towers and prints unique ID labels. Another new mounter is the RS1-XL for large format components and devices.
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Determining which chemistries are most effective at cleaning certain alloys and fluxes can be difficult. Controlled tests were performed in the MicroCare Labs on materials from AIM, Alpha, Loctite, Indium and Kester with more on the way.
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ViTrox are undergoing a massive expansion to a new factory space 4X larger than their existing plant. ViTrox also introduced lightning programming to their AOI and x-ray platforms to speed up programming times. Head-n-Pillow detection has also been improved with upgraded algorithms.
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The industry is faced with increased concern around reliability in all it's forms; thermal, mechanical and electrical. Indium has a range of new fluxes that can help to limit, reduce these concerns with or without cleaning. Indium is also developing a range of mechanically strong alloys for cellphone applications and low-temperature alloys for sensitive devices.
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The TF1800 is a GBA and LGA semi-automatic rework system that handles boards up to 12" x 12". The TF2800 will handle 24" x 24" board sizes. The latest soldering iron from PACE is the ADS200 with their Accudrive system which delivers fast, accurate temperatures. The soldering iron is made out of a single piece of aluminum, allowing better heat dissipation and operator comfort. Another new product is digital, remote-controlled fume extraction system that comes with ESD safe hose and nozzle.
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The acquisition of Western Digital has greatly expanded Computrol's capacity and range of capabilities.
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Viscom launch the X6086 for handling and inspecting heavy parts using the Viscom 180Kv x-ray tube. It can be used manually or use a loader/unloader. The maximum sample size is 720mm diameter. It can use planar CT or 360 degree rotary CT. Another new machine is X7656-II 3D x-ray system, which has an upgraded transport system, reducing cycle time.
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Mycronic demonstrated three MY300 pick and place machines in tandem offering placement speeds in excess of 100,000cph. The company also introduced the first integrated systems using the VI Technology inspection systems on their MYPro Line.
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A fireside chat with one of the electronics industry's technology gurus. Some say he is 'ahead of his time', other have a less flattering opinion. In his illustrious career he has run a PCB shop in Russia, before the wall came down. He was a founding member of Teserra. Worked on the "Virtual Soldier" project for DOD that developed state of the art communications and guns that shoot around corners. A man of considerable intellect, matched by a boundless energy for new technology.
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IPC membership companies crosses the 5,000 barrier. John Mitchell discusses IPC advocacy across the globe, the skill gaps and the IPC Education Foundation. Mitchell also discusses the launch of "IPC Cares" week. An annual event that celebrates the success of the industry and offers companies an opportunity to give back to the communities they serve.
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There are many contributing factors that cause voiding and a variety of proven techniques to reduce the problem to acceptable levels. Chris Nash (Product Manager PCB Assembly Materials, Indium) and MB Allen (KIC) discuss these at their show floor clinic.
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The future of electric vehicle technology faces a number of significant challenges. Graham Naisbitt discusses these with Trevor Galbraith.
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APEX changes its name to ILA Solutions in a unque partnership with InterLatin, covering Mexico, United States and Canada. Bob Drake also introduced some of the latest products to come out of the new stable.
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Thermaltronics are launching a new, feature-packed inline soldering robot. The dual head system uses two heads to closer mimic how a soldering operator performs on the line.
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Further developments to the algorithms driving the OC component counter. The cycle time for the quad count has been cut by 50% to 12 seconds. New loaders and unloaders enable to the system to integrate with most component storage towers.
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KYZEN release the Aquanox A4727. A new workhorse chemistry that exhibits greater cleaning capability, while maintaining stability at the process parameters setup for the PCBA assembly.
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Norihiro Koike, former COO at SAKI Coproation has been promoted to President and he explains his vision for the company and inspection technology to Trevor Galbraith.
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Sharron Starr discusses the various reports that IPC produce on a quarterly and annual basis to monitor the health and trends within the PCB and EMS industries.
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ASYS unveil a printer without an external monitor. Using built-in sensors and an external device, such as a tablet or watch, the printer can be controlled or monitored remotely or at the line. ASYS also showed upgrades to their component storage systems and a new, micro-printing stencil printer.
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The Intelligent Line Control Platform is Industry 4.0 ready for automatically controlling rail widths and guides during changeover. It can also control line speed and dwell times between processes.
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Francois Monette discusses the success of the Co-NECT system, attracting the largest manufacturers in the industry. Cogiscan's OEM division has also expanded to include new relationships with MIRTEC, ASM, Universal and others.
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Scienscope added a loader/unloader to their AXI-5100CII. The new system uses a flat panel detector to provider a sharper, more accurate image. The AXI-5100CII tracks all inventory accurately and even produces a new label with barcode and accurate component count before the reel is returned to the storage tower.
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
MIRTEC demonstrate their TRMS (Total Remote Management System) to control all machines on the line, reducing labor and improving uptime. MIRTEC also showed a semi-automatic robotic system for load, unloading and sorting PCB assemblies
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
A fast Co2 laser mounted to the X axis with the PCB assembly mounted on the Y axis allowing faster cycle time. A board flipper also allows fast transitioning between the topside and bottom side of the board and a separate inspection unit allows for parallel processing.
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Brian D'Amico and Dave Bennett talk to Keith Bryant about the latest developments at Mirtec.
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Dennis Barbini discusses Lasersem with Trevor Galbraith. The latest laser soldering system to come out of South Korea.
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Panasonic adds Process Manager and other software tools to PanaCim bringing an MES component for total factory control. The latest NMP-WX series also makes it's debut.
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The Meister is a new inspection system for semiconductor packaging that can handle shiny parts, such as wafer chips. Koh Young have also introduced the MOI for accurately measuring parts in box build and storing the traceability data. The Ksmart software controlling these systems has also been updated to include real-time monitoring and data handling.
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
FactoryOptix is the new augmented reality system from Aegis that can be used for training or operator instructions where the operator needs to work hands-free. Jason Spera also discussed the company's cloud computing system.
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Fluxers with low overspray, large board size (18' x 24'), nozzle tinner that reduces dross and dual pots for increased speed or twin alloys.
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BPM Microsystems upgrades its WhisperTeach software to WhisperTeach Plus. The new system plots X and Y coordinates in addition to the Z height and pressure, limiting the potential for misplaced or damaged devices during programming.
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There is no doubt that technology is only constrained by the pace at which materials science can design and introduce new materials that conduct electricity faster and more reliably in greater temperature ranges using cheaper raw materials. What are the current barriers, opportunities and even threats? This panel will discuss.
Panel: Brian Toleno (Microsoft), Watson Tseng (Shenmao) Tetsuro Nishimura (Nihon Superior), Tom Forsythe (KYZEN Corporation)
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Many manufacturers are placing solder dispensing systems after the printer to makeup for missing paste or last minute redesigns. Is this a growing trend and will paste dispensers eventually replace stencil printers? Panel: Rob Lela (ASM Assembly Systems), Clemens Jargon (Mycronic), Chrys Shea (Shea Engineering)
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Today Keith Bryant speaks to David Erskine (LRD Electric Ltd.)
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LIVE @ IPC APEX EXPO 2019 - Day 3 Trevor Galbraith discusses the new equipment, materials and industry developments over the three days of APEX with Mike Skinner (US Tech) and Keith Bryant.
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Every major pick and place company is developing a turnkey solution that they claim will produce optimized results. Should EMS companies place their trust in one vendor and move away from investing in ‘best-in-class’ products? Panel: Jeff Timms (ASM), Michael Sayers (Panasonic), Jonny Nichols (HanWha)
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
The test landscape is changing. SPI, AOI and x-ray systems provide much of the intelligence that drives the production equipment on the factory floor. Future systems will be even more intelligent, gathering more data and include automatic programming and integrated inspection analysis. This panel will discuss what this means for the test engineer?
Panel: Satoshi Otaki (SAKI), Brian D'Amico (MIRTEC), Joel Scutchfield (Koh Young), Richard Osborne (OMRON)
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Today's guests include Teresa M. Rowe (IPC), David D Hillman (Collins Aerospace), Brian D'Amico (Mirtec) and David Bennett (Mirtec).
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
The serious shortage of some components have forced EMS companies to look beyond their normal sources, putting them at risk of counterfeits. This panel will discuss the likely future for component supply, how to avoid counterfeits entering your supply chain and how to mitigate the impact in your factory.
Panel: Michael Ford (Aegis), Aubrey Thomson (Septillion), Radu Diaconescu (SMIC)
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For many years engineers have struggled with closing the DFM loop and getting all the manufacturing lessons learned back to the designer. Now through line optimization software and increasingly sophisticated factory management systems, this ‘holy grail’ is achievable, resulting in fewer turns in pilot production, few defects during production and fewer field recalls.
Panel: Jay Gorajai (Siemens Mentor), Michael Ford (Aegis), Hemant Shah (Cadence)
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Today's guests include Sherry Stepp (KYZEN), David Bergman (IPC) and Dr Bill Cardoso (Creative Electron).
ipcapexexpo #ipcapex #ipc #ipcapex2019
Trevor Galbraith interviews Ichiri Arimoto about industry trends in Europe and discusses the latest new products with Richard Vereijssen. These include the YS10 stencil printer with auto loading stencils, improvements to their storage tower system and hot-swap feeder banks.
Robodex, Wearables & InterNepcon On day two, Trevor Galbraith takes a walk through the Internepcon, Wearables Expo and RoboDex halls at NEPCON Japan.
Trevor Galbraith, Editor-in-Chief of Global SMT & Packaging magazine takes a look around Nepcon Japan 2019 to discover the latest products and innovations coming out of Japan this year.
■ ABB expands robot family with ceiling-mounted design aimed at fast and accurate small parts assembly.
ABB’s new SCARA robot delivers maximum flexibility
ABB has expanded its SCARA robot family with the launch of a compact invert-mounted model for small parts assembly applications. By mounting the IRB 910INV on the ceiling, manufacturers can increase the space efficiency and flexibility of each cell and handle more complex tasks even in cramped locations. The inverted mounting also allows the IRB 910INV to collaborate with other robots and machines simultaneously in the same footprint, further boosting productivity. Utilising ABB’s superior motion control technology, the IRB 910INV offers class-leading repeatable accuracy for applications including picking and placing, assembly and testing, electronics small parts assembly tasks such as screw driving, inserting or mounting components, and automated inspections for quality control.
www.abb.com/robotics
Introducing innovative lead-free cored solder wire
■ LFM-48M solder wire.
ANA TRADING has introduced a solder wire manufactured by Nihon Almit., Co Ltd. that can triple the lifetime of soldering-iron tips, saving replacement costs and reducing down-time to raise productivity against standard lead-free alloys. Combined with high soldering temperatures, the high tin content of ordinary lead-free solders accelerates iron (Fe)-leaching from hand-soldering or robotic-soldering tips. Trials show that replacement rates can be 300 percent higher compared to soldering with market standard lead-free solder alloys, raising costs and incurring unwanted down-time. To overcome this challenge, ANA offers Almit’s anti tip-erosion cored solder wire, LFM-48M. This innovative alloy contains additional trace elements that offset tin activity and inhibit oxidation, reducing iron leaching to maintain tip condition for longer. This not only cuts the replacement rate for each soldering tip on the production line but also allows consistent soldering accuracy for greater end-of-line yield and reduced rework.
www.anatu.com
TopLine’ components eliminate PCB redesign headaches
TopLine offers near zero-ohm SOT23 Jumper components, a low-cost way to short out Printed Circuit Board circuitry (PCB) without the need to redesign or spin a whole new board. TopLine jumper components are available in a variety of component outlines and connect (short-out) specific pins together with less than 50 milli-ohms resistance.
“Jumpers are a quick and easy way to replace unneeded circuits,” states Martin Hart, TopLine’s President. “For example, our SOT23 Jumpers mount on the PC Board using normal SAC305 lead-free solder paste, just like regular components.”
TopLine offers all popular configurations. For example, Pin 1 is shorted to Pin 3. Another configuration shorts Pin 2 to Pin 3. TopLine also makes a version with Pin 1, Pin 2 and Pin 3 all shorted together. TopLine’s series of SOT23 Jumpers withstand 75VDC at 100mA with 350mW power dissipation. Their operating temperature ranges from -65⁰C to +150⁰C. Standard and halogen-free versions are available. Other versions with up to 8 shorted pins are available.
www.TopLine.tv/Jumper.pdf
Palomar Technologies meet needs RF GaNpPower amplifiers
Palomar Technologies announced new epoxy die attach capabilities for silver sintering. Developed to meet growing demands for RF GaN power amplifiers, which are a core requirement for the successful rollout of 5G networks around the world, the new silver jet dispensing capabilities are an enhancement to the already wide breadth of Palomar Technologies solutions for the telecom/Datacom markets. With the launch of 5G networks powering Smart Cities around the world, an explosion of growth has been seen in the development of RF GaN power amplifiers. Yole Development predicts the RF GaN device market to grow from $380 M in 2017 to $1.3 B by 2023.
Mike Konrad is President and CTO of Aqueous Technologies and the host of the Reliability Matters podcast. This episode of Reliability Matters features an interview with Failure Analysis Investigators.
Reliability Matters is a podcast on the subject of reliability of circuit assemblies. Reliability "best practices" and success stories are discussed. This podcast features interviews with experts in the electronic assembly industry.
All electronic production segments which effect product reliability are on the table. This includes contamination, coating, cleanliness assessment, inspection, building for harsh environments and more.
Mike Konrad is President and CTO of Aqueous Technologies and the host of the Reliability Matters podcast. This episode of Reliability Matters features an interview with SMT guru, Bob Willis.
Reliability Matters is a podcast on the subject of reliability of circuit assemblies. Reliability "best practices" and success stories are discussed. This podcast features interviews with experts in the electronic assembly industry.
All electronic production segments which effect product reliability are on the table. This includes contamination, coating, cleanliness assessment, inspection, building for harsh environments and more.
TopLine offers near zero-ohm SOT23 Jumper components, a low-cost way to short out Printed Circuit Board circuitry (PCB) without the need to redesign or spin a whole new board. TopLine jumper components are available in a variety of component outlines and connect (short-out) specific pins together with less than 50 milli-ohms resistance.
“Jumpers are a quick and easy way to replace unneeded circuits,” states Martin Hart, TopLine’s President. “For example, our SOT23 Jumpers mount on the PC Board using normal SAC305 lead-free solder paste, just like regular components.” TopLine offers all popular configurations. For example, Pin 1 is shorted to Pin 3. Another configuration shorts Pin 2 to Pin 3. TopLine also makes a version with Pin 1, Pin 2 and Pin 3 all shorted together.
TopLine's series of SOT23 Jumpers withstand 75VDC at 100mA with 350mW power dissipation. Their operating temperature ranges from -65⁰C to +150⁰C. Standard and halogen-free versions are available. Other versions with up to 8 shorted pins are available. For more information, visit www.TopLine.tv/Jumper.pdf
Mentor discuss their analytic tools for schematic verification and board layout using digital twin modelling.
Seica are using virtual reality to demonstrate the full range of factory automation equipment. Trade shows have limited space and the new VR system helps to navigate customers through the full range of machines and look closely at customised options.
TDR have introduced a subscription-driven, remote testing service. The interface is provided free of charge. Customers pay for the fixturing and test services.
Joe Rowan at Junkosha puts forward the call for standards to regulate outgassing in PTFE cabling and other interconnection materials.
The shortage of component availability in the industry and the need for more accurate, real-time pricing has driven Circuit Byte to introduce the BOM Connector.
The PicoLine 3000 offers a unique, clean de-paneling cut, free from glass dust and enabling up to a 30% saving in PCB real estate.
As the expiration date of the SN100C patent looms closer, Nihon Superior make the surprise anouncement of two new patents, one of which patents the composition of the solder joint.
Cogiscan produces an essential range of middleware adapters to enable data transfer between machines and MES and ERP systems. Mitch de Caire describes the three new divisions of Cogiscan and the markets they serve.
Brian D'Amico, President of MIRTEC, hosts 'The Future of SMT Inspection' workshop at The Comet Group's LabONE facility in San Jose, CA.
Watson Tseng discusses the new P245 Halide free solder paste and also reveals plans to launch a new low-temperature product for consumer applications early in the New Year.
The SAM CT23-S holds a maximum board size of 215mm x 315mm. It comes with a unique auger bit that indexes down after cutting a predetermined length. This enable the bit life to be extended by 4-5 times.
X-ray based component counters have become extremely popular for improving changeover time, maximizing line uptime and optimizing Goods Inward. Don Jeka explains in more detail.
The NPM - WX and the NPM - WXS are the latest additions to the highly successful NPMN series of placement machines. Available in a dual-gantry or single-gantry configuration they can accommodate up to 48" board length for LED applications, as well as 24" width for large server boards. The system can also be configured in a dual lane. Supporting the platform is standardized feeders and carts and the very latest software that can be centrallly controlled or operated from your watch, at the line.
Michael Luzius demonstrates the new Arm-evac system. A 10 speed fume extraction system which is sold with the arm, filters and an alarm that tells the operator when to change out the filters.
Jay Gauthier provides an update on the break-neck speed that Mycronic is acquiring and integrating best-in-class companies on their journey towards the smart factory.
Brian D'Amico explains the latest software integration systems from MIRTEC. TRMS (Total Remote Management System) for controlling multiple machines and lines. D'Amico also confirmed the availability of their new Automatic Programming software that reduces programming time to typically 40 seconds per board.
The CV series, launched over a year ago, was a big step for Metcal in the journey towards Industry 4.0, Smart Factory compatibility. At SMTAi they launch a range of tools and tweezers for high power devices, micro devices and others.