The window to identify and train the next generation of designers is closing. What we can do about it.

大手PCB/EMS企業が、ODB++で作業時間の短縮と品質改善を実現

ビアシステムズのプリント基板（PCB）製造部門（本社: 米国オレゴン州フォレスト・グローヴ）は、PCB設計企業との間で、設計データを製造企業へ渡すためのフォーマットとして「ODB++」の採用が遅々として進まない状況に頭を抱えています。従来手法のままでは、製造部門側で設計パッケージをインポートして解析し、製造側のツールで使えるよう準備するのに長い時間がかかってしまうという問題があるのです。ODB++ファイルを完全活用することで、時間がかかる手作業を大幅に削減し、品質関連エラーの発生頻度を減らすことができます。

設計側と製造側にとってのODB++のメリットは、設計側から「製造可能な設計データ」を渡せるため、製造側の負担が軽減されることにあります。「製造可能な設計データ」と「インテリジェントなデータ」を一緒に送ることにより、最短のサイクルタイムで製造が可能になり、新製品導入（NPI）時の品質も大幅に改善されます。

ビアシステムズの顧客である設計企業の大半が、Gerber、Excellon、ネットリスト・ファイルに加えて別途図面や仕様書で製品データを渡しています。1980年から使用されているGerberフォーマットは、PCBの製造に必要な情報の多くを含む一方、重大な欠落データもあります。例えば、穴あけ情報はGerberファイルに含まれていないので、別のフォーマット（通常Excellon）のファイルで渡さなければなりません。さらに、PCBの層構成やネットに関する情報も、Gerberファイルには含まれていません。これらの情報はすべて別のファイルや文書で渡されるため、製造側は受け取った後にデータを再統合しなければなりません。しかも最近は、埋込みビアやブラインド・ビア、複雑なシーケンシャル積層法の使用が進み、表面仕上げの多様化ともあいまって、このCAD/CAMデータ交換の問題が深刻化しています。GerberやExcellon、ネットリストなど従来のフォーマットでは対応できない問題へと発展しているのです。

Gerberファイルを製造で使える形のデータセットに変えるには、大規模な手作業が必要です。製造側は、ファイルを1つ1つマニュアルで精査し、層構成のレイヤをどのように適合させるかを確認します。加えて、Gerberファイルを使うと、構文エラーや丸めによる精度の誤差の発生が頻発します。Gerberファイルと、穴あけ情報／ネットリスト・ファイル、文書の情報から、正しいPCB仕様を抽出するには多大な労力が必要なのです。

完全に定義されたフォーマットを使うこと、ツールがフォーマットに対応していること、顧客への導入を支援し、フォーマットの有効性を保証してくれる組織があること、などが成功の鍵です。ODB++フォーマットを使用すると、必要なデータすべてを製造側に渡すことができます。ODB++ファイルには、基板の層構成情報だけでなく、穴あけ、マスク、ネットの情報やインテリジェントな属性が広く含まれ、別途図面などでデータを渡す必要がなくなります。製品に関するあらゆる製造レベルの定義が、必要な情報すべてがそろった形で1つのファイル構造に入ります。図1は、Gerberデータの代わりにODB++データを製造側に渡すメリットを示しています。FMEA（故障モード影響度解析）の観点から見ると、ODB++の機能をフル活用することにより、製品用PCBの品質も改善できます。

図1. 従来、製造側に渡していたデータセットは、多くのマニュアル処理が必要でした。各ステップでエラーが発生しやすく、不必要なリスクをPCB製造プロセスへ持ち込んでいました。ODB++の高度な機能を活用すれば、実質すべてのステップを電子的に実行して、低リスクで高品質のデータセットを生成できます。

完全なODB++ファイルセットを渡さないと、ODB++フォーマットの自動機能を最大活用できない点に留意してください。これは、DFM（製造性考慮設計）解析とDFMルールの準拠を含めた完全なデータ交換プロセスを実行することで実現します。また、適切な属性すべてのやり取りも、ファイルセットに含めなければいけません。製造側へ部分的なファイルセットしか渡さない場合、ODB++が提供する高度なインテリジェントな機能を活用することはできません。完全なファイルセットを定義したら、単一の.tgzファイルに圧縮して製造側へ渡します。この.tgzファイルを製造ソフトウェアが自動認識し、ファイル構造を読み込んでファイルの処理方法を判断します。

ビアシステムズでは、Gerberデータを使用する場合、製造現場ですぐに使用可能なデータセットを生成するためだけに、マルチステップのワークフローを実行しなければなりません。まず、すべてのGerberファイルをマニュアルで精査して必要なデータがすべて含まれているかどうかを確認し、次にデータの精度と解像度が、PCBの製造に十分であるかを検証します。その後、製造を進めるために手作業でデータの「リバース・エンジニアリング」を行い、基板の層を再構成しなければなりません。穴あけ仕様のデータを統合して、再度精度チェックする必要もあります。また、ソルダーマスクやシルクスクリーンのデータも取り込まなければなりません。

ワークフローのどの時点でも、エラーやデータ抜けが発生する可能性があります。エラーやデータ抜けが発生すると、エラー修正や追加データ取得のために何度も設計側とやり取りする必要が出てきます。平均すると、渡されたデータ・パッケージの約25%が以下の問題を抱えています。

• レイヤ情報、製造図面、穴あけ情報のファイルなどの不足
• ネットリストのフォーマット違反
• ネットリスト例外違反

「他のどのようなフォーマットよりODB++が優れている」との主張を裏付けるデータがビアシステムズには数多く蓄積されています。標準Gerberデータを使った入力の場合、インポートして解析し、製造CAMツールで使用可能なデータを準備するだけで1～2時間かかります。ODB++の登場から数年たっていますが、いまだに設計企業や製造企業の多くは、ODB++の高度な機能を活用し切っていません。例えば、自動化を進めて手作業の削減を可能にする多くの属性が利用可能であるにもかかわらず、それらをファイルに含めることができていません。設計の複雑度によりますが、インテリジェントな属性を含めたODB++ファイルを渡すことでCAM作業前の準備時間を大幅に短縮できます。ODB++は単一のファイルにインテリジェントな属性と必要なデータをすべて含めたデータ・パッケージです。表1は、ビアシステムズにおいて、Gerberを使用した場合とODB++を使用した場合との作業時間短縮と品質改善（FMEA）を比較したものです（表1のデータはODB++を1とする）。

表1. ビアシステムズにおけるCAM前準備時間の比較

図2. 目で見るGerberデータとODB++データの比較（左: Gerberデータ、右: クリーンなODB++データ）

ビアシステムズでは、製造プロセス全体を考慮した場合、Gerberデータと比較してODB++データには以下のメリットがあると考えています。

• Gerberデータと比べてインポート／エクスポート診断を大幅に短縮できる
• プロセスの初期段階でエラーを特定し設計側に伝達できる
• Gerberデータで頻発するフォーマット・エラーやネット例外がなくなる
• 製造側は、設計側が実際に使用したネット名を見ることができるため、プロセスを簡素化できる
• ポジティブ・プレーンに対応するために必要となるデータが減る

PCB顧客側のメリット

ODB++データ・フォーマットの使用は、PCB製造企業だけではなく設計企業にとっても大きなメリットがあります。コストと設計時間が大幅に削減でき、その結果、製品をより早く市場に出すことができます。さらに、PCB顧客側のリスクも大幅に低減します。高品質のデータが製造企業へ渡されるためリスクが低減し、PCB実装にも良い影響をもたらすからです。

ビアシステムズでは、収集したデータに基づいて、「検証済みの完全なODB++ファイルを受け渡すことで、NPIにおけるエラーのリスクは5分の1に減る」と結論づけました。ODB++使用のメリットはほかにもあります。以下は、PCB設計企業の観点から見たODB++使用のメリットです。

1. 全体として、製造と実装におけるエラー発生のリスクが低減する
2. インテリジェントなデータを渡すため、完成したPCBを期日通りに納入できる確率が高まる
3. エラーを修正したり、ファイルが見つからないためにデータセットを再送信したりする時間が減る
4. 不正なデータが製造側に送られて拒否され、時間的／経済的損失が発生する可能性が減る
5. 不正なファイル定義（層構成のエラーや極性エラー）が発生する頻度が減る
6. Gerberで頻出する穴あけパターン不整合の問題が解消する
7. 製造／実装エンジニアから素早いフィードバックが得られ、迅速にエラーが解決する

ビアシステムズは経験上、PCB設計企業がODB++ファイルによる情報伝達へ移行するのは非常に簡単だと考えています。主要なPCB設計ソフトウェア・ツールのほとんどが、ODB++出力に対応しています。PCB設計企業の大多数が、製造企業にデータを送る前に、生成したODB++ファイルを視覚的に確認するツールを持っていることも分かりました。概してこれらのツールは、既存のどのGerberビューアよりも包括的で使い勝手が良くなっています。

以下のツールをはじめ、設計から製造のエコシステム内で使用されるCAD/CAMツールの大半がODB++に対応しています。

CAD: 図研、ケイデンス、メンター・グラフィックス、アルティウム、Intercept
製造CAM: フロントライン、UCAMCO、WISE、Downstream、GraphiCode
実装CAM: メンター・グラフィックス、シーメンスPLM、Aegis、フジコミュニケーション、Assembléon、Universal Instruments、名古屋電機工業

メンター・グラフィックスのOpenDoorプログラムでは、すべてのCADツール・サプライヤが無料でODB++フォーマットにアクセスできます。メンター・グラフィックスは引き続き、完全オープン・フォーマットとしてODB++をサポートします（図3）。また、ODB++の開発を推進し、さらにインテリジェントな機能を近く追加する予定です。ビアシステムズをはじめとする製造企業と協働し、ODB++の将来に向け新たな拡張機能を開発します。

図3. ODB++ビューアで、ODB++データ・パッケージ全体を包括的に把握できます。ODB++ビューアは、odb-sa.comから無料で入手可能です。

IPを送ることに関する懸念

設計企業の中には、IPを製造企業へ送ることを懸念している企業もあります。実際ビアシステムズでは、リバース・エンジニアリングを行ったデータが実質的にODB++ファイルと同じ情報という結果を得ていますが、設計企業から真のIPを取得することはありません。現在ビアシステムズは、データ・パッケージの約10%をODB++フォーマットで受け取っており、その多くは自動化やサイクルタイム短縮のメリットをもたらすインテリジェントな属性を含んでいません。しかし、ODB++に移行した多くの設計企業が、移行がもたらした結果とコスト削減に満足しています。

Kent Balius is vice president, global front end engineering, and Stephan Hackl is CAM lead at Viasystems (viasystems.com). Julian Coates is director of business development, Valor Division, Mentor Graphics (mentor.com).

A March earthquake. September floods. Social unrest. Throughout 2011, upheaval was in the air.

Acquisitions, bankruptcies and Mother Nature were the name of the game in 2011, as topsy-turvy market conditions coupled with inexplicable environmental disasters and unprecedented social backlash led to what were in some cases previously inconceivable opportunities.

In what will remain a year for the books, an earthquake and subsequent tsunami hit northeastern Japan, wiping out scores of manufacturing plants and other business, and leaving painful images of the dead. But in what turned out to be Japan’s finest hour, the nation recovered quickly, with most multinational business back to normal within two quarters. Thailand wasn’t so fortunate. Plants there took such a drubbing that it could be a year before they are usable again. Worse, the repeat disasters had decision-makers rethinking their supply-chain plans.

Had it not been for the weather, the story of the year would have been Elcoteq. Once a top 5 EMS company, the onetime main supplier to Nokia found the competition from Foxconn too much to overcome. It saw sales and profits spiral down over a five-year span, then finally declared bankruptcy last fall, shuttering or selling all but four of its 13 manufacturing sites.

Watching, and perhaps learning from, Elcoteq’s mistakes, No. 2 Flextronics bailed from the price-sensitive PC assembly space in 2011. Having just formally entered the PC production business in 2008, Flextronics quickly grew that segment to $4 billion in annual revenue, only to see margin erosion threaten to wipe out the company’s profits. Competing in a commodity space works only for the largest player, it seems.

Speaking of the largest player, Foxconn (who else?) in 2011 continued its long reign at the top of the pile. It seems hard to imagine, but 10 years ago, Foxconn trailed Flextronics, Solectron, Sanmina-SCI and Celestica in annual revenues. Still, cracks in its formidable armor began to show. Dinged by government-mandated wage hikes, Foxconn has moved much of its reportedly 800,000-man workforce inland, leaving its Shenzhen campus to Apple (more on that in a moment). Worldwide social pressures shone an uncomfortable spotlight on Foxconn, where a blitzkrieg of worker suicides, plant explosions, inflammatory statements (and, perhaps, just a little bit of Apple fatigue) put the firm squarely in the crosshairs of the mainstream media, not to mention several workers’ rights NGOs. In response, Foxconn intimated plans to automate a number of its operations with robots.

Upheaval. An army of robots would have made no difference in Thailand, which was turned upside down when fall floods like none seen in the country in 50 years soaked the nation for the better part of two months. No EMS company was decimated more than Fabrinet, No. 19 on the 2010 list and headed for an even higher ranking. High waters breached two of its facilities, rendering one permanently closed and taking the other offline for months. Others that felt the impact in Thailand included No. 6 Cal-Comp, No. 7 Benchmark, No. 42 Hana Microelectronics and No. 47 SVI Public Co.

No. 14 Beyonics also was hit hard by the Thailand floods. Having seen sales fall about 15% over the past two years, and in the midst of five straight unprofitable quarters, the Singapore-based firm in October announced plans to go private. (The company should know something about going private; its founders came from Flextronics, which did the same thing in 1987 before relisting in 1991.)

[Ed.: To see Table 2, the list of the Top 50 EMS companies, click here. To enlarge the table, right-click on it, then click View Image, then left-click on the table.)

In the aftermath of Japan and Thailand, certain OEMs and EMS companies are rethinking their supply chains. No. 3 Jabil already has made clear it wants to navigate away from the all-in-one industrial parks – where suppliers sit almost on top of each other – so characteristic of the Pacific Rim. Moreover, as companies become more aware of time-to-market and the amounts of capital tied up in product in transit from distant lands, a trend is emerging toward positioning production closer to the point of end-use, a phenomenon known in the US as “reshoring.” Social pressures, accented by the long and loud protests over alleged worker exploitation that have landed Foxconn (and its leading customer, Apple) on the front page of The Wall Street Journal for all the wrong reasons, are also leading assemblers to contemplate not just higher but politically safer ground.

As usual, major mergers and acquisitions changed the face of the CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Top 50 list. No. 21 OnCore Manufacturing, a major defense and aerospace supplier, acquired Victron in what was essentially a merger of financial equals. No. 31 Ducommun made the biggest splash in its 157-year history, acquiring LaBarge in June to form a defense electronics powerhouse. No. 16 AsteelFlash bought Catalyst EMS. (Just after the year ended, No. 8 Plexus announced a deal to acquire Kontron Design Manufacturing Services in Penang.)

Falling off the list was EPIQ, which sold a total of five plants in Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Mexico to No. 25 Integrated Microelectronics Inc. Also departing was Surface Mount Technology Holdings (No. 45 in 2010), the Hong Kong-based EMS firm that endured a painful reorganization in 2011. Revenue plunged 38% year-over-year to about $177.6 million. Suffering a similar fate is former Top 50 mainstay Simclar, which has seen sales fall from a high of $400 million in 2006.
Joining the list were several large flex circuit companies whose EMS revenues were previously not properly accounted for. Most flex PCB fabricators also perform assembly, and it is difficult to get an accurate reading of the value of the bare board from the finished assembly. However, based on data from IPC and others, bare flex circuits comprise roughly 40% of the shipment value. Based on such estimates, No. 12 Nippon Mektron (which has at least 11 plants that perform SMT assembly) and No. 28 MFLEX are now represented in the Top 50.

Whither Kaifa? Not making the list: Sichuan Changhong Electric, a huge Chinese entity (35,000 employees) that makes TVs, white goods and other components. While it builds product for several brand name Japanese OEMs, it was impossible to determine just what its EMS/ODM sales were in 2011. Same goes for Aeroflex. We also left off ODMs such as Qisda, Compal, Wistron, BenQ, and others that are essentially OEMs.

Should Shenzhen Kaifa Technology be included in EMS rankings? It’s not an easy question to answer. On revenue alone, perhaps: Kaifa, as the company is known, had sales of over $4 billion last year. Using that gross number would place it squarely between Sanmina-SCI and Cal-Comp in the Top 10.

But there’s more to it than that. Kaifa generates an extraordinary amount of its revenue from making and selling hard disk drives to Seagate. In fact, under most classifications, Kaifa would rank as an ODM, and not just of printed circuit board assemblies.

Then there’s the confusion of what, exactly, “Kaifa” is. The company, which is supposedly traded under the ticker symbol 00021 on the Shenzhen Exchange, has no current listing. However, it is also apparently a subsidiary of China Electronics Corp.

CEC is giant. The conglomerate says its annual revenues topped $8 billion back in 2006, and it employs more than 70,000 workers across some 61 subsidiaries, including 13 listed holding companies. Among them are cellphone and datacom OEM Panda Electronics, computer and TV manufacturer Greatwall Technology, and yes, Kaifa.

It also is state-owned, and operates directly under the administration of China’s central government. Forget, for the moment, how strange it is for what is essentially a government entity to be publicly traded. Consider instead whether a government business can be considered a contract manufacturer, especially in China, where the Communist Party still holds sway over most economic policy and can pick the winners and losers at the drop of a hat. Want to get a government contract? Use a government provider. It becomes hard to distinguish between what is competitive bidding and what is political.

Then there’s the matter of CEC’s financials. They are dense, to be sure. It’s hard to tell what revenue comes from external customers and what is just “padding” from its own pyramid. Among those that can be discerned, Greatwall alone made up $1.6 billion in revenue in 2010. Read the fine print and you’ll see the company has several “deals” in place to buy components and services from other CEC subsidiaries.

So should Kaifa be listed on the CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Top 50? Because it is next to impossible to know what its true revenue from EMS-related activities is, we say no, while respecting the decision of others to disagree.

EMS is a lopsided business. The CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Top 50 make up about 87% of the total revenues of the entire electronics outsourcing industry, although that figure admittedly includes a fair percentage of revenue that would properly be classified as ODM work. The industry as a whole reached about $205 billion in sales last year, according to IHS iSuppli.¹ (The research firm predicts industry revenue to be flat in 2012.)

The US continues to dominate the Top 10 list, with five of the top eight entries, although we are seeing some minor shifts take place (Table 3). Regionally, the Top 50 remain intact, led by Southeast Asia (16 entries), North America (15) and Europe (12). Japan gained two entries, a reflection of heretofore unacknowledged EMS work. Notable for its lack of entries is Russia, which almost certainly has domestic firms that would qualify, and whose electronics assembly industry was forecast to reach $14 billion in 2010 (55% of which was industrial or military).² While changes in the rankings have been most common in the middle to lower half of the list, a few firms are threatening to shake up the top. Given their organic growth and acquisition strategy, respectively, Zollner and AsteelFlash look like good bets to break into the Top 10, should any of the current leaders falter.

References

1. Mike Buetow, "iSuppli: EMS in for Flat Year," circuitsassembly.com, Feb. 7, 2012.

2. Ivan Pokrovsky, "Electronics Manufacturing in Russia," New Russian Electronics, Business Industry Yearbook, 2008.

Mike Buetow is editor in chief of CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Ed: For the 2010 Top 50, click here.

For the 2009 Top 50, click here.

After a week in San Diego, Las Vegas seemed a strange old world.

A new location, a new lease on life.

Three tepid years in Las Vegas left many observers wondering if, when it came to the IPC Apex Expo trade show, Elvis had left the building.

But the move to the San Diego Convention Center was a revelation. It was as if all it took was a little sunshine (and a few fewer slot machines) to breathe new life into the doddering show.

From the opening bell, attendees swarmed keynote speaker William Shatner, some sporting Trekkie gear and other paraphernalia as they lined up by the hundreds to get photos and autographs from the famed Star Trek actor.

On the show floor, the vibe carried over, with attendance and attitudes perked up. Was it the improving economy, a different mix of attendees, or the new site? Hard to say, but exhibitors weren’t complaining.

Attendance seemed strongest the first day, and the momentum carried over through the middle of the second day. Things slowed a bit that afternoon, but picked up at the show-floor reception. Day 3, as usual, crawled.

We noticed the show itself was not as well organized as in the past. Previous shows grouped fabrication suppliers more or less in one place and assembly suppliers in another. That all changed this year. While industries (fabrication, assembly) were delineated (sort of) by the color of carpet in the various exhibitors’ booths, there was a nearly random nature that made trying to visit all the suppliers of a certain product inconvenient. Having the show split across two floors didn’t help either.
Most of the products shown at Apex Expo were introduced at Productronica and have already been covered by this magazine both in print and online; we will focus here only on new releases, with a couple exceptions as noted.

The most interesting developments included a new inline printed circuit board assembly cleaner from Aqueous Technologies. Named Typhoon, the short (12' linear length) machine is considered safer than many traditional models, thanks to magnetically conductive pumps that permit it to run (at reduced cleaning performance, of course) up to 36 hr. without water, whereas most models’ pumps freeze up after a few minutes under such conditions. The machine features rotating air knives, a 24" wide conveyor, and zero or filter discharge.

Speaking of cleaning, we also viewed our first full demo of Speedline’s new Aquastorm batch cleaner. Speedline’s engineers came up with the novel idea of firing water at the board straight from the rack’s spindles, providing ample power, always the bane of batch systems.

Two companies (SMT and A-Tec) are now supplying inline convection reflow ovens containing vacuums, which are said to help reduce voiding. Matt Holzmann at Christopher Associates proudly displayed the MEK S1 SPI, reportedly with 50µm resolution and 5D vision, claimed to be the fastest SPI on the market.

At Juki, the biggest news came just ahead of the show opening, when the placement company inked a deal to distribute JT’s reflow soldering equipment in the Americas. Now armed with a printer (courtesy of January’s deal with GKG), and a complete line of soldering machines, Juki seems armed to do battle in the full-line fight. (Heller, with which Juki had previously teamed on an informal basis, seems the odd man out.) CEO Bob Black also privately showed a startling development that, while we cannot yet reveal, is likely to shake up the process equipment market down the road.

Yamaha made for an interesting presence, with a large booth and several machines, not all of which were for placement. The company, which is slowly separating from its longtime Americas distributor Assembléon, also had an AXI machine on display. (Assembléon, we should note, did pick up an NPI Award for its new iFlex placement platform, debuted at Productronica, as well as a Service Excellence Award – its tenth in a row.)

Several AOI OEMs, Koh Young, Mirtec, CyberOptics and Viscom among them, are doing a much improved job of tying SPI and post-reflow inspection data to the screen printer. The efforts in this area to make the data captured during inspection meaningful for in-process production were noticeable.

Fears of a lingering slowdown seemed overstated: Soldering oven manufacturers such as BTU and Speedline Technologies, as well as CyberOptics and BPM Microsystems, indicated strong demand, especially since January. Automotive seems to be driving much of the recovery. BTU is planning an expansion at its Shanghai-based campus.

Aegis Industrial Software has a slick new tool called inForce, a touchscreen and I/O unit that monitors and controls boards as they proceed down the conveyor, and feeds the data back to the Aegis MES factory software, aiding traceability.

We spent considerable time with the materials vendors. AIM noted sales were up 41% year-over-year in 2011, while Cookson saw sales at its Alpha unit rise about 18%. (Raw metals price inflation contributed strongly to the increases.) AIM will open a plant in Poland for blending powder, liquid flux and bar solder, and plans to expand its Montreal and Juarez operations as well. Henkel rolled out four products, including underfill brands for jetting (seeing more of that, too) and traditional dispensing. Many materials companies noted the huge potential in the LED market, although one suggested some lower-energy, higher-brightness alternatives such as ITO should not be ruled out.

There’s some disagreement as to how much the conversation over low-silver solders will translate into actual use, however. Some vendors said that low-silver is starting to transition from the discussion phase into actual production. However, other vendors say it’s mostly hype, adding that the cost-savings tradeoff versus the amount of process development work that needs to go into characterizing each alloy makes change questionable at best. We also are hearing SAC 305 is losing popularity. An iNEMI project team led by Dr. Greg Henshall of HP is evaluating 16 different alternate solder materials; it could be that once that group has completed its work, the picture will become clearer for users.

The EMS companies exhibiting, including STI Electronics and Divsys, were generally bullish in 2012, saying most of the pain from military spending delays should be worked through by the second quarter.

Apex Expo is a misnomer: The “Expo” part is a throwback to when the show was aimed at board fabricators. Those days went the way of Gene Roddenberry. Finding fabrication equipment on the show floor is unusual, and vendors said new sales are going to replace old machines, not to add capacity. Dow, Oak-Mitsui, RBP Chemical, Ventec, Park Electrochemical and Rogers were among the materials companies with new or soon-to-be released products. Isola revealed it completed the beta testing and internal qualification for I-Speed, a Pb-free compatible, low-loss, high-speed digital laminate. The company has also teamed with Circuit Foil on Ultrathin, a 40µm glass-reinforced laminate said to eliminate the thermo-mechanical mismatch issues commonly associated with unreinforced films. The Tg tops 170⁰C, and Young’s modulus and CTE are said to be similar to high-Tg systems.

LPKF has a new, versatile UV laser (Protolaser U3) said to be for depaneling, drilling, marking and surface etching on FR-4, ceramic or other high-frequency RF substrates. PCB cleaning equipment OEM Teknek will double its headcount in Asia and has added a small number of staff in Germany as well.

We had a nice long talk (for the show) with iNEMI president Bill Bader, who provided a rundown on the consortium’s programs – and there are a lot of them. iNEMI officially launched three new projects in medical in January, with three more in “definition.” UL Research is leading a project to update its standards and specifications methodology. Also, a white paper on harmonization of environmental data management is underway.

On the move. At Universal Instruments, George Westby has semi-retired from the UIC Consortium, and Dave Vicara has been named to run the lab. Also, Jeff Mogensen, last seen with Speedline, has joined Parmi, and his former colleague Greg Lefevbre has joined Cardinal Circuit. And another Speedline alum, Shean Dalton, has launched his own rep firm.

Brian O’Leary, formerly of KIC, has joined Trans-Tec (Yamaha’s distributor in the Americas) as general manager, and Lino D’Andretti has joined him in sales. Seho appointed Alexander Riedel director of customer service, and Europlacer named Chris Round global marketing manager. Rogers named Jeffrey Grudzien vice president of its Advanced Circuit Materials division, replacing Michael Bessette, who is retiring after 37 years with the company.

IPC has narrowed its search for a new president to three candidates, none of whom is reportedly from the IPC staff. All have association backgrounds, but some are said to have various degrees of indirect industry experience. A decision is expected in the next few weeks. (Ed: Update: http://www.circuitsassembly.com/cms/news/12678-ipc-names-mitchell-president-and-ceo)

Longtime MacDermid engineer Denny Fritz was inducted to the IPC Hall of Fame, and Dr. William Coleman of PhotoStencil and Mike Bixenman of Kyzen received the President’s Award for their contributions to the organization.

Overheard. Spokesmen from Nordson Dage and OK International acknowledged their respective companies are seeking acquisitions in the coming quarters.

A bid has been made for a major ($500 million-plus) publicly traded US-based EMS company, but so far the company’s asking price is higher than market value.

There was some chatter that the US Department of Defense is considering lifting the ITAR ban on PCBs, which would dramatically shake up (read: eviscerate) the US PCB market. TTM, the largest PCB supplier to the Pentagon, and others are said to be pushing back on the DoD.

All in all, a good week. The show remains in San Diego next year, then back to Las Vegas. So much for boldly going where no one has gone before.

Mike Buetow is editor in chief of PCD&F and CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

SEA, NPI 2012 Winners
By Chelsey Drysdale

In San Diego last month, CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY revealed the winners of its 20th annual Service Excellence Awards at IPC Apex Expo. Electronics manufacturing services providers and electronics assembly equipment, materials and software suppliers were recognized for top-notch customer service. Each firm’s own customers rated them in an online survey process during the months leading up to the trade show.

EMS winners with the highest overall ratings included EPIC Technologies in the large company category (revenues between $101 million and $500 million), Applied Technical Services in the medium company category (revenues between $20 million and $100 million), and Burton Industries in the small company category (revenues under $20 million).

EMS companies with the highest scores in each of five individual service categories were honored as well. (Overall winners were excluded from winning individual categories.) In the large company category, last year’s overall winner Mack Technologies swept all five individual awards (dependability/timely delivery, manufacturing quality, value for the price, responsiveness, and technology).

Electronics Systems took first place in dependability and value, and tied ACD for responsiveness in the medium company category. ACD also scored the technology award. Western Electronics took home the quality top prize.

In the small company category, Spectrum Assembly took top honors for dependability and responsiveness, and tied Accu-Sembly for first place in quality. Accu-Sembly also won for technology and value.

Electronics assembly equipment award winners were Assembléon America for pick-and-place; DEK International for screen printing; Kyzen Corp. for cleaning/processing materials; Nordson YesTech for test and inspection; Nordson EFD for materials; Nordson Asymtek for dispensing, and KIC for soldering equipment. Aegis Industrial Software received top honors in the automation/manufacturing software category.

CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY and PCD&F also announced the winners of the 2012 New Product Introduction Award for electronics assembly equipment, materials, software, and PCB fabrication at the same event, held on the show floor.

The NPI Award, in its fifth year, recognizes leading new products during the past 12 months. An independent panel of practicing industry engineers selected the recipients.

The winners included Cognex in the process control tools category for the DataMan 500 and Speedprint in the screen/stencil printing equipment category for Speedprint SP700avi. Seika Machinery won the screen/stencil printing peripherals prize for the Sawa Ultrasonic Stencil Cleaner SC-AH100F-LV Low-VOC Model. Aqueous Technologies was honored for cleaning equipment with its Trident XLD, while Data I/O took home an award for device programming with its RoadRunner 3 with FIS.

For dispensing equipment, GPD Global took top honors for PCD Dispensing on MAX series platform. CyberOptics scored the number one spot for AOI test & inspection with the QX100. ICT test & inspection went to Datest for the SPEA 4060 Flying Probe Tester with Goepel Boundary Scan. Test & inspection – functional test was awarded to Agilent Technologies for TS-8900. ViTrox Technologies won for its V810 In-Line 3D AXI in the AXI test & inspection category.

AIM was honored for soldering materials with NC259 solder paste, and LPKF Laser & Electronics was awarded for its LPKF MicroLine 1120 P in the automation tools category. Multifunction component placement went to Assembléon America for iFlex, and Juki snagged the award for high-speed component placement for its Sentry tool. Speedline Technologies’ Closed Loop Nitrogen Control was honored for reflow soldering, and Seho Systems’ AOI system to be embedded in a selective soldering machine was recognized for selective soldering.

Kyzen’s Aquanox A4638 took top prize for cleaning materials, and Cogiscan’s LabelScan Automated Vision System was number one in labeling equipment.

Juki’s second award was for production software for its Juki IS NPI+ Bundle. Microscan was awarded in the process control software category for its AutoVISION machine vision software.

In the soldering – other category, EVS was given a plaque for its EVS 7000LFHS solder recovery system redesign. Nihon Superior was honored in the cored wire category for (SN100C (551CT)) lead-free flux-cored solder wire, while Semblant won for its SPF (Semblant Plasma Finish) in the coatings/encapsulants category.

Christopher Associates took home a plaque for the Magnus HD Trend in the rework & repair tools category, and KIC was honored in wave soldering for its KIC 24/7 Wave.

Finally, for surface treatment, Dow Electronic Materials won for its Circuposit Hole Prep 4126 Sweller.

Congratulations to all of 2012’s honorees. Join us again next year, when IPC Apex Expo returns to San Diego, where we’ll recognize a new batch of industry standouts during our 2013 event. Check back to circuitsassembly.com and pcdandf.com for more details soon.

Chelsey Drysdale is senior editor for PCD&F and CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..