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EPTE Newsletter from Japan: JPCA Show 2010, Part VII

Materials are the most purchased items in the printed circuit industry for both business and technology customers. For this reason, material suppliers occupied the lion's share of space at the JPCA Show 2010; however, many suppliers considered to be large players in the PCB industry were absent this year. These suppliers always rented space in the past, but this year the majority of their space went to metal foil manufacturers. Why did they pass on this year's show?One of my business associates affiliated with the material suppliers industry explained their absence. The beginning of their hardship began in the first half of 2008 when the global metal market was booming and oil prices were rising. Metal suppliers were raking in money at this time by selling their inventories at very high prices driven up by market demands. Most of their inventories were purchased the previous year at a cost that was significantly lower than their selling prices, and margins were well higher than historical rates. Market analysts predicted this booming business would continue for several years fueled by the expanding economies of China and other developing countries. Material companies continued to purchase raw materials at increasing higher market prices, and one company even bought copper mining rights in South America as a long term procurement strategy. Unfortunately, the recession cooled down this over-heated market and demands declined significantly during the fourth quarter of 2008. Metal prices dropped drastically and manufacturers realized huge losses on all sales because their inventory costs were significantly above current market prices. This was almost two years ago, but they are still licking their wounds and budget constraints forced them all to cancel any promotional activities (including trade shows) this year. Plastic product and laminate suppliers reserved booths, but their sizes were relatively smaller and their displays were more conservative compared to previous years. I did not discover any innovative or new materials in this zone.Circuit board assembling and soldering products are another main attraction at the JPCA Show, and most companies occupied large spaces to demonstrate and present new products. Lead-free soldering is no longer the featured product at trade shows for this segment because it is now very common in the industry. Some of the soldering material suppliers promoted halogen-free soldering and displayed new halogen-free flux.Most of the larger-sized equipment vendors from other countries did not attend this year's show. Domestic vendors were all too happy to pick up the slack and introduce new equipment--mostly screen-printers for solder pastes and mounting machines for tiny components. Most of the new machines have specifications that claim to handle 0402 and 0603 sized chip components; however, an engineer at one booth explained that the majority of the industry is still at a 1005 size. The sales pitch from equipment vendors focused on flexibilities and easy handling rather than high-speed processing.

There were zones at the show that included manufacturing equipment, test equipment and CAD systems. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time explore these areas.Dominique K. NumakuraDKN Research, www.dknresearch.com

Headlines of the Week

(Please contact haverhill@dknreseach.com for further information on the news.)

1. Hitachi Displays (Major display manufacturer in Japan) 7/2The manufacturer has decided to outsource the manufacturing of middle-size IPS-LCD panels to Chimei Innolux in Taiwan to increase capacity.

2. Nippon Steel Chemical (Major chemical company in Japan) 7/7The company has developed a new functional polymer composite material introducing nano-sized metal powders various applications, such as PV devices and bio-sensors.

3. Tohoku University (Japan) 7/7The university has developed a new nano-porous structure for hybrid noble metal materials expecting many valuable applications, such as sensors and catalysts, to come from the project.

4. Mitsubishi Electric (Major electric and electronics company in Japan) 7/7The company has commercialized a new carbon dioxide laser drilling machine, "GTWIII," for the drilling process of HDI boards with a 30% higher through-put.

5. Renesas (Major semiconductor manufacturer in Japan) 7/6The manufacturer has agreed to acquire the wireless modem business from Nokia, the largest cellular phone supplier in Finland.

6. Toshiba Mobile Display (Major display manufacturer in Japan) 7/8The manufacturer has sold AFPD, a manufacturing subsidiary of LCD panels in Singapore, to AU Optronics, a major display manufacturer in Taiwan.

7. Rohm (Major device manufacturer in Japan) 7/6The manufacturer has co-developed a new ZnO-based UV LED device with 100 micro W power. It is 10,000 times brighter compared to traditional GaN-based devices.

8. Panasonic (Major electronics company in Japan) 7/8The company has begun field tests of the new 2.8 kW power supply system of photovoltaic cells and lithium ion batteries made by Sanyo Electric.

9. Nichia Chemical (Major semiconductor manufacturer in Japan) 7/7The manufacturer will begin the sample supply of a new green semiconductor laser with 510 nm wave length in August.

10. Panasonic Electric (Major lighting device supplier in Japan) 7/8The supplier has commercialized a new LED-based light source for office use with a efficiency of 100lm/W. It is a 52% improvement from previous models.

Interesting Literature Concerning the Packaging Industry

Articles from DKN Research

1. "Introduction of the Manufacturing Process for Printable Electronics (Japanese)," Dominique Numakura, Nikkan Kogyo Shinbun, January, 2009.

2. "Advanced Screen Printing Process - Practical Approaches for Printable & Flexible Electronics," Dominique Numakura, 3rd IMPACT (International Microsystems, Packaging, Assembly and Circuits Technology Conference) and the 10th EMAP (International Conference on Electronics Materials and Packaging), October, 2008 (a copy of the paper and PowerPoint charts in English are available by request).

3. "Roll to Roll Production of Flexible Circuits, Possibilities and Issues," Dominique Numakura, Joho Kiko, Tokyo, March, 2008 (Japanese only).

4. "Coombs' Printed Circuits Handbook, 6th Edition, Part 15-Flexible Circuits," Dominique Numakura, McGraw Hill, New York, September, 2007.

5. "Screen Printing Process for High Density Flexible Electronics," Robert Turunen, Dominique Numakura, Masafumi Nakayama and Hisayuki Kawasaki, IPC Printed Circuit Expo/APEX and the Designers Summit, April, 2008.

6. "The Prospects for the Printed Electronics," Dominique Numakura, June 2009, Electronic Parts and Materials, June, 2009.

7. "Thick-Film Circuits with Silver Via Holes," Hisayuki Kawasaki, Masafumi Nakayama, John Rufiange and Dominique Numakura, Printed Circuit Design & FAB, June, 2009.8. "Technology Trends of Advanced and Multiple Printing Technologies for Embedded Components Circuit Boards," Dominique Numakura, Electronic Journal, July, 2008.9. "New Printable Electronics and Ultra Thin Flex Connector Developed by DKN Research," Robert Turunen and Dominique Numakura, Live Interview during IPC APEX EXPO, April, 2009.

10. "Industry Trends of Flexible Electronics," Dominique Numakura, Electronic Journal, October, 2009.To contact Dominique, click here.

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