The Knowledge Base: My 2025 Industry Wish List
Global Sourcing Spotlight: The Surprising World of Offshore B2B Industrial Values
Nolan’s Notes: Emerging Trends in 2025
SMTA Carolinas Chapter In-Person Technical Meeting to Improve SMT Quality with Accuracy and Force Validation
February 6, 2024 | SMTA Carolinas ChapterEstimated reading time: 1 minute
The Carolinas Chapter of the SMTA is hosting an evening dinner presentation on Thursday, February 22, 2024 from 6:00 - 8:00 pm ET at East West Charlotte in Mooresville, NC with CeTaQ General Manager Michael Sivigny, who will present on ways to improve SMT quality. Special thanks to our site sponsor, East West Manufacturing. Additional information about the event and the registration form is found at smta.org/events.
If you don't measure, you don't know. These are appropriate words for the application of statistical methods for measuring machine and process capabilities in SMT manufacturing. Only through diagnostic measurement and analysis of SMT equipment can quality performance improvement be realized. Measured mean values can be used to 'soft' calibrate machines to a higher level of accuracy than available through OEM standard calibrations.
With the complexity of highspeed automation combined with high accuracy requirements for product miniaturization, it is necessary to dig deeper with statistically significant data collection methods to understand and solve the root cause of sub-component machine failures which impact product quality.
When machines are allowed to run in 'maximum accuracy mode', they are more confident and capable of producing today's high reliability electronics with fewer defects. Defect contribution in each process step needs detailed analysis to reduce cost. When costs are minimized, the underlying inherent process efficiencies go way up which contributes to higher productivity and bottom-line profitability. The improvement effects of process optimization have several intrinsic benefits that can easily maintain high manufacturing productivity.
The presentation will discuss individual process step validation methods with real examples of improvement that contribute to DPMO reduction. Examples will include examples from laser marking, stencil printing, dispensing, and placement equipment. While each process step is characterized, the underlying objective is to verify OEM specifications and prove that machines are capable for intended quality performance. This allows engineers to streamline efforts and focus on other areas of process improvement. Register today as space is limited.
Share on:
Suggested Items
TSK Schill GmbH Closes 2024 With a Record Turnover
01/14/2025 | TSK Schill GmbHAt TSK, the course continues to be set for growth. Despite the turbulent market development, we were able to increase our turnover “EBIT”. We generated a large proportion of our turnover with Solution Business.
SMTA UHDI Symposium: Shortening the Learning Curve
01/15/2025 | Marcy LaRont, I-Connect007SMTA’s second annual UHDI Symposium on Jan. 23 in Phoenix will highlight groundbreaking discussions on UHDI assembly test board, innovative electronic inks, process controls, and signal integrity solutions. Organizer Tara Dunn talks about the importance of the event and how she prepared presentations and discussions that would appeal to fabricators, assemblers, and designers. This event will shorten your learning curve and spark new ideas that push the boundaries of hardware electronics manufacturing. There’s still time to register.
Data Paints a Picture—Can You See It?
01/09/2025 | Marcy LaRont, PCB007 MagazineAndrew Kelley is CTO of Xact PCB, a company founded by engineers with firsthand experience in PCB fabricators. Xact PCB has developed a cutting-edge system to monitor and predict the registration of inner layers through advanced registration control systems. By leveraging data collected from various production stages, Xact PCB’s GX tool enhances precision. It minimizes errors, ensuring that the final products meet their customers' exact specifications while eliminating the need for costly pilot lots.
Designers Notebook: Impact of Advanced Semiconductor Packaging on PCB Stackup
01/07/2025 | Vern Solberg -- Column: Designer's NotebookTo accommodate new generations of high I/O semiconductor packaging, printed circuit board fabrication technology has had to undergo significant changes in both the process methods and the criteria for base material selection and construction sequence (stackup). Many of the new high-function multi-core semiconductor package families require more terminals than their predecessors, requiring a significantly narrower terminal pitch. Interconnecting these very fine-pitch, high I/O semiconductors to the PCB is made possible by an intermediate element referred to as an interposer.
Focus on electronica: Standards and the Factory of the Future
01/08/2025 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamDr. Thomas Marktscheffel, director of product management software solutions for ASMPT, gave a presentation at electronica 2024 titled Standards Driving the Factory of the Future. We asked Thomas to share his thoughts about the class, why this topic is so important, and what he hoped attendees would take away from his class.