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Comparing Apples to Apples

Fortunately, the IPC, the major pick-and-place manufacturers and some of their key customers are in the midst of devising machine specification standards. This committee has been working since last summer on a method to standardize how a machine's capabilities are reported. Today, the customer really has no accurate way of comparing products. The current draft of the standard proposes four standard boards, each with its own set of unique components. The manufacturers will then test their machines with the same number of heads, using the same components, on the same board under the same environmental conditions.

The good news is that the IPC wants to keep this particular committee together to tackle other issues such as communications standards. The hopes are that other equipment manufacturers will follow suit and develop reporting standards, as well.

IPC-9850, "Surface Mount Equipment Performance Char-acterization," was scheduled for release for commentary in July. Take the time to review the draft and put your two cents in.

Sandra RuroedeManaging Editor

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