-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
The Inside Line
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Indium President Reflects on 23 Years in Solder
UTICA, N.Y. — Greg Evans, president of Indium Corp., has served the company for 23 years. Evans' tenure acts as a metaphor for the company's stature in the electronics assembly industry. In an era of divestitures, acquisitions, takeovers, dismissals and tumult, under Evans' direction, Indium has maintained steady, calm growth.
Evans started out as a chemical engineer, developing solder paste flux formulations. The industry was just warming to the concept of SMT, and Indium leadership felt they could contribute something meaningful. With corporate and customer support, the company soon offered competitive solder pastes, which were simple by today's standards. Another guiding force was Ning-Cheng Lee, Ph.D., who directs product development efforts. Lee has earned numerous awards and honors for his work over the past 18 years.
Indium has been committed to people since 1934, when people who shared a respect for technology and each other founded the company. "I joined the company because I shared the basic values of the organization," says Evans. "At the core of Indium's philosophy is our respect for people, employees, customers and the industry. We feel it is important to show long-term respect by being careful with the future."
Indium may not be the flashiest company, adds Evans, but it has gained recognition for being respectful, thoughtful and dedicated to product development.
Evans comments that today is the toughest time in his career to predict the general economic future. "I do know that electronics materials suppliers will be in great demand for a long time," he adds. "My mission is to continue nurturing the company so that we maintain our position of leadership in the industry while offering a respectable, rewarding environment for our team to continue their award-winning activities."— Gail Flower
Vectron's Vilella: Champion of AOI
SAN DIEGO — Vectron Inc.'s recent receipt of a U.S. patent on parametric automated optical inspection (AOI), eight years in the making, is the latest in Vectron President Joseph Vilella's efforts to promote AOI technology.
Vectron applied for the patent in 1996, and received it in January of this year. "It basically gives us a monopoly on the use of parametics for AOI," Vilella explains. "This is why it took us so long to get it. It's a massive competitive advantage, and investors really like it."
Parametric measurement technology, in use on every Vectron AOI system, uses a database of specific parameters of chips such as length, width and range, in combination with high-resolution digital color imaging, to inspect boards by measuring all the relevant features relative to the inspection process. "It's all mathematics, rather than specific images that can provide false calls in the inspection process," he says.
Vectron used its Advanced Research and Development facility at the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico to upgrade its AOI software for use by the Chinese government's Ministry of Information (MII), which owns Chinese government manufacturing facilities. The government of Puerto Rico is Vectron's main investor. "China's SMT reality is different from ours," Vilella says. "We have a legacy on how to do it right. China has gotten thrown into this. Even though they have had their struggles, they have done a fantastic job. They are open minded, and are looking for new ways to do things."
Another issue Vilella sees as critical is standardization. He is chairman of the 641 group of the IPC 7-32 Automated Inspection Technologies Subcommittee, working on standardization of AOI, AXI and API inspection technology. He also has developed The SMT Cost of Quality Model, which provides cost figures for SMT manufacturers in an aim to help electronics manufacturers with manufacturing. Vilella claims that more than 150 companies have requested the model. For more information, contact Joe at joev@vectroninc.com.— Christine F. Della Monaca