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The Inside Line
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Siemens Dematic Covers Breadth of Automation Systems
DALLAS — On June 11, 2003, Siemens Dematic held a three-day trade press forum to showcase the broad areas where the company leads the market. Siemens Dematic AG covers logistics automation and material handling, postal logistics, and electronics manufacturing.
The Siemens Dematic group alone has 11,000 employees worldwide and sold $2.9 billion in products in 2002. At present, this group has 10 percent of its business in Asia, 37 percent in Europe and 53 percent in the Americas. Asia is projected to be a high-growth area of the future. Though it might not be apparent, the company has an installed base at 380 airports, 2,000 systems in manufacturing and assembly operations, 1,250 automotive plants, 400 parcel and freight operations, and has installed 11,000 placement machines since 1985.
The press forum began with a broad corporate overview, followed by technology showcases, then on-site tours. In the area of electronics assembly systems showcase, the company introduced the Siplace HF with two placement heads capable of working independently of each other while placing components on printed circuit boards (PCBs) simultaneously, instead of in the consecutive placement mode. Linear drives on all traversing axes reportedly ensure quick acceleration and deceleration and increased placement speeds of up to 17,000 components per hour. Depending on the application, the Siplace HF is designed to handle mixed technology, including components as small as 0201s to large parts measuring 85 x 85 mm. The placement system reportedly can be integrated in to existing Siplace platforms with compatible feeders, placement heads, vision systems and software.
One of the most exciting portions of the forum was the manufacturing tours of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport baggage-handling system, a seven-mile track with controls dispersed throughout the new terminal still under construction.
— Gail Flower
Kester University: A Solder Training and Process Resource
DES PLAINES, Ill. — Kester, a Northrop Grumman Corp. business unit, has created Kester University — complete solder technology training programs coupled with consulting services to assist the electronics assembly industry with training and process issues.
Training courses are offered for SMT assembly, wave soldering and rework. Each course also offers the latest technical and practical information for implementing lead-free SMT assembly, wave and rework. Courses in traditional leaded soldering processes also are available and are offered in English or Spanish.
"With theses courses, Kester's experience in soldering technology can be used by any company wishing to optimize their production output with well-trained personnel. Having a solid understanding of the soldering processes will reduce defects, increase reliability and increase a company's productivity," said Gary Nicholls, value added services manager at Kester.
The courses are customizable to accommodate a customer's need for in-house training of operators, line supervisors and managers. They include courses on lead-free and traditional tin-lead processes. Additionally, this brings practical knowledge and experience to the user, enabling a company to train for implementation of lead-free assembly.
The lead-free SMT assembly course covers process-critical variables in reflow assembly, while the lead-free wave soldering course shows the full optimization of through-hole and bottom-side SMT, and the lead-free rework course offers complete training on hand soldering practices and repair. Courses come with complete in-class training materials and CD training modules; these training materials are useful for post-training purposes as well.
Kester University also offers complete consulting services to troubleshoot specific soldering assembly issues with lead-free or tin/lead soldering.
— Jenny Popp