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APEX 2001 Review
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
More than 6,900 attendees gathered at the second Electronics Assembly Process Exhibition and Conference (APEX), which was held from January 14 to 18, 2001 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif. The event encompassed 394 booths covering more than 168,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space. The total number of visitors (attendees and exhibitors) exceeded 12,900. Of the attendees, more than 1,900 were from outside the United States, certifying APEX as an international event.
"This event is driven by the industry's need," said Dennis P. McGuirk, IPC president. "As long as APEX keeps in tune with the pulse of the industry, the show will thrive."
KeynotesDr. Robert Ballard Underwater Explorer. Dr. Robert Ballard presented the keynote address, "Secrets of an Underwater Explorer," on January 16 to this year's APEX attendees. An explorer, naval officer, scientist and television producer,
Dr. Ballard is perhaps best known as the person who discovered the Titanic.
Dr. Ballard spoke of how emerging electronics technologies, particularly fiber optics, have allowed him to make discoveries about the earth's history.
Dr. Ballard also has used new technology to share his exciting undersea discoveries with others, especially children. He often uses telecommunications satellites to let school children join him on his dives. More than one million middle school students and 20,000 science teachers participate in Ballard's science teaching program. His mission is to reach children while they are young and excited about science.
"The ocean is our classroom, the earth wrote our curriculum," is the way Ballard describes his educational endeavors.
NEMI Roadmap. On January 17, Jim McElroy, CEO of the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI), delivered the second keynote speech. "Ready, Set, Go: The 2000 NEMI Roadmap" presented the latest NEMI roadmap process. Evaluating the technology, infrastructure and business practices expected to have the greatest impact on electronics manufacturing over the next ten years, the roadmap also presents trends and possible opportunities.
B2B Panel. The final keynote speech, delivered on January 18, was "B-to-B or Not B-to-B? That is the e-question!" This panel of business-to-business (B2B) experts, moderated by Ralph Kenton, SMT Advisory Board member, discussed the topical issue of e-trade in the electronics assembly industry, problems and successes that have evolved, and examined the future of Web-based supply chain transactions.
GalaThis year's Gala extravaganza was spread out over three floors and the outdoor terrace of the Hyatt hotel. The event offered an array of festivities: one floor devoted to dancing to the well-known disco band KC and the Sunshine Band, one to casino gambling anything from craps to blackjack to roulette while another floor became a virtual reality world where participants could race motorcycles or fly jet planes through simulation.
For those seeking a more relaxing evening, quiet areas both indoors and out were provided. These settings allowed for a more soothing environment in which to unwind. Spread throughout the three floors and outdoors, the quieter areas were ideal for more personal meetings away from the main activities at the Gala.
AwardsBest Paper Award. Two papers presented at APEX received the Best Paper award from IPC. The winner of Best U.S. Paper was "Initial Characterization of High Yield 0201 Processing" by Brian Smith of Siemens Energy and Automation (EAE) Group in Atlanta. Smith is an advanced process development engineer at Siemens.
The second paper, "Standard SMT Process for Flip Chip Assembly on FR4 Substrates," by Steve Harris, director of technology at Solectron Corp. in Dunfermline, Scotland, received the Best International Paper award. The international award was presented on behalf of a consortium including Solectron Scotland, Alcatel Microelectronics, Alcatel Space Industries, Alcatel Bell, IMEC/TFCG, Thomas Walter and TUB (University of Berlin).
SMT VISION Awards. The 2000 VISION Awards were presented at APEX on January 16. These awards recognize the innovations of supplier companies and introduction of outstanding new products and services for the electronics manufacturing industry.
Awards were presented in 14 categories for products or services introduced between January 1 and December 31, 2000. A panel of industry experts judged each submission based on its capacity to fulfill ongoing industry needs. Those applying were assessed not only on innovation, but also on cost effectiveness, contribution to quality assurance and ease of use. Also important were maintainability, reparability and environmental impact.
Service Excellence Awards. Winners of the 2001 Service Excellence Awards for electronics assembly equipment and software were announced at a luncheon ceremony on January 17. The awards program, sponsored by EP&P Magazine, honors electronics assembly equipment manufacturers and software developers for their high levels of customer service.
The award winners in each of their respective categories were: Cleaning EMC Global Technologies Inc.; Dispensing Precision Valve & Automation; Pick-and-Place Philips EMT Americas; Repair and Rework Air-Vac Engineering Co. Inc.; Screen Printing EKRA America Inc.; Soldering Heller Industries Inc.; Test and Inspection GenRad Inc.; Software Manufacturing Aegis Industrial Software Corp.
From the FloorThere were uncountable new technologies and happenings on the show floor sure to advance the industry to the next level of excellence. SMT Magazine acknowledges and appreciates each contribution. Following is a brief collection of some key news and product introductions from exhibiting companies.
Siemens Launches SIPLACE Solutions. Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems Inc. has created SIPLACE Global Solutions, a corporate initiative offering fully integrated turnkey production lines designed for maximum productivity for high-volume electronics assembly. This initiative offers SIPLACE component placement systems, SIPLACE screen printers and reflow ovens, and SIPLACE test and inspection equipment. SIPLACE products ensure seamless integration and premium process quality. And in addition to this full range of hardware and software, SIPLACE Smartware features the human resources that support every turnkey assembly solution on a customer-by-customer basis.
Philips EMT Is Now Assembléon. Beginning in 2001, Philips EMT has become Assembl
Asked what is actually changing along with the name, managing director Dr. Cor Scholten said, "For our customers, very little. Assembl
NEMI Roadmap. The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) has mapped the future manufacturing technology needs for the North American electronics industry.
The 2000 roadmap is the fourth endeavor by NEMI to map the future manufacturing technology needs of the North American electronics industry. The purpose of the roadmap is to identify key technology and infrastructure developments required to ensure the competitiveness of North American electronics manufacturing companies.
The 2000 roadmap received more participation from the electronics industry than ever before. The effort reached beyond NEMI membership to involve a broad spectrum of organizations. NEMI also coordinated with other roadmapping organizations.
Created with the input of more than 400 people representing over 190 organizations, the roadmap covers 19 technology areas, divided into 5 main topics: 1) Digital silicon technology; 2) Business processes/technologies; 3) Design technologies; 4) Manufacturing technologies; and 5) Component subsystem technologies.
Vitronics Soltec Introduces Program. On January 17, Vitronics Soltec officially introduced its "5 Steps to Lead-free Soldering" program to successful lead-free soldering implementation. The "5 Steps" is a step-by-step program developed by their technology group and has proven successful in multiple production manufacturing environments.
Vitronics Soltec will bring this method to the world through a European Advanced Technology Tour. The technology group will host a series of instructional seminars on current high-interest topics in soldering (wave and reflow) through Europe during 2001. Entitled "Make The Right Connection," the seminars will cover key soldering issues such as lead-free soldering, selective soldering technology and 0201 components soldering, among many others.
CircuitCam FUSION TCM Software. Aegis Industrial Software Corp., the developers of CircuitCam CIM software, introduced the revolutionary TransCollaborative Manufacturing (TCM) software for electronics assemblers called CircuitCam FUSION.
Using a central data source and servers, FUSION manages not only the creation of useful manufacturing information for design and bill of materials data (as with CIM software) but automates the management of this information in both engineering and on the factory floor. Moreover, FUSION spans every aspect of manufacturing from data preparation to factory floor integration.
Most importantly, multiple parties can work on the same information simultaneously and across the globe via their Web browsers. Jason Spera, CEO, explained how FUSION uses an n-tier Web technology to create a completely collaborative, non-linear system.
Assembly System. BeamWorks unveiled their SPARK 400 Multi Process Assembly System. Designed especially for the SMT industry, the system reportedly performs all assembly functions for medium and small PCB lots, while automating rework and prototype assembly. The Spark 400 is suitable for a wide range of packaging technologies (including fine-pitch, SMD, BGA, etc.).
In the Spark 400, soldering and inspection are performed simultaneously with high-throughput through the use of four laser diodes sources to provide high performance and long lifetime, with low operational costs and maintenance.
Perhaps the most innovative new equipment selection for the APEX 2001 show, the Spark 400 reflects the most current printed circuit board (PCB) assembly philosophy of flexible, custom manufacturing in a small footprint.
CR Technology Introduces Inspection System. At the show, CR Technology introduced its most progressive inline high-speed vision inspection system yet the RTI-7500. This technological breakthrough is said to allow for quick, accurate and nondestructive inspection of PCBs at leading inspection speeds.
Using high-resolution cameras to check solder joints and verify parts installation, the system performs quickly and accurately. A color mega-pixel camera extracts triple the amount of information of a grayscale system, reportedly allowing for superior detail and greatly reduced false failures a significant advantage for manufacturers who need a total solutions inspection system.
On to 2002At the end of this year's show, IPC announced that APEX 2002 will take place from January 20 to 24, 2002, once again at the San Diego Convention Center. For more information, call (877) 472-4724 or visit www.GoAPEX.org.
A call for papers has been issued. Abstracts summarizing the topics must be received by May 31, 2001, and should be approximately 300 words long. Abstracts should be submitted online at www.GoAPEX.org/html/CFPAPEX2002.htm. For more information on submitting an abstract for a paper presentation at APEX 2002, contact Martin Barton, APEX conference director, at (972) 424-0805 or e-mail martinbarton@home.com.
"The industry is looking forward to another huge success in 2002," said Steve DeCollibus, director of intranet and communications, Cookson Electronics.