RTW NEPCON South China: JBC Brings Digital Transformation to Hand Soldering Process

Enrique Moreno, technical support engineer at JBC Soldering SL, and I-Connect007 Managing Editor Stephen Las Marias discuss the latest developments in the hand soldering process, including robotics and automation. Moreno also talks about the opportunities in China, and why their Industry 4.0-enabled solutions are suitable for this market.

The Need for Assembly Training and Education

While investing in the latest technologies and having a systems-based approach in your assembly processes are important, the key factors that will make you successful in your continuous improvement goal are the skills, training, and education of your workforce. However you look at it, the human factor remains a critical issue when it comes to your overall efficiency.

The Importance of Training for your Organization

In our recent survey on assembly training and education, another question we asked is about the importance of training to your organization. Around 85% of our respondents consider training really important to their workforce. In fact, the majority of respondents—47%—say it is very important.

Today’s Mil/Aero Enemies: Counterfeits, Obsolescence and Failure

The need for high-reliability electronics, components and assemblies that can perform in harsh operating conditions involving extreme temperatures, vibration, and moisture continue to challenge electronics assembly providers catering to the military and aerospace markets. These are on top of current manufacturing issues such as the miniaturization of products, shrinking component sizes, higher density board assemblies, and the obsolescence of electronic components.

A New Player in the Philippine EMS Industry

There's a new EMS player in town. Come August 2017, Artem Global, a startup EMS firm in the Philippines, will start manufacturing operations, with services ranging from PCB assembly to box build, and even turnkey services. I-Connect007 Managing Editor Stephen Las Marias caught up with Artem Managing Director Art Ledonio at last week's PSECE event in Manila.

Assembly Training and Education

Even if your PCB assembly process is optimized, there is always room for improvement. And no matter how successful your company has been in the past, you just can’t rest on your laurels. It is always in your best interest to strive towards a better operations model. We've created a survey to help us gauge the importance of training and education in your workforce, and the benefits that you get in ensuring that your operators and engineers have the most current knowledge and skill sets.

Happy Holden Second Recipient of I-Connect007 'Good for the Industry' Award

Our second 'Good for the Industry' award has been presented to Happy Holden. After working with Happy for a number of years it is clear to see that he is dedicated to improving the industry. He has a long history in the PCB industry, starting off with HP in the '70s. Not only did he develop HDI, but he then wrote the HDI Handbook, which is provided to readers at no charge.

Enhancing Recruitment Efforts with Public-Private Partnerships

After nearly two decades of the dominance of the service economy, manufacturers in all industries have a challenge: recruiting and training the next generation of manufacturing employees. This article details how one EMS company has been addressing that challenge through collaborative efforts with educational institutions, other businesses and regional support networks.

Manufacturing Through the Eyes of Human Resources, Recruitment and New Hire Training

Perhaps more important than the technology and tools a manufacturing company has are its people. People are what make a company truly great and the process of recruiting talented, skilled, dedicated employees and training them properly for success is an important aspect of any manufacturing company.

Keeping an Eye on the Next Generation

Why should a company in our industry dedicate hours to providing professional development to a group of temporary student interns? Why should they open their doors to kids, some of whom haven’t even entered high school? For Indium, the short answer is, it makes them better. Read on to find out why.

The Challenge of Filling PCB Assembly Positions

U.S. manufacturers are having a difficult time filling open positions. They cannot find workers with the necessary skills to fill the openings. If we look specifically at the PCB assembly industry, the rhetoric is similar. There are more openings than people to fill them. The discussions reveal that lower wages, lack of skills, and sometimes the reported low unemployment rate in the United States is part of the problem.

Virtex on Military and Aerospace Requirements

Brad Heath, VirTex CEO, and Upinder Singh, Vice President and General Manager at VirTex MTI, discuss their company's military and aerospace business, and how they are addressing the latest demands and requirements from their customers.

Metcal Brings Big Science and High Reliability to Hand Soldering

Recently, Judy Warner visited the Metcal facility in Southern California and meet with Product Support Engineer Robert Roush. They talked about Metcal's patented hand-soldering technology, which promises to bring a new level of science and control to the world of hand-soldering.

A Long-term Career Prospect

The next millennial in this series is Alex Johnson, an associate engineer at Saline Lectronics and who has been with the company for over two years. Even though Alex received a lot of negative information about manufacturing throughout his lifetime, his work experience in engineering has directly challenged those preconceived notions.

New Column: Millennials in Manufacturing

New columnist Davina McDonnell will be writing on the challenges millennials face in the workplace, and the unique dynamic between millennials and the industry veterans who manage them.

Real Time with NEPCON South China: P. Kay Metal Discusses New Markets for MS2

James Goyne, the newly appointed global business development director at P. Kay Metal Inc., speaks with I-Connect007's Stephen Las Marias about what he aims to achieve in his new role, as well as the new markets and opportunities for their MS2 solder dross eliminator.

The Industry Speaks

In the latest issue of SMT Magazine, we take a pause from covering the latest technology trends, challenges, and solutions in the electronics manufacturing and assembly industry. Instead, we are focusing on our readers—to give a voice to their thoughts on the industry, companies, jobs, interests, and even pain points when it comes to their respective specialties.

Solder Paste Exploration

From the manufacturers of solder pastes, to equipment makers, all the way to the solder paste inspection guys, and the electronics assemblers who are using their products, I talked to the supply chain to find out what’s going on in the solder paste printing process, what factors impact the process, the challenges, and the best practices to consider to be able to address those challenges and improve efficiencies and yield in the SMT line.

Product Compliance Requires Supply Chain Transparency

Changes to the RoHS, REACH, and conflict minerals regulations make the need for supply chain transparency more crucial than ever. In line with this, full material declaration (FMD) is quickly becoming the "gold standard" data requirement for an OEM to accurately assess the risk of restricted materials in a product.

Making Connections with Associations

To provide our readers more information about their associations, this month's issue of SMT Magazine features articles and interviews with SMTA, IPC, iNEMI, SMART Group, and VDMA Productronics, to help understand more their activities, goals, and missions, and how they are helping push forward the electronics manufacturing industry.

Surface Mount Technology Association—a New Milestone

With a grand mission, SMTA is an international network of professionals who build skills, share practical experience and develop solutions in electronic assembly technologies, including microsystems, emerging technologies, and related business operations. The organization delivers the right information at the right time to empower the workforce, who collectively advances technology, innovates new products, and serves the global industry.

Solder Jet Printing: Is It the Right Time?

Publisher Barry Matties gets an update from Nico Coenen, sales director for Mycronic, on their solder jet printing system. Mycronic has been developing and pioneering this technology for 10 years and they believe now is the time for it to gain real traction. One thing is certain; solder jet printing certainly has advanced and could make a big difference in process and quality.

Zentech: Expanding EMS Solutions and Supporting Innovation

Zentech CEO and President Matt Turpin sat down with I-Connect007 Publisher Barry Matties recently for a wide-ranging discussion of the state of both domestic and global manufacturing, and Zentech’s recent acquisition that will significantly expand the company’s capabilities. They also focused on supply chain issues, automation, regulations, and the importance of STEM education in the U.S.

Hunter Technology’s Two Newest CID Recipients Discuss Certification

I-Connect007 Guest Editor Kelly Dack spent time at Hunter Technology’s Silicon Valley plant, where he had the opportunity to sit down with two recent CID certification recipients, Jeff Davidson and Zev Gross, who recently completed Dack’s CID training program. The two also discuss the benefits of achieving certification and their plans to take the advanced course.

California Congressman Mike Honda Discusses American Manufacturing

Barry Matties, Publisher of I-Connect007, sat down with Congressman Honda, who represents District 17 in the Silicon Valley, and talked with him about American manufacturing, infrastructure, education and some of the current thinking in America. According to Honda, "The policies we pass and the things we do in D.C. that negatively impact our economy...a lot of those guys who don’t support some of the positive things we want to see happen don’t really understand that it impacts their districts, their social services, health and business."

Indium's Jensen to Present Webtorials for PCB Assembly

Indium Corporation’s Tim Jensen, senior product manager for engineered solders, will share his expertise during two Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) Webtorials on March 18 and 25 from 1-2:30 p.m. EST.

New Electronics Industry Award Named After Company Founder

Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. announces that Dr. Felix Zandman, founder, chairman, CTO and business development officer, has had a new award named after him by the Electronic Components, Assemblies & Materials Association (ECA). The Dr. Felix Zandman Award was officially presented on March 20 at the CARTS (Capacitor and Resistor Technology Symposium) event in Palm Springs, Calif., in conjunction with the 25th anniversary of CARTS USA.

Three-Five Systems Names New Regulatory Affairs Director

Three-Five Systems (TFS) announces that it has named Leslie Honda to the newly created post of regulatory affairs director.