Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1161956
SEPTEMBER 2019 I SMT007 MAGAZINE 13 the U.S. where they decide what the standard will be. Prasad: That hasn't been my experience. For example, in all of the committees that I have chaired, these things go through, and sometimes, I'm surprised that we have to make so many changes. So, it goes to China, India, and Europe. Pedersen: But I think that is the impression. I'm coming from a small company of 40 people in Norway, and I have been able to make contributions and be heard. That is something that IPC should be communicating better. Prasad: Right. Somehow, we need to figure out how to communicate better. I've been involved for 40 years, and whenever I hear that some- body wants to make a contribution, we say, "Yes, please." If you can't attend the meeting, send the comment. Holden: It's kind of like a representative democ- racy. It may not be, but at least IPC is open, and anybody can go there to a meeting and open up a new topic, saying, "We have this problem. We need this consensus." As long as people will volunteer, IPC will create a stan- dard or update the standard. It may not be the best process, but nobody has come up with a more successful process. Prasad: I agree, and let me give an example. It was 1987, and SMT was taking off. I used to work at Intel, and we discovered that mois- ture-sensitive packages were a problem. Big packages were cracking because of the mois- ture. We had all of the data. There was a group called the SMT Council, which was set up by EIA and IPC. This group consisted of chair- men of various IPC and EIA committees and some other people. I said, "There's a problem with SMT packages that crack if there's mois- ture because moisture may become steam in the reflow oven. The same package doesn't have the same problem with the same plastic in the wave solder- ing process because the pack- age itself never saw the heat." All of these accomplished peo- ple there working with these things said that it couldn't be true because they had not seen the problem yet. But, as I mentioned, I had the data. I persisted, and they said, "Okay, go ahead; you start the committee." That's how IPC- 7086 started, and then it became J standard 20 and 30 these days. Any standard cannot be any better than the input that they get. Anything is possible, but we need enough supporters. Pedersen: Exactly. You need somebody to start and somebody that has the right voice for it. Johnson: No disrespect, but for standards devel- opment today, are the right people involved? Are designers sufficiently involved in the pro- cess? Does IPC need a different sort of mix of skillsets and professions to make for better standards? Pedersen: What I see from my groups is that we do have participation. We seek participa- tion from designers, EMS assembly people, etc., from the complete value train. Prasad: There is deep involvement of the IPC Designers Council that does a lot for the design- ers. They offer designers certification, educa- tion, and training. Designers are very involved. Pedersen: They could be more involved in other standards. Prasad: Designers won't be involved in trying to do the reflow profile, so they're involved in the things that they know about and are of interest to them. Andy Shaughnessy: Designers tell me that they feel as if IPC doesn't get them, and there's Jan Pedersen