Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1367446
24 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MAY 2021 group can focus on the content of the document with limited distractions. Once the group feels it has taken the document as far as they can, we sub- mit it for comments by the full task group. When the larger group gets the dra document, they're able to provide input to help improve and fur- ther shape the standard itself. As staff liaisons, we have seen great success with this process, and our task group members across the board have embraced it. Deb Obitz: I had a team that called themselves the Rhinos and they dealt with a lot of cleanli- ness issues. ey came up with white papers, but they were a smaller group that fed into the larger group, although not the similar subject matter experts. We actually cross over into other groups at times. I also have the 7-11, which is a test method, and those tests meth- ods are within many of our committees; Chris, Doug, and John Perry create these test meth- ods and then it comes back into the 7-11 once they've been validated or reaffirmed so that they can get released as actual test methods that all of the industry uses. Nolan Johnson: An A-Team may not necessarily be a subset of the committee? Obitz: Correct, the A-Team can be from a dif- ferent group that has expertise in a specific area that impacts another task group. For example, the committees 5-22a (IPC-J-STD-001H) and 7-31b (IPC-A-610H) have sections dealing with conformal coating. We have a 5-33a Con- formal Coating Task Group which can provide expertise for that particular section of their document. Matties: When we look at these groupings, for example, e-textiles, there's nine. How does that number weigh in terms of importance or energy being put into a topic? Jorgensen: If you're using the e-textiles as an example, the subcommittee and committee levels—those like D-70, D-71, D-72—are over- sight groups, and they're not really the groups that are developing the standards, except for one—D-71. e activity happens at the task group level, and that's where you might see the groups use a designator, such as the "a," the "b," and the "a-eu." But looking at the number of active task groups that we have would give you a good idea of the importance of that area of technology, or at least the utilization of that area of technology. For instance, e-textiles is a new committee that formed within the last three or four years; even though that may seem like a long time, this committee is still a baby compared to our other groups. But if you were to look at John Perry's groups with printed board fab and design, or Teresa Rowe's groups with board assembly, you will see a much larger grouping. Now they may not all be coded in one group like D-70, but there are dozens of groups within those technology areas. Matties: John, what are you covering? John Perry: I cover standards for printed cir- cuit board design and fabrication. And when I speak fabrication, I'm talking about accep- tance of the fabricated board prior to its ship- ment to the assembler. As an example, IPC- 6012 is our primary specification for accepting rigid printed boards aer they've been fabri- cated. We have some addendum groups that create standards that are meant to be used with the base document, and these will typically list exception requirements to the requirements in the base document for a specific end use appli- cation. ere is a new medical device adden- dum to IPC-6012E, for example. We published that earlier this year, and it's our first ever doc- ument focusing specifically on rigid printed boards intended for medical device applica- Chris Jorgensen