Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1379105
18 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2021 pretty good at that. at's usually okay. You have got your exhaust set up right. If you don't tinker with those ideal settings too much, it's not a process that typically requires a lot of fine tuning. Frankly, people that like to tinker tend to have more problems. Johnson: You're not tinkering with this job- by-job, but over a time period, especially as the customer technologies and the customer needs migrate. Forsythe: Absolutely. We don't even keep track of what technology generation we're on any- more because there's been so many of them. Why is that? Because our soils change. e sol- dering folks are trying to improve the product they sell to their customers. e customers are, in some cases, demanding those improvements. Soldering people are responding with products that meet those needs. Likewise, the designs are getting more compact and more compressed. Why? e end-users want it that way. ose are two vectors that influence cleaning product development. We're constantly work- ing on the next generation. We introduce the new product today, the next product's already in the works because we're continually trying to move the ball forward. Now, of course, we all know that every new design approach does not change every assem- bly on earth overnight, with the possible excep- tion of QFNs that seem to have gone every- where. ose old products have their own surface, their useful lives. ey are oen in pro- duction for years. e same thing goes for clean- ing and soldering materials. ere are many customers that do not migrate to new tech- nologies rapidly, and a few that never migrate. ey keep those old technologies alive. Remember, solder paste is nothing but dirt from our perspective. When it's done, the only part that really needs to stay behind is the metal. Metal is the deliverable. at's the part that winds up on the BOM. Now, if I'm encap- sulating a no-clean, that encapsulation winds up on the BOM too, but if I clean all that stuff off, all that's le is the metal. e rest is just dirt. Johnson: at's a great point. Forsythe: I usually don't make an issue of that with the soldering people, but just like our dis- cussion about surface prep, it's not the right phrase in our industry, but you can make a technical argument that's the case. Johnson: Right, which helps this discussion, to stop and just look at it a little more philosophi- cally than technically. Forsythe: Absolutely. Johnson: What's on the horizon, Tom? Any challenges emerging here? Forsythe: All you have to do is read the newspa- per: electric vehicles, constant medical inno- vations, the increased utility of our devices. ose are all things that are raising the bar for everyone, whether that's design, assem- bly, or cleaning. e R&D teams are dealing with some complex challenges and it can take months or years to solve them. We also see how important environmen- tal factors have become. Since KYZEN was founded in 1990, we've tried very hard to always be the green guy. How do we make it safer for the people? Of course, safety is a rela- tive term. Cleaning must achieve the task, and you do so in the safest possible way, the most The designs are getting more compact and more compressed. Why? The end-users want it that way.