IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
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IPC COMMUNITY 24 SUMMER 2024 How has BPMI benefited from being a member of IPC? BPMI participation in IPC task groups is a valuable learning experience since, during each task group meeting, there is a synergy effect by sharing information between the multiple SME members of the task groups. Sometimes this exchange of information can be contentious, but ultimately, the task groups reach consensus and produce acceptable IPC standards. As a lesson learned, one of the BPMI OEMs shipped a magnetic component to a user activ- ity that was rejected due to an improper crimp connection for a large-size terminal lug. The IPC workmanship standard, IPC/WHMA-A-620, that governed crimp connections did not include acceptance criteria for the lug in ques- tion. Ultimately, this lessons-learned incident was incorporated into a subsequent revision of IPC/WHMA-A-620. Incorporation of lessons learned into future revisions of IPC standards is accomplished during the development of new or revised standards and is a positive feature of how the IPC task groups create their standards. Another positive aspect of our IPC member- ship is that BPMI has engaged the SME members of several different task groups in helping solve problems the NNPP suppliers have experienced, either during the initial manufacture of equip- ment or during subsequent delivery to the user activity. Like other companies, BPMI must keep pace with technology changes since the manufac- ture of I&C equipment continues to change frequently, and many of the parts used in equip- ment designs may only be available for purchase for five years or less. In addition to parts becom- ing obsolete, the part technology changes. For example, historically, parts had a 50-mil pitch and were easy to solder and remove ionic contamination by cleaning after soldering. How- ever, today, parts used such as ball-grid arrays (BGAs) and bottom-terminated components (BTC) present manufacturing process chal- lenges. Historically, parts used on printed wiring assemblies (PWA) were discrete parts (for exam- ple, IC bypass capacitor). However, new printed wiring board (PWB) designs used embedded cir- cuits instead of discrete components. The use of embedded circuits presents new challenges. BPMI depends on standards developed by IPC task groups to help meet these challenges. Answers by Gerald Leslie (Les) Bogert, BPMI