Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/710139
August 2016 • SMT Magazine 25 Francis Stephen A. Vida Customer-Focused Team Leader INTEGRATED MICRO-ELECTRONICS INC. What I really like about the electronics in- dustry are the new technologies being applied to both product and process. This has kept me excited and interested in my work which is one of the reasons why I have been with the compa- ny for more than 20 years. During my free time, I enjoy TV programs and magazine articles that feature the latest technology on automotive and consumer products. My favorite tip to share: Focus on innova- tion and continuous improvement. In a highly competitive industry, the only way to be on top is not to be satisfied with the current condition but to always find ways no matter how small the impact is, in improving the quality, cost and de- livery of the product. For this to have a big im- pact to the company would depend on the par- ticipation of each level in the organization from the top-down. I always believe that the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. Sivakumar Vijayakumar Technical Marketing Engineer, Electronic Industrial Solutions Group KEYSIGHT TECHNOLOGIES If I were in charge, for all boards, structural test has to be factored into the board test strategy. As electronic designs advance across horizon of domains like semiconductors, board designs and PCB manufacturing, the challenge lies in enhancing the yield of the product with a good process to manufacture 'defect free and function- al' product. A key aspect to this lies in designing a good test strategy that includes structural test. On a SMT line, a good structural test upfront will help in filtering many issues and enhance the quality of the product, which ultimately leads to higher yield. The effectiveness of struc- tural test is not about 'how many defects has the step caught' but instead, 'this step has ensured that no defects escape.' A defect escape that gets triggered at customer end can have a snowball- ing effect, which will dent the product brand. In my opinion, review and development of structural test should start early at the design phase with the first schematic and netlist. With this, the project can be developed to analyze how well is the structural test coverage and, what should be covered in functional test. This helps in devising the optimal test strategy. With the development of structural test at proto- phase, it can be turned-on to run on the SMT lines for early production, leading to quicker product maturity and time-to-market. Nowadays, many board structural testers offer features to help in integrating some basic functional tests on their testers. Exploiting the power of such features enables the effectiveness of the test and provides ample amount of cover- age to catch defects during early design phase. Making the most of these board structural tes- ters is definitely a winning formula to manufac- ture 'defect free and functional' product. Robert Voigt VP Sales DDM NOVASTAR INC. We spend a lot of time educating customers, but… We don't mind being trusted consultants to the PCB assembly buyer, but we have the same conversations over and over with people who have misconceptions about what type of assem- bly technique to use. Most of these ideas are promulgated by manufacturers trying to push a specific technology. Case in point: Companies that make a single technology, such as selective soldering systems, are strongly suggesting the idea that selective is better than other older assembly techniques, like wave soldering. The flaw here—and this is what we tell anyone who asks—is that selective was invented as a way to solder thru-hole com- ponents on a mixed technology board where wave is unable to accomplish it. In terms of speed and efficacy, nothing is faster or stronger VOICES OF THE INDUSTRY X X