Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/817722
78 SMT Magazine • May 2017 and increase reliability by achieving the follow- ing: 1. Elimination of the wave soldering process: Where the maximum component re- flow temperature will allow it, as in the case of the UDOO X86 PCB, printing a small deposit of paste and placing a preforms can be a solution for eliminating a wave soldering process. This will reduce costs associated with equipment, masking, handling, electric utilities, washing and rework. By overprinting enough solder paste and placing a preform around the plat- ed through hole to overcome the challenge of creating a volumetrically adequate joint, 100% hole-fill was achieved while generating an up- per and lower solder fillet. 2. Increase the quantity of metal al- loy for greater solder joint strength: The use of solder preforms allowed SECO to increase the volume of solder on the joints of surface mount components on the UDOO X86 board and eliminate voids; resulting in increased me- chanical strength, where soldered joints exceed- ed IPC standards in first pass yields. 3. Guarantee electrical reliability: By reducing the amount of flux on the UDOO X86 board, the need for solvent cleaning was elimi- nated. This translates directly into cost savings in terms of cleaning materials and labor. More importantly, because residues present on circuit boards can cause current leakage, the reduction of flux helped to assure electrical reliability. SMT Alessandro Severi is the PCBA factory leader at PSM s.r.l., the manufacturing unit of SECO. (No photo available) Donato Casati is the sales manager for Italy and associated territories at Alpha Assembly Solutions. TAPE AND REEL SOLDER PREFORMS Prime Technological Services is an electronics contract manufactur- er who's been around for about 27 years. The company began princi- pally with NPI work and prototyp- ing, and has evolved over its nearly three-decade history to provide a full suite of services, excluding original design services. The company does a fair amount of DFM and design for test, reliability testing and failure mode analysis work, as well as box build or complete product manufacture for clients. Prime has been featured on Inc. 5000 for four years in a row—quite a feat for a North American EMS com- pany based out of Suwanee, Georgia. At the recent IPC APEX EXPO, I-Connect007 Publisher Barry Matties sat down with Prime CEO Greg Chesnutt to glean how they continue to find success and have been able to maintain such an impressive growth rate over the last four years in this industry. According to Chesnutt, their strat- egy for this growth was to build the platform in terms of capital equip- ment, and have an excellent informa- tion architecture. "Culturally, some- times when you're running a busi- ness, if you want something to be- come a reality in the business, the first important step is to believe in it, and the second most important step is to talk about it a lot," Chestnutt said. "So, we en- gaged our workforce. We engaged our market. We en- gaged the influencers in the business, which are prob- ably no different for us than for any other Tier 3 North American EMS company, the distribution and design community. We told them we wanted to grow. More importantly, we backed up the desire with deliber- ate investment that was demonstrative of our intent to go try to make it happen. I know there's not a lot of secret sauce in that, but that's just what we did." Read The Full Article Here Successful, Long-Term Growth at Prime Technological Services