help our school

Be current.......Is my best suggestion. Electronics Theory and three stage audio amplifiers are great for class room environment but does not 100% apply in manufacturing. Teach through hole and SMT related classes. teach manufacturing. There are tons of field jobs available for fresh grads that have SMT experience. Siemens in Atlanta works with a local community college there on an internship. They identify students from Mechanical, Computer, Electronics,and Robotics to be in the internship. The classes developed substitute humanities or filler classes. At graduation the students are ready for SMT environment.

Teach to certain level of workmanship proficiency is always a plus. Something as basic as component ID is always a help (BGA,uBGA, Tsop, SOIC, QFP, PLCC, CSP,Flip Chip, D-Pak, .........you get the point). Do a field trip to a board fabrication shop or assembly house.

Equipment manufacturers are always looking for schools to work with.

Caldon W. Driscoll ACI USA 610-362-1200 cdriscoll@aciusa.org

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I am not in your area to provide physical assistance, but I'm full of advice. Keep in mind you get what you pay for. One thing you can do is what you have done here, watch this forum and others like it. You will see where the short comings are. Obviously you can not teach each specific concerns posted here, but general directions can be seen. The technology is very dynamic, what ever is todays "leading edge", will be nothing more than a "stepping stone" tomorrow. When I started we had wires the size of battery cables and tubes that could heat an entire house, now we have BGAs the size of a finger nail and fiber optics you can't see without a microscope. A person that will make it in this field also needs to be dynamic and adaptable. That's what makes this forum and the entire site a fantastic resource for you. And while I'm at it, a "BIG THANK YOU" to the people of SMTnet.com for providing this site.

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I am glad someone in education is getting a clue. I thank you for caring enough about education to ask some great quesstions. My brother-in-law got his Phd a few years ago and teaches at the college level, he agrees with many out there that if education doesn't get it together it will become virtually useless to the real world. Enough, I'm preaching to the choir.

Teaching electroincs is fine, but as others have touched on, it has nothing to do with how it goes together. Most of the people on this form are into 'how' and less into 'what'. To be useful in a manufacturing environment they need to understand the concept of 'process'. How does it go together? What are the process steps? What are work instructions? How are materials gathered to be assembled? How long will it take to assemble? What kinds of automated equipment could / should be used?

Work on today's technologies (its' what you got right now). What makes a good solder joint? What is surface mount? What is solder reflow and wave solder?

But, as someone else mentioned we are a very dynamic industry, how true, so learing to learn is valuable because they will need to continue learning of new developments in materials and processes. What are some of the eutectic solder replacements in the wings? What is chip on board? What is flip chip?

When I learned electronics at the post high school level, all of our theory was based in vacumm tubes. Things have changed a bit. We have to continue learning to keep up.

I ramble on, but hope it helps.

Boca

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An article which highlights many of the issues and some solutions is in a periodical Industry Week the article is Vanishing Breed by Michael Verespej. It is summarized at; http://www.industryweek.com/CurrentArticles/

Boca

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I don't care about any of that stuff!!!

I like it when people can read "technical [shop] English" [Actually, reading any English is good, for that matter]. It's a real bonus when they can think clearly enough to solve day-to-day problems. Coming to work on time and bustin' chops, I like both of those, too.

I disappoint myself when I get so cynical. Sorry.

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