Apr 03, 2013 
SMART Group, Europe’s largest technical trade association focusing on surface mount and related technologies, announces that on 26th March 2013, more than 30 delegates from manufacturing and service repair sectors, including line managers, process and quality engineers, attended its successful “Back to Basics” Hands-on Rework and Inspection Workshop at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry, UK. Attendees received the benefit of firsthand experience from five industry experts at SMART Group’s rework and inspection workshop, moderated by Technical Committee member Jason O’Dell, MD of O’Dell Rework Solutions.
Patrick Webb, Technology Manager of Electronics Manufacturing, welcomed workshop participants to the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), a purpose-built facility opened in 2011 with the objective of bridging the gap between academia and industry by providing an environment for the development and demonstration of innovative manufacturing processes and technologies on an industrial scale. The large facility is impressive, modern and fully equipped.
Five presentations were given, covering all the basics of materials, machines and methods:
• IPC Certified trainer Paul Pidgeon of STEM Training gave a “Back-to-Basics” tutorial on hand soldering. Starting from first principles, he discussed the fundamentals of the soldering process, the interactions of metals, the role of flux, the formation of intermetallic bonds, and the effects of too little or too much heat.
• Graham Penson of TestSolve presented about AOI and rework. He pointed out some of the limitations of traditional manual inspection and discussed the benefits of automated optical inspection, what equipment is available, and where and when to use it.
• Dr. David Bernard, Product Manager X-Ray Systems at Nordson DAGE, described the non-destructive opportunity offered by real-time X-ray to inspect what could not been accessed by optical systems – solder joints on BGA and QFN devices, voids, head-on-pillow defects, excess solder, extent of solder fill of plated through holes, and defects within component package.
• Graham Dickson from Gen3 Systems gave an overview of the tools available for manual optical inspection, from bench-top magnifiers, through binocular microscopes and stereo microscope systems, to analogue and digital CCD cameras in hand-held and work-station configurations, with image capture and video capture.
• Workshop moderator Jason O’Dell, described the range of specialist rework equipment available – infrared, hot air, vapour phase and laser.
In addition to the workshop, participants attended a tabletop exhibition that showed repair machines in detail and operation. This allowed more in-depth discussions with top experts. Participants also received a tour of the facility’s model production line and saw the latest kits. Finally, all participants will receive a full copy of proceedings. The proceedings will be archived on the Smart Group’s Web site in due course and then will be available to members.
