Over 30 companies and organizations attended 16 meetings of Committees, Subcommittees and Working Groups at the EIA Standards and Technology Spring Engineering Summit (See Sidebar Listing).   These committees adopted more than a dozen new or revised standards crucial to advancing the industry from connectors to components, soldering technology and automated component handling.  Spread over four days, the Summit was an excellent networking opportunity with engineering leaders across many product categories as they considered, developed and finalized the technical underpinnings of the industry.

Special keynote presentations at the Spring Summit included:

Robert Willis, President of the Electronic Components Association citing statistics from ECA market reports, said the electronic components industry had taken pause as the 1st quarter was ending, but was certainly capable of repeating last year’s moderate growth expectations.  Bob also reported on the on the EIA realignment where ECA now manages the EIA standards activities and keep the EIA brand. The EIA has a new logo and mission (See Sidebar).  He sought input on who we would like to hear from in our industry in future events, presentations, etc. for upcoming meetings and conferences weather a user, material supplier or producer.

Mark Crawford of the U.S. Department of Commerce presented Counterfeits: How Big a Bite will they take out of your Business?  The DoC Office of Technology Evaluation is issuing a mandatory counterfeit parts survey for the entire industry to assess how broad the market is for counterfeits and what products are affected most by this troubling problem.  The OTE is assessing the effects of counterfeit electronics on US national security, impact on the supply chain integrity and industrial capabilities. This survey is needed to understand the extent of the problem in the industry.  It is believed that in electronic components has been estimated to be 1-10B dollars annually. Counterfeits have been found in the US defense supply chain, with defense systems and aircrafts to date and communications, aircrafts, ships and weapons systems could be adversely affected by this major problem.  They will use this survey’s results to document past problems, review procurement polices, review inspection and test procedures, investigate inventory management and also to identify industry and government best practices. They will survey many sectors including pcb manufactures, producers of electronic components, franchised and broker distributors and end users and defense depots and military prime contractors. Expect to see the survey this Spring and a report issued in the Fall 2008.

Tom Costello of IceTech gave a presentation on Dry Ice Blasting for various cleaning applications. IceTech was formed in 1977 and in 1998 went into production on its Dry Ice Blasting equipment. The dry ice blasting is very similar to high pressure water washing where it shoots dry ice pellets out under various pressures which cleans everything from grease to circuit boards. Since no water is used and it’s a dry process, the Dry Ice Blasting can be used on live wires to clean high voltage wires, circuits etc…The dry ice pellets can be shot out at a maximum PSI of 230PSI and as low a 40-50PSI depending on the cleaning application. This process is also non-abrasive with no waste, generally just clean up the dirt from the floor with no rags or solvents to clean up or dispose of afterwards. This cleaning reduces down time on equipment and increases production since it is non-conductive.

Future Meetings:

The Fall Engineering Summit is scheduled for October 6-9, 2008, in Salt Lake City, UT.  Join us there for a complete slate of passive component committee meetings, industry speakers, networking events, critical industry standards development and technical presentations.