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Tin‐lead solder has been the primary method for connecting electronic components to printed circuit boards since near the time of its inception. Over the last 60 years, solder has proven a viable assembly method over that time and there is a deep understanding of the technology won over years of practice. However, the European Union has banned the use of lead in electronic solder, based on the misguided assumption that lead in electronic solder represented a risk to human health. Aims to describe a new approach to manufacturing electronic assemblies without the use of solder.

The paper discusses how the new era of lead‐free solder has resulted in a host of new problems for the electronics industry, many of which had not been experienced when elemental lead was included in the solder alloy.

Electronics assembly technology literature is rife with articles and papers citing the problems or challenges of lead‐free assembly and proposing new or improved solutions or investigative tool to better unearth the problems of lead‐free. The new process has come to be known as the Occam process, named to honor the fourteenth century English philosopher and logician, William of Occam, whose rigorous thinking and arguments in favor of finding the simplest possible solution served as the inspiration and catalyst for the new approach.

The paper describes a new approach to manufacturing electronic assemblies without the use of solder.

There are both “Swedish” and “Japanese” models for the organization of final assembly. Discusses the theoretical and historical background to these models and the main practical differences between them. Provides an empirical study based on action research conducted in the final assembly area of a Scottish electronics company. The aims of the research were to effect change in the company by applying just‐in‐time (JIT) assembly methods, and to observe the process of change and the consequences for production of the cellular approach to assembly and the formation of assembly teams. Two projects were undertaken. In the first, a JIT cell was built for the assembly of a new product; this cell and an existing, conventional flowline operated in parallel for a period. In the second, a work team was formed, consisting of the operators assembling an older product on a machine‐paced line; the members of this team were given a significantly higher level of work autonomy than before. Provides a detailed account of the two projects.

Surface‐mounted components (SMC) for placement on hybrid substrates and small boards for miniaturised products have been in use for almost 20 years. Still, it is a fairly new technology to most designers and printed‐circuit board (PCB) assembly operations even in the US, the leading industrial nation. Surface mount technology is still in its infancy and subject to strong cross currents. There is no doubt that SMC packages will be substituted for through‐hole packages. The question is the speed at which SMCs can penetrate the market and the volumes of assemblies they can represent. The fact that more than half the components on new boards could be SMCs by the end of the decade does not mean that half of all the components assembled in the US, for example, at that time will be in an SMC format. A major issue with SMT today is the short‐term vs. long‐term prospects.

The US Westinghouse Corporation organises its manufacturing systems activities into several Advanced Production Technology (APT) commercial divisions. Brian Rooks reports on Electronics Systems based in Columbia, Maryland.

Study tours — of foreign companies and competitors — are a popular management training technique, but there have been few opportunities to study the situation in the UK, at least in the field of advanced electronics manufacturing strategy. Added to this there are few opportunities for informally getting together networks of engineers who could discuss basic manufacturing problems in the UK. The UK Department of Trade and Industry hopes that this situation will end as its Advanced Manufacturing in Electronics (AMIE) programme continues. A key part of this is allowing project engineers and managers to visit other companies to see what is actually being done, rather than what is merely equipment manufacturers' hype, or what is merely supposed by technical journals as being the case!

The first results from two collaborative UK programmes assessing the performance of non‐CFC cleaning options for the electronics assembly industry were presented at a one‐day conference on 6 February at the Heathrow Forte Crest Hotel. This was the latest of the long series of meetings on the CFC issue organised by the National Physical Laboratory.

In the electronics industry of the Federal Republic of Germany 286,000 employees are working in assembly twice as many as in the automotive or machine building industries.

Over the past decade Timex has switched from making millions of watches every year to becoming an ultra‐high‐volume automated assembler of consumer electronics, as Stephen McClelland explains.

The purpose of this paper is to report on various adhesives and their uses in the electronics industry.

A description of the different types of adhesives and their strengths and weaknesses is followed by illustrations of their applications in electronic and electrical assembly. Equipment and procedures for cleaning and surface preparation are presented, and the paper finishes with an examination of techniques for rework and repair.

Polymers form the body of an adhesive, but other elements may be included to control electrical and heat conduction, light absorption and cross‐bonding behaviour. This makes them highly controllable and adaptable to specialised requirements. Photo‐curable adhesives with cure times of under 1 s are available for fast‐throughput assembly. Polymer underfills are increasingly important for shock‐proofing handheld electronics. Adhesives and cleaning agents are becoming environmentally safer.

The paper reveals the versatility of polymer adhesives and names suppliers.