Pete;

There is a level of truth in what you say. As an example, the PCMCIA market
has caused us to take a close look at the way we have spec'd out the end
product performance of these products. 

All said and done the bottom line issue is the environment the product will
see, and it's life expectancey. Harsher environments place certain demands on
a product. The length of time the product sees these environments adds to
these demands. Unless one knows the characteristics surrounding the products
mentioned over these last few days, a judgement is hard to make concerning
their design practices.

Your suggestion to "make a few boards and run them over the wave" has merit.
However, to accomplish the job, and receive meaningful data, a formalized
testing procedure must be used that spands all environments, takes into
account a number of acceptable variables, and provides data for product
longevity. 

The IPC has sponsored a number of  studies, involving the reliability of
plated through holes. The results are published for everyone to make a
judgement against their specific needs. As technologies evolve, the need for
further studies will certainly rise. These needs are determined by the user
community through involvement in IPC committees, IPC Designers Council, etc. 

Regards,

Gary Ferrari
Executive Director
IPC Designers Council

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