Hi Ted,

I'm not in the automotive industry and I'm afraid some of your acronyms have
gone over my head, i.e. PPAP, AECQ, PSW, etc. They may not be specific to
the auto industry but I don't recognize them.

Could I get a short definition?

Thanks,

KennyB

-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Tontis [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 6:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Using CEM-1 in Pb-free Wave Solder?

I work for a CM that has 75%-80% of the customer base as automotive. I can
tell you that the cost of changing a design is neither cheap nor quick. 90%
of the automotive assemblies we make are from customers that assembly and
sell the final product to the automotive industry. All products must have a
level 3 PPAP on the final assembly and a separate level 3 on the bare
boards. We have now reached a point that AECQ information is required for
all the components placed on the PCB and or used on the final assembly to
our end use customer. On average my full level 3 PPAP's are 200+ pages and
changes/amendments to the original PPAP could be as short as a PSW or as
large as 100+ pages. This doesn't include what our customer or their final
customer needs to do for their final PPAP. So when something changes in the
automotive industry it has a ripple effect and everyone has to make changes
or updates which requires a lot of time and money. 
I have been working with a customer that has had a design issue where the
terminal ends do not mate correctly. We notified them over a year ago and
provided supporting documentation from the supplier of the terminal stating
that it was incorrect, they are now just starting to do something about it.
It's not as simple a changing or fixing the problem. It's like working on a
military project. One small fuse would require a pallet of paper work and
two years, minimal, for approval on changes and by that time the product is
no longer being produced.

Ted T.


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