IPC A-610 is titled "Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies."  It is not a 
Standard.  It is not a Specification.  It is an acceptability Guideline. 
 There are significant differences between these types of documents and they 
are not determined lightly.  I once saw the differences between these 
spelled out by IPC but can't recall where (I think it had to do with the 
original designation of PC-90).  I am sure Dieter or David can clarify.
 ----------
From: steveg
To: TechNet
Subject: Re[2]: ASSY: J-STD-001 vs. IPC-A-610
Date: Friday, January 10, 1997 2:36PM





George,

    You're sure not gonna' get flamed by me...I share your opinion as well
and
have a few of my own thoughts on this too...for what they're worth.

    The way I've always viewed the IPC standards is as a guideline...a good
guideline mind you, but just a guideline. I'll even go so far as to say the
criteria that's spelled out is the "Ideal" specifications that you try to
achieve. If something like say a solder joint doesn't match the picture
exactly,
or isn't precisely what is spelled out, in my view it doesn't mean that the
solder joint is bad. You got to look at everything from a broader 
perspective
than that in my opinion.

    I'm sure there are a lot of us that have got into "head-butting" 
contests
with a source inspector, or someone from a quality organization that is 
being
real insistent that something should be reworked because it doesn't exactly
match the pictures in the -610, or you have to spend a bunch of time 
tweeking
a
process to satisfy a cosmetic issue that they've interpretted as being a
threat
to the product reliability. We all would like to say that whatever it is
we're
responsible for building is going to last forever, but that's not realistic,
is
it? Furthermore, how much time and money do all of us have to spend
"tweeking"
things to meet more or less a cosmetic requirement on a product that's going
to
be obsolete and replaced in a year or two? Probably thousands and thousands
of
dollars, maybe even millions...

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to justify shoddy workmanship or say
that
following IPC standards is overkill, but there should be more of a reason to 

reject or rework something than; "It doesn't look like the picture in the
 -610!"

    I got some Bar-B-Q sauce too George (some Justin Wilson's sauce, I
"gair-ron-tee") and I'm right beside ya' at the grill...


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