Jim,
Well, since I'm not employed at a assembly company (not at the moment
anyway...hehehe), I'll share what has happened at other companies that I've
worked at regarding any sort of solderability testing...
I get the sneaking suspicion that there won't be many responses that say
they don't do solderability testing, which IMHO is probably the norm rather
than the exception...if I'm wrong go ahead and flame me, but I think that most
of the time nowadays with the "demand-flow" of materials, there probably isn't
near the solderability problems with components or PCB's that there used to
be...parts and PCB's don't sit on a shelf for months and months anymore and
become oxidized and unsolderable, it's too competitive out there...if they
did, I'd bet there would be some Materials managers and buyers handed their
walking papers.
So nowadays in my opinion, the only time that there is solderability testing
done (I'm speaking in pretty general terms now...) is when there IS a problem,
after the fact, so they can have some ammo to be able to give the parts or
PCB's back to who, or where ever they came from, or when there's some sort of
survey or audit coming.
I do think that may be changing as more and more companies are getting into
no-clean...you have something hit the floor that ain't solderable when you're
no-clean and it'll kill ya'...
If it sounds like I'm being too pessamistic, maybe so...but I know there's
been other M.E.'s or process engineers just like me who have been tasked to
set-up a incoming recieving inspection area complete with all the latest "doo-
dads" (wetting balance, viscosity meter and hot plates for solder paste,
etc...) to check for problems before they hit the floor...it makes ya' feel
like you wasted your time when you see dust gathering on all the equipment
that you spent your time researching before you went out and spent good money
on.
But you know what? It really didn't hurt production... and for the reasons I
stated in the beginning. Even though we were set-up to do solderability
testing at the time, it didn't get done except for maybe a 2-4 week stretch
just after the incoming recieving inspection area was set-up, and for those
two occasions I spoke of earlier.
The reason that was given to me why it wasn't done was that there were hardly
ever any rejects, and that there were other items that DID need close
inspection (sheet metal, wiring harnesses, etc.) that drained all the manpower
from incoming recieving.
So that's my two-cents for what it's
worth...
-Steve Gregory-
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