Chapter Reports
AHOT/AUSTIN
Next meeting: Dec. 7
Our October meeting was held on Oct. 13 and included a plant tour of the
Hadco Austin PWB fabrication facility. We included an invite to another
Austin professional group, Central Texas Electronics Association. The October
meeting was very well attended, with over 50 people showing. Sam Gonzales of
Hadco had a great welcome arranged, with pizza and drinks provided. The group
split into several smaller groups for the plant tour and was very well
received.
In September we had a Softball challenge from the local Society of Electrical
Engineers. Not too much to say on this as our AHOT team was waxed, but the
BBQ and plenty of refreshments after the game helped us all get over the
agony of defeat.
Our end of the year will be held Dec. 7. We plan to combine our AHOT general
meeting with a billiards/pool tourney at Buffalo Billiard on the infamous
Sixth Street. At this meeting the new AHOT board members will be introduced,
the winners of a "Design of the Year" contest will be announced, and all
other 1999 matters wrapped up. Valor has offered a $250 prize for the contest
winner. The time will be 7 to 11 p.m.; Buffalo Billiards address is 201 E.
Sixth Street.
ATLANTA
Next meeting: Dec. 8
Topic: Plant tour
Location: ACT Manufacturing (Duluth)
The meeting starts at 6:00 pm. ACT is an assembly company. A holiday social
will follow. Directions and an update will be sent by email.
Our last meeting was sponsored by Valor. A discussion on DfM was followed by
a product demonstration.
A certification study group has formed and met Oct. 5 to kickoff the program
and actually begin studying.
AUSTRALASIAN
Dates for monthly meetings in Melbourne alternate between Wednesday (odd
months) and Thursday (even months) at 6:30 p.m. at the SMCBA offices. Further
details on all programs are at www.smcba.asn.au.
CANADA (Toronto)
The October meeting was on PCB layup and build techniques. Topics discussed
include materials (resins, glass, copper, etc.), basic builds, general rules,
how-to's, impedance, specifications, predictive tools, and verification
techniques.
CASCADE (Seattle)
The Cascade chapter elected officers last month. They are: Cherie L. Litson,
president; Fred Edelman, vice president; LaVern Mullet, treasurer; Frank
Nichols, secretary; Lynn Isaacson, public relations; Mike Poorman, education
services.
CENTRAL OHIO
Next meeting: Nov. 17
Topic: High speed materials
Location: Alpha-C Inc. (Dayton)
The ubiquitous Rick Hartley makes a presentation on high speed materials next
month. The meeting time is 7 to 9. For more information and to RSVP, contact
Mike Floyd at Alpha-C (937-252-9496; [log in to unmask]).
CHESAPEAKE
We have elected new officers. They are: Rich Green, president; Tom Osso, vice
president; Sean McConville, secretary; Mirka Halas, treasurer.
Discussions centered on ways to increase membership and participation.
Suggestions for achieving this included coming up with more topics, speakers
and agreeable times. It was decided that a survey should be conducted
concerning the above and emailed to members. It was decided that a meeting
among the officers and interested members would be scheduled for an agreeable
time for the following week to put together this survey.
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Discussion was held concerning coming up with chapter logo to identify the
Chesapeake chapter. Suggestions included the combination of a graphical
picture of a Maryland Blue Crab and a circuit board in some fashion to create
this logo. This logo could be used on polo shirts, letterhead, and other
items. These items could also be used as giveaways at meetings as an
incentive to attend.
Other topics included the possibility of the chapter purchasing the study
preparation CDs for designer certification, creating a library to lend to our
members. This would aid in mitigating the costs of these materials and
helping members prepare for the CID.
At our meeting Tom Coyle, an engineer at Hadco, presented a technical slide
show on manufacturing PWBs. It was detailed presentation, which included a
step-by-step explanation of the process starting with the raw data to the
finished products. Processes demonstrated were photographic, chemical
etching, drilling (including laser), plating, and routing, all in detail and
including in-process samples the audience to view.
COLORADO
Next meeting: Jan. 7
Topic: TBD
Location: Holiday Inn (Northglenn)
Speakers for the meeting are not yet determined. The time is from 2 to 6, at
the Holiday Inn, 10 East 120th Ave. Northglenn.
EL PASO BORDERLAND
Next meeting: Nov. 9
Location: TBA
Meeting starts at 6. The location will be announced at a later date, but will
likely be Antec Network Power & Enclosures, 12273 Gateway West, El Paso.
At our Oct. 19 meeting, Tom Scimeca of Florida CirTech Inc. gave a
presentation on the white tinning process, providing pros and cons on white
tinning vs. other finishes.
Scimica's talk was sponsored in part by Seth Chum of TTT and Eric Howland of
Circuit Services.
Art Jordan of Pollak has proposed a plant tour of its facility in Juarez for
the December/January meeting. More plans will be determined at the November
meeting.
GREATER PHOENIX
Next meeting: Nov. 9
Topic: PWB drawing packages and data PCB fabricators require
Location: Motorola SSTG
For the November meeting, we are asking that one representative from each
company or location give a presentation on how they document PWBs. The
purpose is to focus on how we can improve our own documentation processes.
In the second part of the meeting Frank DeArmond of DeArmond Enterprises will
explain what suppliers ask for and their preferred formats.
Motorola is located 8201 E. McDowell Road, Scottsdale.
At our past meeting, Jonathan Pantelopoulos, a test engineer at Varian Tempe
Electronics Center, gave a tour of the facility. He emphasized recently
acquired capabilities for in-circuit testing.
HOUSTON
Next meeting: Nov. 9
Topic: GenCAM
Location: Baker Atlas
Gary Ferrari will present the IPC GenCAM data transfer format. This format
supports the interface of computer-aided design and computer-aided
manufacturing systems and is viewed as a replacement for Gerber.
MIDWEST
Next meeting: Nov. 2
Location: Old Country Buffet (Eden Prairie)
From 6:30 - 7:00 p.m. we conducted administrative business. From 7:00 - 8:00
p.m., Steve Bakke talked about IPCWorks, which he attended last week. Bakke
talked about some of the workshops and tutorials he attended. Also, he and
Carl Lokowich attended the Designers Council Education Committee and the
Executive Board and Steering Committee sessions held Oct. 28. These
committees develop and implement the Designers Certification program and the
direction of the DC, respectively.
NORTHERN ILLINOIS
In October we held an informal, multi-purpose get-together to discuss
upcoming meetings, and to celebrate Halloween and the last meeting of the
millennium.
NORTHEAST OHIO
Next meeting: Dec. 15
Topic: Elections/part 2 of high-speed design
Location: TBD
The meeting will begin with executive elections, then proceed directly to the
second half of high-speed design. This meeting will focus on signal integrity
and controlling emissions at the circuit level using HyperLynx software.
Mark Sinreich, president of Avid Technologies, will demonstrate the software.
HyperLynx is used by Avid for its critical layouts; Sinreich will show some
of the techniques Avid uses. Meeting time is 4:00 to 6:20.
NORTH TEXAS
Next meeting: Nov. 11
Topic: GenCAM/Designer certification
Location: Texans Recreation Center (Dallas)
Gary Ferrari will discuss the GenCAM format. He will also discuss
certification requirements for IPC Designers. The meeting starts at 6:30.
This is our last meeting of the year.
Members from the chapter will be attending the National Education Summit
Meeting Nov. 11, hosted by Collin County Community College in Frisco. Woody
Adams, Glenn Wells, Andy Kowelewski, and Krista Fairbanks from our chapter
actively participate in instruction of the course at CCCCF. Courses serve as
the model for implementation of the IPC PWB Designer Certification Program.
Presentations to this group, including representatives from Australia and
other countries, will be by Ferrari.
More information can be obtained from:
www.circuit-technology.com/html/ipc_design_council.html.
Later in November, the chapter will have a study group to provide information
for the certification exam. We will have our golf shirts available as well.
PACIFIC NORTHWEST
Next meeting: Nov. 17
Topic: The three T's of routing topologies
Location: Intel Corp. (Jones Farm campus)
Meeting time is 6 to 8. For directions: www.ipc.org/pnw/index.htm.
During the executive board meeting held Oct.20, plans were developed and
dates were set for all the meetings to be held in 2000. Topics include future
technologies, improved fabrication processes, RF layout technology, high
density interconnect design concerns, and an EMI Workshop. Tours of local
fabrication and assembly sites are also part of our schedule.
November 17 is our next general membership meeting, which will be held at the
Jones Farm location of Intel, JFCC building at 2111 NE 25th, Hillsboro. Our
guest speaker will be David Coleman, a senior design engineer with his
presentation, The Three T's of Routing Topologies.
The PNW chapter held a high speed design workshop Sept. 14 at Tektronix. Rick
Hartley of Applied Innovation Inc. presented a fast-paced, interactive
session attended by a broad audience, which included representatives from
design, mechanical and electrical engineering, management, and R&D. He
accented new design techniques and parameters to aid in ensuring the desired
functional effects of high speed technology. This well-organized presentation
included definitions, parts placement, formulas, crosstalk and EMI
considerations, load modeling, PC structures, and stackup definitions.
Circuit analysis is key to the outcome of design along with power
distribution and decoupling considerations. Hartley did an excellent job of
sharing real examples and suggesting viable solutions to the design issues
involved.
We had an excellent turnout and brought in many new members. Other chapters
might consider using a fee structure for workshops as a way of collecting
contact information and encouraging membership, then mailing applications
with these fees in order to gain new members. We increased the fee by $50 for
nonmembers in order to increase our membership.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK
The RTP chapter is just getting underway and we are looking for designers in
the area who are interested in helping to form the chapter or becoming
members. We are planning to have our kickoff meeting sometime in the fourth
quarter. Details will soon follow. Contact Steve Trasatto at Ericsson (see
index) if you have an interest in joining.
SMOKY MOUNTAIN (Knoxville)
Next meeting: Nov. 18
Topic: Chapter organization/industry trends
Location: Philips Consumer Electronics
Our November meeting will continue to deal with organizational details and
will feature a talk by Ronda Faries, editor of Printed Circuit Design, on
future trends in the electronics industry.
See our Web page for more details (www.ipc.org/smchap/).
On Oct. 28, we met in Knoxville to discuss officers, committees, fund
raising, and incorporation. We discussed duties of officers, and decided open
officer positions will be filled on the Nov. 18 meeting.
Two fund raising items were discussed. One was to have vendor night meetings
(fairs), at which multiple vendors would present their products. Vendors
would pay for the refreshments, and would submit a exhibition fee. The other
suggestion was to charge meeting attendees. Possibilities include setting a
certain fee for members and a larger figure for nonmembers, or charge no fee
for members and a small amount ($2 to $3) for nonmembers. The latter seemed
to be the more popular, if we were to choose at all. This will not happen
immediately, and no timetable was set.
Jim Wise has volunteered to take on the daunting task of getting the chapter
incorporated. We are not yet pushing certification as a priority. The talk
is to get the chapter organized and running first.
Certification discussions will begin in the January 2000 meeting.
Directions to Philips will be sent and/or posted. For our Web page, check out
www.IPC.org/smchap.
The next meeting after that will be in January 2000 (if we survive Y2K!). The
location is unknown, but Dwayne Beeler is working on CSI. The guest speaker
will be from Pads Software (also the sponsor) and the subject will be signal
integrity.
SOUTHEASTERN MICHIGAN
Next meeting: Nov. 4
Topic: EDA presentation
Location: Farmington Public Library
Meeting time is 7 to 9 p.m. We are planning to have a representative from
Accel EDA demonstrate the bells and whistles that go beyond the "basic cable"
model of its product.
SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
Next meeting: Dec 1
Topic: The year in summary
Location: Connie's (Derby)
We had a very good turnout for our October meeting. Ray Long, Custom Photo
and Design, made an excellent presentation on successful outsourcing of
design. Long stressed that a service bureau is an extension of an internal
design department and must be provided the same information as supplied to
any internal group.
Our December meeting will be our last for this year. The scheduled topic is
our year in summary, featuring highlights from our most effective meetings.
Special recognition will be made to our 16 certified designers. Holiday
festivities will commence immediately following the business meeting.
SOUTH JERSEY
Next meeting: Nov. 9
Topic: New technology - trends and innovations
Location: Formation Inc.
The November presentation will include a comprehensive overview of modems and
various transmission technologies. This discussion will cover a broad
spectrum of transmission technologies, choices, speeds, and costs. The pros
and cons of each will be covered in detail.
Len Roach of Lucent Technologies (Princeton) is attempting to arrange for a
plant tour. The tour will include BGA and surface mount design and assembly.
Lucent is involved in high volume production and advanced development work.
The tour will take place sometime after January. Arrangements for this tour
require that members arrive in Princeton by 1:30 p.m. Email Leon Cohen at
[log in to unmask] if you are interested and can attend this special daytime
meeting.
SUSQUEHANNA
Next meeting: Nov. 3
This fall we hope to have two and possibly three meetings. Ideas are:
· PWB fabrication tour. This was a popular meeting when done two years ago at
Hadco. Many have encouraged us to have another.
· Electronics assembly tour. There are a number of contract manufacturers and
captive OEM assemblers in the area.
· Roundtable discussion. We are looking for ideas and people who would be
willing to lead a discussion.
After the new year we hope to devote some meetings to demonstrations of
design software. A few ideas:
· Demos of Mentor and Cadence design tools.
· Demos of design rule checkers.
· Roundtable discussion on autorouting strategies or how to get more
performance out of the autorouter.
· Demo and discussion of component geometry creation.
· Tour of SUNY Binghamton Electronics Laboratories.
We have a number of members who have become CIDs. They are willing to discuss
what it took to study for and take the exam. They are a local resource
willing to give their time to help others prepare for the exam.
Mike Buetow
IPC
2215 Sanders Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
847-790-5335
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