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. --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------