In a message dated 10/4/99 4:32:08 PM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > There are times, UK or otherwise, verbal intercourse beats that sexual. > Can't really think of a time, but might be considered in a later life. > > Earl Moon Moonman! You definately have a unique way of putting things...I like it! You also have a way of cutting to the chase...telling it like it is. Up until my present position, I've never had a real need to understand the how and why boards are made...every place I've worked at before, most of the stuff was consigned, you deal with it, end of story. Just put the parts on and solder the puppies, then ship it! But now I'm at a place where almost all of our boards are turnkey, and I find myself in a position where in just the two months that I've been here, I've run across at least three instances where there has been a problem with the bare fab...and it's cost our company some pretty good money. I'm learning, but learning the ropes the hard way. Not to place blame, but I've found that the fab house has just blindly followed the customer drawings no matter what they were asking for was difficult (risky) or not. They could laminate em', put some mask on, finish them, and get em' to pass a bare board test, and then their job was done. So what if the things couldn't be washed without the mask flaking off? So what if they short internally later on down the road? "Hey, we'll give you some new boards...". You ask; "But what about the parts we already loaded? Or all the labor we spent loading the boards? "Not our problem..." says the fab vendor, "We'll give you new fabs, we didn't do anything wrong, we just followed the drawings..." For some silly reason, I have a little problem with that. The fab vendors are SUPPOSED to be the experts, when they see something come across their desks that could be a problem, I think that all the risks should be communicated clearly so one can decide if there might be something different that can be specified to minimize the risks. They know these things better than I do (at least for now). As it is, in addition to having to be the expert on all the assembly processes at my company, it seems I need to know every little intricacy about PC-board manufacturing. Not that being smart about that stuff is a bad thing, but it would be nice to know that PCB manufacturers would help out and watch my six-o-clock for me once inna' while...I gotta' lot on my plate as it is. These problems have been with different PC board companies...so it's not just one company. Do we have the bad luck of choosing the wrong fab vendors? Pretty coincidental if we do...something to think about. I think it's pretty much the norm. It's rare to find someplace that will go that extra step for you, especially if you don't have orders that are in the tens of thousands (we don't)...my opinion. -Steve Gregory- ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5365 ##############################################################