SMT Assembly Shows Steady Growth in Medical and Military Markets

In the beginning, when SMT assembly first began penetrating the board assembly market, it was thought that surface mount would work for office computer production, but never in critical areas such as military and medical applications. Today, it seems that these are two of the rock-steady areas to be in if you’re an EMS provider.

Much progress has occurred along the way to increase SMT assembly. In 1999, the FCC opened up bandwidth frequencies, spurring development of new markets for miniature low-power RF devices and specialized communication protocols for monitoring medical conditions and delivering medication to patients. Implanted medical devices, such as heart monitors, could communicate with external devices, uploading data to doctors for review without physically transporting patients to the hospital. In drug delivery, new electronics-controlled equipment allows patients to deliver their own medicine but with the added safety of dose and frequency control.

As assemblies shrink, board real estate becomes an issue. Especially with mixed-technology (through hole and SMT) boards, tight spacing makes soldering through-hole and SMT assemblies difficult for small medical devices. Selective soldering can resolve this challenge. This latest soldering development handled the density issue and met high heat requirements for soldering. For those connectors, capacitors, and digital displays still requiring through-hole plus SMT components, selective soldering fits.

Some mixed-technology PCB designs can still be wave soldered with carriers and masking, but stacked and double-sided assemblies are too intricate to be given this individualized approach to mass interconnection. Most assemblies using RF components are too complex to hand solder all of the through-hole devices without errors. Selective soldering equipment can be programmed to handle both in- and off-line programming. The equipment integrates easily with the rest of the automated production equipment.

The selective soldering process — with mini solder wave nozzles beneath the circuit boards, handling precise dip, drag, and small wave actions while flux is handled by spray, drop jet, or ultrasonics — is now a familiar sight. Through programming, the equipment can control the process and maintain line speeds.

Radio (RF) technology has grown at Merrimack-N.H.-based BAE Systems, where the firm recently completed its first real-time test of improved wireless communication technology. War fighters can now dispense critical communications without interruption during battle. The technology allows more traffic on networking systems. It gives users an advantage during air-to-air, air-to-ground, and soldier-to-soldier communications.

Under a $15.5 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) contract, BAE is developing wireless radios that can untangle interfering digital communications signals. The DARPA Interface Multiple Access (DIMA) program aims to increase network capacity and performance in highly congested mobile networks. The radios will allow multiple transmissions to occur simultaneously on one frequency and can support as many as five simultaneous conversations into the same time and frequency slot, even in the presence of severe near-far interference.

“With current technology, bandwidth is shared through assignment of unique time slots, frequency slots, or code words for each user, significantly limiting network performance,” said Brian Pierce, Ph.D., DARPA. “DIMA buys back the capacity loss caused by those limitations with technology that separates multiple, interfering digital signals.”

Known as multi-user detection, BAE Systems’ real-time technology enables users to communicate simultaneously on the same channel without centralized control or infrastructure. Recent experiments validated the technology in a mobile, ad-hoc network environment and demonstrated the vehicle-mounted DIMA radio’s ability to receive up to five simultaneous transmissions from different users while traveling at 15 mph.

“By next March, we expect to operate at speeds greater than 30 mph in highly interfering scenarios, and may even operate as high as 60 mph,” said Joshua Niedzwiecki, manager of BAE Systems’ communications and signal exploitation research group. “This would further validate the technology in more operational scenarios. If fielded in Iraq, for example, it could prove vital in areas where interfering electronic transmissions reduce the amount of transmittable military communications.”

With new applications and specialized equipment, both medical and military markets hold steady for EMS assembly inside the U.S. Both serve a growing need for RF communications in monitoring and communications.

Gail Flower, editor at large

Read Editorial Advisory Board member Craig Hunter's take on SMT in rugged applications: SMT Components Toughen Up for Rugged Applications

Adjusting to the Market: Merix Repositions for Mil/Aero Growth

It’s remarkable how some companies can adjust quickly to take advantage of a changing environment. In 2007, Merix Corp. (Beaverton, OR), saw an opportunity to expand from an under-diversified PCB manufacturer working mainly in networked communications to a company providing high-volume military and aerospace PCB manufacturing. Now, the company, which has been in operation for more than 40 years, has completed the transition to mil/aero PCB manufacturing house.

Michael Burger joined Merix as president and CEO in 2007, bringing with him the experience of many years with Flextronics. “We committed to a strategic realignment with a focus on expanding our technology and manufacturing capability to increase market share in the defense and aerospace sector,” said Burger. Now, the company has completed that phase, which Burger says will position it for long-term growth and profitability.

The military market has remained strong compared to the rest of the PCB market space. Nine percent of overall sales at Merix today come from military contractors, up from two percent in the past. One reason for the deluge in defense/aerospace business is that 16 new and potential clients have pushed the company to get qualifications going in the mil/aero space in just the last quarter. Merix San Jose is MIL-PRF-55110F certified and applying for MIL-PRF-31032 certification. Customer demands and increased business in this area have prompted growth in this market.

Read more about the transition to military/aerospace products in this news story: Merix Strengthens Defense and Aerospace Capability

Merix started as a board house for Tektronix more than 40 years ago. In 2004, the company expanded, buying Data Circuits, a quick-turn (10 days or less) operation in San Jose. Today, quick-turn prototyping of standard and advanced PCB technologies can be performed in 24 hours at Merix’s San Jose facility. A fully reconfigured 250,000-sq.ft. facility in Forest Grove, OR, also offers quick-turn prototyping to full-volume production, handling advanced technology options as high layer counts and high density interconnect (HDI) solutions. The company has always been a PCB manufacturer with a lot of prototyping business around communications (about 40% of sales) with the remainder in auto, computer and peripherals, medical and telecom.

Merix has two Asian facilities. A Huiyang, a 450,000-sq.ft. facility designated for high volume, low-mix PCB assembly and one in Huizhou, at 135,000 square feet. Approximately 40% of its business comes out of the North American customer base, starting out in quick-turn prototypes and then moving to high-volume production in the Asian facilities as designs prove robust enough for high-volumes. “Helping customers go from prototype in North America to volume production in Asia works well for us,” said Mike Zelman, VP of marketing.

Electronics manufacturing suppliers have to listen to what the market demands, relate to a variety of customer concerns, and keep in touch with technology trends to grow larger, no matter the market sector.

Gail Flower, editor-at-large

Obama on Electronics: So Far, So Good

When a new President takes the oath, you never know quite what to expect. Will he be techno phobic or techno savvy? Will the military side of electronics continue to grow as it did under Bush? Does Obama actually use electronics, like his buzzed-about BlackBerry, much? Does he promote the growth of new areas, such as solar power and other green electronics?

Little by little, favorable responses are emerging. Solar power was touched upon in the inaugural address. On the military side, he has named Defense Secretary Robert Gates, a friend of the defense industry, to continue in that position. He also mentioned that he will increase U.S. ground forces by 65,000 soldiers. It seems to be business as usual in this electronics sector. More soldiers equals more electronics devices, more transport systems, more computers. And local news in that area seems to be positive. On January 19, LaBarge Inc. (http://www.labarge.com/) announced that the company had received $2.9 million in contracts from BAE Systems to manufacture electronic assemblies for its A3 Bradley Combat Systems vehicles; BAE will be well stocked in electronics. Bradley Combat Systems played a central role in Operation Iraqi Freedom and they continue to provide outstanding survivability, mobility, and combat capability to U.S. soldiers in close-combat urban situations as well as in open combat. The Bradley fulfills five critical mission roles: infantry fighting vehicle, cavalry fighting vehicle, fire support vehicle, battle command vehicle, and engineer squad vehicle for the Army's Heavy Brigade Combat Teams. Production on these contracts is expected to continue through June 2009 at LaBarge's Huntsville, Ark., facility.

And is Obama techno savvy? We certainly know that he plans to use his BlackBerry while in office. It was touch-and-go at first. “I want to be able to have voice, other than the people immediately working for me, be able to reach out and … send me a message about what’s happening in America,” he said. Before he was sworn in, the U.S. Secret Service tried to force him to give up this device, thinking that a hacker could possibly break in and gain access to confidential informational that would affect national security. Reportedly, Obama’s BlackBerry is the 8830 World Edition with GPS features, and it is true that virtually no one is safe from unscrupulous hackers. One thing that most voters noticed early on was that Obama supporters communicated quite well, using the internet as a fund-raising and organizational tool. Why give it up now?

Typically, the U.S. Secret Service prohibits the President from carrying any sort of cell phone to minimize security risks. By law, all the president's e-mails must be recorded and made available to the public. It appears that the president has won this battle. Press secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that officials negotiated a secure way for the president to retain his BlackBerry to communicate with senior staff and personal friends just to keep in touch with folks.

Obama also reinforced the need to have all health records digitized within five years to control costs. Have you noticed how many X-rays are already in digital format, saving the high cost of film? Doctors are also carrying around sturdy computers as well in many hospitals. “This cuts waste, eliminates red tape, and reduces the need to repeat expensive medical tests," he said, inferring that the switch also would save lives by reducing the number of errors in medicine. I wonder if they sterilize the keypads.

Obama certainly seems to be the most electronics-aware president that we have ever had in office. Let’s see how that affects the growth of our industry.

Gail Flower, editor at large, SMT