Process Control Systems for Meeting IPC Standards

Taming IPC-A-610

IPC610 IPC-A-610 and IPC-J-STD-001 contain a lot of good material. But they do not present the material in a user–friendly fashion. The books are so bulky and poorly configured that very few people ever master them.

We spent years taming the standards so everyone will understand what those standards mean and how to easily achieve the requirements.

For more information about this or any other aspect of our business, please use this form or call (727)866–6502, extension 21.

The unique EMS approach made it easy for personnel at all levels to grasp the science of this critical process and apply the knowledge to many forms of reliability improvements and cost reductions.

Andrew MacEachern
Quality Manager
Flextronics Automotive
Markham, Ontario, Canada

B/E Aerospace’s goal was to get 62 associates certified in soldering. We got our certificates along with an enlightening education in the science of soldering. All levels of associates (novice technicians to Engineers) gained a common understanding of how and why solder bonds to the base metal at the molecular level, how to achieve that bond and — most important — how to correct the process if that bond is not achieved. Now, the technicians understand how to deliver the prefect solder connection without rework and the engineers know how to select and manage materials. This has been very advantageous with suppliers and vital customers such as Boeing and Airbus.

We challenged EMS to certify our 62 associates in the quickest and shortest period of time possible. EMS responded with the best time and at a very reasonable price. EMS came to our facility with all the necessary training supplies and provided excellent audio/visual tutorials, valuable reference works. The hands–on instructions and instructor were also exceptional.

Steve Kristian
BMP Manufacturing Test Engineer
Beverage Maker Products / Life Support Systems
BE Aerospace, Inc.
Lenexa, KS

EMS teaches more than how to perform and visually inspect high reliability soldering. They provide thorough soldering process knowledge that will consistently yield the desired results. With this knowledge our personnel now understand the best way to perform their job and don't just try to make a pretty looking connection.

Jeff Gray
Director Product Quality Assurance and Conformance
Esterline | Power Systems
Buena Park, CA 90620

IPC-A-610 and IPC-J-STD-001 are industry-wide acceptance standards. But how do you meet those acceptance standards?

Most companies rely on inspection to find nonconformances, followed by touchup and rework to make the defect conform to the visual image of acceptable soldering. But a reworked solder connection is just a more attractive defect and the additional heat from soldering irons degrades many electronic components.

Science of Soldering provides the process knowledge that ensures you will meet the IPC requirements without touchup or rework. Your failure rates and warranty claims will go down and your worker productivity will go up. Science of Soldering quickly pays for itself in savings from higher productivity and reliability.

Science of Soldering delivers much more than other solder training. All classes take place in your own offices and cost less than you think.

Science of Soldering will increase your productivity and product reliability. Your production costs will be lower and your quality much higher than is possible with other training.

Science of Soldering will develop your employees’ abilities in critically important ways that other training doesn’t. A few examples:

Defect Prevention: Science of Soldering teaches how to set up and manage processes to prevent defects. soldering training simply emphasizes cosmetic criteria for evaluating output; no real process management knowledge is provided.¹

Fewer Rejections of Reliable Product: Making perfect solder connections is only part of what is necessary to cut costs and increase reliability. Every time an acceptable connection is rejected and reworked, costs go up and reliability goes down. Science of Soldering eliminates the confusion that causes rejection of reliable work.

Education, Not Memorization: Science of Soldering is education, not simple training; it teaches why as well as what. The lessons are presented with demonstrations, experiments, hands–on process problem troubleshooting, and elaborate video.

Essential Knowledge: Science of Soldering teaches essential aspects of soldering you won't find in other courses, such as wetting forces, solderability, purposes and characteristics of fluxes, heat control, oxidation and deoxidation, surface cleanliness, ionic contamination and the critical process difference between surfaces that melt and those that don’t. And the lessons, while technical, are presented in ways that make them clear to everyone from the newest operator to the most senior engineer. Ordinary soldering training provides none of this. (The core Science of Soldering curriculum is available here.)

Prevention of Heat Damage: Science of Soldering teaches a simple but powerful technique to prevent heat damage from hand soldering, the cause of most component failures. We developed this essential technique that has been proven to reduce product failure rates by up to 83%. This unique heat control technique means that Science of Soldering is the only soldering course designed for modern solid state components.²

Return on Investment: We show our clients how to cut spending on everything from tools to electricity and these changes typically repay the program cost in just a few months. Training that focuses on memorization of acceptability criteria does not provide these cost reductions and reliability improvements — the training is pure expense.

For more about why Science of Soldering should be your first choice in soldering education, please use this form or call Jim Smith at (727)866–6502 ext. 21.

1. IPC classifies IPC–J–STD–001 as a process–oriented course but the content consists primarily of rules to be memorized.

2. IPC–J–STD–001 Section 4.10 says “When hand soldering a component identified as heat sensitive, a thermal shunt or heat sink shall be attached to the device lead between the area to be soldered and the component body to minimize component heating.” But all integrated circuits are heat sensitive and the IPC courses do not explain how a heat sink can be applied to the tiny leads of modern surface mount IC packages. Only the Science of Soldering heat control technique actually meets the IPC heat sink requirement.