‘Tin Has No DNA’

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Productronica, Day 2. Traffic improved, though most agree with yesterday’s observation that almost all attendees are from Europe.

Valor and Assembléon announced a pact to tailor the former’s VPlan to the latter’s placement machines. That relationship is expected to expand to include Valor’s VManage next year.

Assembléon senior director Jeroen de Groot says it “would be relevant” for SMEMA to develop a standard for measuring line changeover.

Koh Young has added two engineers in Ireland.

Kirsten Soldering’s contest to find the oldest working wave machine uncovered one in Argentina that has been in continuous service for 23 years. Another had more than 32,000 service hours.

Michael Foster of Dynatech SMT is here, meeting with customers from Mexico who had to come here to see the Samsung placement machines after Mexitronica was cancelled. He says October was their best month in three years.

Had a great chat with CyberOptics CEO Kitty Iverson. The Inspection OEM is rebounding after the tragic death of its founder, Steve Case, earlier this year. Despite the tragedy and the economy, she is upbeat and confident. Expect to see more of her and her top directors, Tim Skunes and Brendan Hinnekamp, as they step up to fill the void.

OK International has a great heat-activated tweezer for PoP rework.

Henkel’s Doug Dixon says the industry’s solder vendors are working on a joint response to a government push for auditing suppliers for so-called conflict metals: tin and other ores mined from the Congo. “There’s no way for us to validate it once it’s been refined,” he noted. “Tin has no DNA.”

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About Mike

Mike Buetow is president of the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (pcea.net). He previously was editor-in-chief of Circuits Assembly magazine, the leading publication for electronics manufacturing, and PCD&F, the leading publication for printed circuit design and fabrication. He spent 21 years as vice president and editorial director of UP Media Group, for which he oversaw all editorial and production aspects. He has more than 30 years' experience in the electronics industry, including six years at IPC, an electronics trade association, at which he was a technical projects manager and communications director. He has also held editorial positions at SMT Magazine, community newspapers and in book publishing. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois. Follow Mike on Twitter: @mikebuetow

One thought on “‘Tin Has No DNA’”

  1. I love the quote “Tin has no DNA”. but then I wondered, does Tin ore have “DNA” with respect to unique impurities to that region? I agree that once refined and turned into solder, the the ability to point to a region of the world is pretty low. But the companies taking the ore and doing the first steps, might be able to identify ore to a region. Of course, I am not a geologist, nor do I play one on TV, but….

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