July 2011 Vol. 2, Iss. 43

Dear Subscriber: 

My daughter and I recently had quite the adventure traveling to Haiti to do work projects at an orphanage. The way I describe the situation is "pretend that the earthquake just happened and that all of the cadavers have been cleared". At this point the Non-Governmental Organizations are doing the lion's share of the work 17 months after the quake and are building infrastructure and relationships. 

Our family also recently saw U2 on the 360 tour-it was quite a visual extravaganza.

We invite you to our leadless device, reballing and advanced package rework seminar as part of the IPC Midwest, September 21st. See our e-vite below:

IPC Midwest Invite Advanced Package Rework

In addition, below are additional technical speaking engagements:

SMTAI on October 17th in Dallas (Adv Rework Topics) or the  

BEST SMT Printing Seminar on September 20th in Chicago (call Katy to register).  

Happy Summer!
Bob Wettermann
President, BEST Inc.

CIT candidates for the IPC/WHMA-A-620, the industry consensus standard for cable and wire harness fabrication and installation, can now come to BEST Inc. for training. IPC/WHMA-A-620 describes acceptability criteria for crimped, mechanically secured and soldered interconnection and the corresponding lacing/restraining criteria associated with cable and harness assemblies.

An industry developed and approved program that includes training, certification and instructional materials based on the IPC/WHMA-A-620A are available to your company for trainers through BEST Inc.

See our web site for the most recent schedule or call Katy Radcliff at (847) 797-9250 to discuss details.  

Mention that you saw message oin the newsletter for a 10% discount on this class!

Before

 After

When boards are damaged and the corners broken or cracked due to poor handling procedures, BEST can repair those boards and help you turn them in to usable inventory.

Depending on the extent of the damage, an epoxy technique  or a tongue and groove technique (IPC7721 procedures)can make the board look as good as new. Save the expense of scrapping the board and have BEST repair your damaged corner PCBs.

See more here.

Call Laura at BEST at (847) 797-9250 for more information. 

Shuttle Legacy 

With the blast off of the last shuttle mission recently, let's look at the legacy of the program-both good and bad.

On the positive end of the the spectrum, shuttles launched satellites and probes bound for Venus and Jupiter. They delivered the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit, then carried crews on several subsequent missions to repair and upgrade it. Hubble has arguably become history's most successful cluster of scientific instrument (after the conversion problem was corrected). Shuttles ferried most of the supplies to construct the International Space Station, a nearly 1 million-pound research lab that stretches the length of a football field and orbits 220 miles above Earth.

However, like all government projects, the many promises of the program, though well-intentioned, remain unfulfilled. NASA planners had promised that the shuttle would fly dozens of times per year. The most shuttle flights ever accomplished in one year was nine flights in 1985. NASA also promised that each shuttle orbiter would be good for 100 flights. Discovery has made thirty-one flights, the most of any orbiter. While an independent panel acknowledged the shuttle as an "engineering marvel" with a wide range of abilities in Earth orbit, it nevertheless concluded that "the shuttle has few of the mission capabilities that NASA originally promised". A recent report summed up the shortcoming of the program this way: "It cannot be launched on demand; does not recoup its costs; no longer carries national security payloads; and is not cost-effective enough, nor allowed by law, to carry commercial satellites. Despite efforts to improve its safety, the shuttle remains a complex and risky system."

You be the judge.