The SMTA South East Asia Technical Conference on Electronics Assembly Technologies that took place April 18-20, 2012, in Penang, Malaysia, was a resounding success. SMTA reported that attendance increased 45% from last year and was very well received by attendees.
"We are very pleased to see this conference growing each year," said David Vetharudge, SMTA Penang Chapter President. “Technical events of this caliber are very important for the South East Asia region and we are excited about receiving so much industry support.”
Attendees and speakers represented a large and diverse cross-section of industry companies including Agilent, Celestica, Cisco, Flextronics, Henkel, Indium, Intel, Jabil, Kester Components, Kyzen, Nihon Superior, Philips Lumileds, Plexus, Sanmina-SCI, and Zestron.
A full day of workshops was added to the conference this year. Ning-Cheng Lee, Ph.D. from Indium Corporation instructed two courses, the first on Lead-Free Solder Joint Reliability and the second one on Electromigration. Mike Bixenman, DBA, from Kyzen Corporation led a very informative workshop on “Designing for Reliability - Cleaning Basics in the Age of High Density Interconnects.” Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback, the technical committee will plan to expand this part of the program next year.
Sessions offered high quality technical information on topics including Business and Supply Chain Issues, Soldering Challenges Including Head-in-Pillow Defect, Processes and Materials, Cleaning, Harsh Environment Applications, Components and Advanced Packaging, PTH and 3D Soldering, Substrates, and Reliability.
The conference would not have been possible without the skillful guidance of the technical committee chair LyGuat Lee, Ph.D., Flextronics, and committee members KL Lim, Plexus, Lian-Huat Ng, Plexus, Teng Hoon Ng, Celestica, Inc., Jonas Sjoberg, Flextronics, AK Tan, Robert Bosch Sdn Bhd, and David Vetharudge, Listech Technology.
Plans will soon be underway for our 2013 event. If you live in SE Asia and would like to serve on the technical committee, please contact Patti Hvidhyld, patti@smta.org.
The SMTA membership is an international network of professionals who build skills, share practical experience and develop solutions in electronic assembly technologies, including microsystems, emerging technologies, and related business operations.