The show's new location is the Bayside Expo & Conference Center in Boston. It is New England's largest exposition, conference center and hotel complex. With over 240,000 square feet of exhibit space and 40,000 square feet of meeting space, Bayside Expo is home to more than half of New England's top public and trade events.

Assembly East is the only Northeast trade event dedicated exclusively to product assembly, and along with Nepcon East and Electro, these three events will provide manufacturers with a single, convenient source for leading-edge manufacturing equipment for board, component and final product assembly.

Nepcon East and Electro 2003, the Northeast's leading source for electronics manufacturing technology, will provide original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers with access to information and products for every stage of the electronics manufacturing process-from design, packaging and components to assembly and test.

Assembly East's 2-day conference program will be presented by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME), the Edison Welding Institute (EWI), the Massachusetts Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MassMEP) and the American Welding Society (AWS).

The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) designed the technical conference program for Nepcon East. It begins on Monday, June 9, the day before the show opens. This year's program also includes a session on electrostatic discharge from the Electro Static Discharge Association. The conference will cover topics, such as lead-free soldering, flip-chip assembly and ball grid arrays.

Active components, integrated circuits, bare boards, wire and cable assemblies, and other electronic supplies can be found at Electro. Design engineers will discover new product capabilities, and purchasing managers will identify new suppliers. Like Assembly East and Nepcon, Electro also offers a conference program. Developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the four-session program will be held Tuesday, June 10.

Free Sessions and a Keynote

Another free session will be presented by Pam Gordon of Technology Forecasters Inc. (Alameda, CA). In this session, attendees will learn how electronics companies have saved or earned millions of dollars by taking environmental steps. Attendees will receive solid suggestions for doing the same in their companies.

For the second year in a row at Assembly East, ASSEMBLY magazine will present a free roundtable session. This panel discussion will bring together representatives from manufacturing and academia throughout the Northeast to predict the future of U.S. manufacturing. Some of the topics discussed will include: What will the manufacturing landscape look like 20 years from now? What products will U.S. companies make better than the rest of the world? Which U.S. industries will lose ground to international competition? What new manufacturing methods and processes will be necessary to strengthen this country's position in the world marketplace? What business strategies and economic policies will be critical to the future success of U.S. manufacturers? What can U.S. companies do to ensure that they will still be operating in 2020?

Aside from the free keynote and sessions, Assembly East will also hold its customary networking reception on Tuesday, June 10, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Attendees and exhibitors are invited to take a break from the show floor and mingle with other individuals in the industry.

Educational Conference

Tuesday, June 10

Materials Joining
8 to 10:30 a.m.
Small-Scale Resistance Welding
Dr. Kevin Ely,
Edison Welding Institute

Small-scale resistance welding is one of the key assembly processes used today. This workshop will provide an understanding of the basic principles

of low-force, low-power welds. The course will cover weld schedule development, including how to develop a lobe curve, key equipment configurations and electrode setup parameters. Another section will compare the capabilities of available power supplies. Monitoring and testing small-scale welds is also discussed, including

wire-to-tab welds, thin sheet welds and the effects of platings.

Automated Assembly
8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Robotics in Assembly
Jack Justice, Motoman Inc.
Mark W. Senti, GSMA Systems
Eric E. Jacobs,
Adept Technology Inc.

Part 1: This presentation will review the various types of robots used in assembly applications. Typical options, such as end-of-arm tools, conveyor tracking, flexible feeding and vision systems, will also be discussed. Examples of production systems will be reviewed.

Part 2: This presentation provides a basic overview of robots, robotic assembly considerations, robotic system components, material handling, robot justification, project management and case studies for small parts assembly.

Part 3: Distributed motion control can significantly reduce automation integration costs and effort, while simultaneously improving total system performance. Learn about the basics of distributed motion control and how it differs from other architectures.

Manufacturing Management
8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Lean 101 With Time-Wise Simulation
David Hess, MassMEP

Companies that can deliver a top-quality product in the shortest time win. Learn how lean manufacturing can reduce production lead time and costs, and improve product quality.

Manufacturing Management
12 to 5 p.m.
The Five Pillars of Lean
David Hess, MassMEP

This presentation covers the five S's of lean manufacturing: seiri—correct arrangement; seiton—orderliness; seiketsu—cleanliness; seiso—cleanup; and shitsuke—discipline. It provides the how-to for a manufacturing firm to clean up dirty and disorganized work areas and ensure the success of lean manufacturing on the shop floor.

Materials Joining
1 to 3:30 p.m.
Microlaser Processing
Dr. Kevin Ely,
Edison Welding Institute

Attendees will learn about the process capabilities of the laser. The material will cover the important aspects of low-power laser processing, beginning with an overview of laser physics, the use and role of optics, the differences between CO₂ and ND:YAG welding, including continuous wave and pulsed processing. Also included are key performance parameters and the effect on the weld zone of power, pulse width and focal length. A key section will discuss common weld defects and steps to reduce or eliminate them.

Manufacturing Management
1:30 to 5 p.m.
Workcell Design
William E. Fillmore,
Richard Muther & Associates

This presentation will concentrate on eliminating waste, not people, through workcells. Participants will learn the benefits of cellular manufacturing and the key elements in workcell design. You'll also learn how to effectively involve employees in cell design.

Wednesday, June 11

Materials Joining
8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Brazing for Today's Assembly
Dr. Walt Pastorius,
LMI Technologies Inc.
Dan Kay, Dan Kay & Associates

This 1-day brazing seminar will present proven ways to make strong, high-quality brazements. Attendees will learn how to lower production costs by avoiding mistakes being made in many brazing shops today. These solutions and ideas can be readily applied in any brazing environment to ensure that correctly brazed joints will always be as strong as the parent metals.

Automated Assembly
8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Machine Vision for Assembly
Dr. Walt Pastorius,
LMI Technologies Inc.
Mark Sippel,
Omron Electronics LLC
James O'Hanley, CCS America Inc. Part 1: This presentation will review how in-process automated monitoring of assembly processes provides rapid feedback for improved quality, even in hostile environments. Attendees will learn how 3D vision can prove process monitoring. Environmental protection requirements and applications in various industries, including benefits of implementation, will also be reviewed.

Part 2: Successful implementation of machine vision involves matching the lighting and vision equipment to the automation system. These technologies must all work together to be successful, but often can run contrary to one another. This presentation will study the important factors for each of the three technologies and show techniques for resolving contrary issues.

Part 3: This presentation will outline the process to follow for specifying lighting setup for machine vision applications. Various lighting types, techniques, testing and examples will be covered.

Manufacturing Management
1:30 to 5 p.m.
Application of Design for Six
Sigma in the Assembly Industry
Dave Antis Jr. and Reigle Stewart,
Uniworld Consulting Inc.

Understanding assembly operations and supplier capabilities will ensure that your products are more likely to move beyond the design stage to the manufacturing phase, and meet customer deadlines. The products are also more likely to meet cost targets. Designing for Six Sigma provides the structure for using the appropriate statistical tools in developing new products. Statistical methods are used to optimize the quality and reliability of the end product for the intended use environment.

Registration Information

Sidebar: Nepcon East and Electro Events and Conferences

Wednesday, June 11
12 to 1 p.m.
ET is Finally Pulling Us Upward—SMTA Annual Meeting
Ken Gilleo, Cookson Performance Solutions

1 to 2 p.m.
AOI Panel Discussion
Moderator: Phil Zarrow ITM, Inc.

SMTA Conferences

This comprehensive program presented by SMTA will allow attendees to choose from full-day courses, half-day workshops and paper sessions.

Monday, June 9
8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Solder Joint Reliability of Flip-Chip and Chip Scale Package Assemblies
Jean-Paul Clech, EPSI Inc.

8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Lead-Free Soldering in a Production Environment
Lee Whiteman, ACI

8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Ball Grid Array: Principles and Practice Including Rework
Ray Prasad, Ray Prasad Consultancy Group

1:30 to 5 p.m.
Lead-Free Solder Joint Reliability
Jean-Paul Clech, EPSI Inc.

1:30 to 5 p.m.
Troubleshooting the Surface Mount Assembly Process
Phil Zarrow, ITM Inc.

Tuesday, June 10
8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Design for Manufacturability
Ray Prasad, Ray Prasad Consultancy Group

8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Surface Mount Technology Fundamentals
S. Manian Ramkumar, Rochester Institute of Technology

Wednesday, June 11
8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Cost Estimating for Improved Profitability
Ronald Lasky, Indium Corp. of America

8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Troubleshooting Reflow Soldering For Surface Mount and Area Array Packages
Ning-Cheng Lee, Indium Corp. of America

Tuesday, June 10
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Flip-Chip and BGA Packaging Workshop
By attending this workshop, attendees will understand the fundamental aspects, current practices and future trends in the area of flip-chip and ball grid array technologies.

Wednesday, June 11
8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Flip-Chip and BGA Packaging Workshop
Continued from Tuesday.

IEEE Conference

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), in partnership with the Boston Chapter of the IEEE Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (CPMT) Society, will conduct an educational conference regarding new and advanced manufacturing technologies for Electro 2003. The 1-day, four-part program is free and will feature the following presentations.

Tuesday, June 10
10 to 11 a.m.
Lab-On-a-Chip Technology
Dr. Colin Brenan, BioTrove Inc.
With microscale fluidic systems performing various tasks previously reserved for macroscale devices, advances in system miniaturization have greatly impacted pharmaceutical drug discovery and biotechnology. Known as "lab-on-a-chip," these microsystems integrate numerous fluidic operations to achieve rapid analysis of biochemical or biological reactions in nanoliter volumes. The basic concept behind "lab-on-a-chip" systems will be described and examples given illustrating system configurations and applications.

11 a.m. to 12 p.m.
UV Laser Micromachining
Patrick Sercel, JPSA Laser Inc.
Applications of ultraviolet (UV) lasers for microfabrication have increased. This presentation will detail the key concepts associated with successfully applying UV lasers for industrial materials processing and microfabrication. Discussion topics include the types of commercially available UV lasers, their operating principles, an overview of UV laser materials processing applications, the basic principles of laser beam delivery, and engineering issues related to correct system integration.

2 to 3 p.m.
Advanced Packaging Assembly
Dan Crowley, MRSI/Newport
This presentation will discuss the critical requirements for high-volume flip-chip die bonding. Discussions will include the technical and cost drivers of flip-chip ackaging, and compare various flip chip packages, I/O counts and package sizes.The emphasis will focus on the methodology of flip chip die bonding. Critical aspects, such as work holder planarity and vision processing, will be discussed as the key to high-yield, high-volume production lab-on-a-chip technology.

3 to 4 p.m.
Robotic Haptic Systems-Arms and Hands
William Townsend, Barrett Robotics
The term robotics carries a long-unfulfilled promise of versatile productivity. It is expected that the cost advantage of truly versatile robots will make them the ultimate tool of the 21st century. Attendees will learn the value of versatility by seeing the world's most advanced robot arms and hands.